Gervonta Davis defeated Ryan Garcia in one of the most anticipated fights in boxing this year, a seventh-round KO at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The fight was contested at a catchweight of 136 pounds, but Davis showed he’s going to be trouble for anybody at 135 and 140 pounds.

But was the victory enough to get Davis into the top 10?

“There are seemingly 10 spots for 11 worthy pound-for-pound boxers, with little separation between the three lightweights,” said ESPN boxing writer Mike Coppinger. “However, Tank Davis’ talent can no longer be denied following another emphatic KO win, and this time on the grandest stage imaginable. The May 20 battle between Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko for the undisputed lightweight championship could create some clarity.”

ESPN writer Ben Baby didn’t think the victory was impressive enough to move him up on the pound-for-pound list.

“Two things can be true. Davis is now positioned to be boxing’s biggest crossover star. He also hasn’t done enough yet to be a true pound-for-pound contender,” said Baby. “Davis has not held a primary championship title since Oct. 2020, when he knocked out Leo Santa Cruz to win the WBA “super” junior lightweight belt. That was six fights ago.

“Meanwhile, Shakur Stevenson beat Oscar Valdez to win two of the four major belts at junior lightweight. If Davis takes on similar risks, he’ll be rewarded with a status reserved for boxing’s top champions.”

Davis received more support after his Garcia victory, but it wasn’t enough to make the top 10.

Our panel of Coppinger, Baby, Timothy Bradley Jr., Michael Rothstein, Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Andre Ward, Eric Raskin, Crystina Poncher, Michelle Joy Phelps, Eric Woodyard, Kel Dansby, Bernardo Osuna, Bernardo Pilatti, Claudia Trejos, Charles Moynihan, Salvador Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli, Michael Mascaro and Aladdin Freeman share their votes.

More rankings: Divisional rankings and ESPN’s women’s pound-for-pound rankings.

Note: Results are through April 26.


1. TERENCE CRAWFORD  sw ye 40 - Replay Madness   Previous ranking: No. 1

RECORD: 39-0, 30 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO6) David Avanesyan, Dec. 10
NEXT FIGHT: TBA


2. NAOYA INOUE  sw ye 40 - Replay Madness   Previous ranking: No. 2

RECORD: 23-0, 20 KOs
DIVISION: Junior featherweight
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO11) Paul Butler, Dec. 13
NEXT FIGHT: July 25 vs. Stephen Fulton


3. OLEKSANDR USYK  sw ye 40 - Replay Madness   Previous ranking: No. 3

RECORD: 20-0, 13 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD12) Anthony Joshua, Aug. 20
NEXT FIGHT: TBA


4. ERROL SPENCE JR.  sw ye 40 - Replay Madness   Previous ranking: No. 4

RECORD: 28-0, 22 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO10) Yordenis Ugas, April 16
NEXT FIGHT: TBA


5. CANELO ALVAREZ  sw ye 40 - Replay Madness   Previous ranking: No. 5

RECORD: 57-2-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Super middleweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Gennadiy Golovkin, Sept. 17
NEXT FIGHT: May 6 vs. John Ryder


6. DMITRY BIVOL  sw ye 40 - Replay Madness   Previous ranking: No. 7

RECORD: 21-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Gilberto Ramirez, Nov. 5
NEXT FIGHT: TBA


7. TYSON FURY  sw ye 40 - Replay Madness   Previous ranking: No. 7

RECORD: 33-0-1, 24 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO10) Derek Chisora, Dec. 3
NEXT FIGHT: TBA


8. ARTUR BETERBIEV  sw ye 40 - Replay Madness   Previous ranking: No. 8

RECORD: 19-0, 19 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO8) Anthony Yarde, Jan. 28
NEXT FIGHT: TBA


9. SHAKUR STEVENSON  gn arrow - Replay Madness   Previous ranking: No. 10

RECORD: 20-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO6) Shuichiro Yoshino, April 8
NEXT FIGHT: TBA


10. DEVIN HANEY  rd arrow - Replay Madness   Previous ranking: No. 9

RECORD: 29-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) George Kambosos Jr., Oct. 16
NEXT FIGHT: May 20 vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko


The formula

The rankings are based on a descending points system, with a first-place vote receiving 10 points, a second-place vote receiving nine points, and so on. A tie goes to the fighter with the highest ranking and then the one with the most votes at that ranking.


Others receiving votes: Gervonta Davis (37), Vasiliy Lomachenko (3), Jermell Charlo (2), Juan Francisco Estrada (1).


How our writers voted

Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Bivol, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Spence, 6. Fury, 7. Davis, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Alvarez, 10. Beterbiev

Bradley: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Spence, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Haney, 10. Davis

Coppinger: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Fury, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Spence, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Haney, 10. Davis

Tessitore: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Spence, 6. Alvarez, 7. Stevenson, 8. Bivol, 9. Fury, 10. Haney

Parkinson: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Davis, 8. Fury, 9. Spence, 10. Estrada

Raskin: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Spence, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Fury, 7. Usyk, 8. Stevenson, 9. Davis, 10. Beterbiev

Ward: 1. Crawford, 2. Spence, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Haney, 10. Davis

Baby: 1. Inoue, 2. Usyk, 3. Crawford, 4. Spence, 5. Alvarez, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Fury, 8. Bivol, 9. Haney, 10. Stevenson

Rothstein: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Fury, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Usyk, 7. Spence, 8. Davis, 9. Haney, 10. Stevenson

Phelps: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Spence, 4. Usyk, 5. Haney, 6. Fury 7. Inoue, 8. Bivol, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Davis

Rodriguez: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Fury, 4. Alvarez, 5. Spence, 6. Usyk, 7. Bivol, 8. Davis, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Haney

Poncher: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Spence, 5. Alvarez, 6. Fury, 7. Bivol, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Stevenson, 10. Haney

Osuna: 1. Usyk, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Alvarez, 5. Crawford, 6. Spence, 7. Haney, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Charlo, 10. Stevenson

Trejos: 1. Usyk, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Bivol, 5. Fury, 6. Alvarez, 7. Spence, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Haney, 10. Davis

Woodyard: 1. Crawford, 2. Fury, 3. Spence, 4. Alvarez, 5. Davis, 6. Haney, 7. Inoue, 8. Usyk, 9. Stevenson, 10. Bivol

Dansby: 1. Usyk, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Crawford, 5. Haney, 6. Spence, 7. Fury, 8. Bivol, 9. Davis, 10. Stevenson

Moynihan: 1. Crawford, 2. Spence, 3. Inoue, 4. Alvarez, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Bivol, 8. Haney, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Davis

Pilatti: 1. Inoue, 2. Bivol, 3. Beterbiev, 4. Crawford, 5. Spence, 6. Fury, 7. Usyk, 8. Davis, 9. Haney, 10. Stevenson

Zirolli: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Spence, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Bivol, 10. Haney

Mascaro: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Spence, 4. Usyk, 5. Stevenson, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Bivol, 8. Alvarez, 9. Davis, 10. Fury

Freeman: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Spence, 7. Stevenson, 8. Stevenson, 9. Davis, 10. Haney


ESPN experts’ poll

First place: Inoue (10), Crawford (7), Usyk (3), Alvarez (1)

Second place: Crawford (10), Inoue (5), Spence (2), Bivol (2), Usyk (1), Fury (1)

Third place: Usyk (6), Inoue (4), Spence (4), Alvarez (2), Fury (2), Crawford (1), Bivol (1), Beterbiev (1)

Fourth place: Bivol (5), Usyk (4), Alvarez (4), Spence (3), Crawford (2), Beterbiev (2), Fury (1)

Fifth place: Alvarez (6), Spence (4), Bivol (3), Fury (3), Haney (2), Crawford (1), Stevenson (1), Davis (1)

Sixth place: Alvarez (5), Fury (5), Spence (4), Usyk (4), Beterbiev (2), Haney (1)

Seventh place: Stevenson (5), Bivol (4), Spence (3), Usyk (2), Davis (2), Fury (2), Inoue (2), Haney (1)

Eighth place: Beterbiev (8), Bivol (4), Davis (3), Alvarez (1), Usyk (1), Fury (1), Stevenson (1), Haney (1), Lomachenko (1)

Ninth place: Haney (7), Davis (4), Beterbiev (3), Stevenson (2), Spence (1), Bivol (1), Alvarez (1), (Fury (1), Charlo (1)

10th place: Davis (6), Stevenson (5), Haney (5), Beterbiev (2), Bivol (1), Fury (1), Estrada (1)



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Did Gervonta Davis make the top 10?