Vasiliy Lomachenko needed a statement victory against Richard Commey on Dec. 11 to show he is the best lightweight fighter in the world. After Teofimo Lopez was upset by George Kambosos Jr., and Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney struggled a little in their victories the week before, Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) dominated Commey in a unanimous decision. The only problem? He had a chance to finish the fight earlier and didn’t — or couldn’t.
Lomachenko had Commey in trouble in Round 7, but instead of applying more pressure and finish Commey, he motioned to Commey’s corner, urging them to throw the towel. They didn’t. Commey recovered and finished the fight.
Did that decision by Lomachenko cost him the chance of the KO and to move up on the rankings? More importantly, did that decision cost him a bout with Kambosos?
Former two-division champion and current ESPN boxing analyst Timothy Bradley Jr., gave Lomachenko the edge over welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. due to two reasons.
“I moved Lomachenko to No. 8 over Spence because the inactivity of Spence over the last few years has been unpleasant,” Bradley said. “Lomachenko, with another great performance, continues to dominate the top 10 competition in the lightweight division.”
Nick Parkinson believes that as good as Lomachenko’s win was, there are a couple of other victories he needs in order to move up the P4P ladder.
“I kept Lomachenko at No. 8 on my list despite looking far more like himself than he did against Lopez,” Parkinson said. “If there were any doubts about the Ukrainian’s reserves, they were erased by that performance. Lomachenko still has a big part to play in the ever-moving landscape at lightweight. He needs to be behind Kambosos, the man with the belts, and the man who beat the man. Lomachenko needs to win back the belts from Kambosos, or possibly avenge the defeat to Lopez to climb up a spot or more.”
Our panel of Mike Coppinger, Andre Ward, Tim Bradley, Joe Tessitore, Michael Rothstein, Eric Raskin, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Ben Baby, Eric Woodyard, Michelle Joy Phelps, Kel Dansby, Bernardo Pilatti, Charles Moynihan and Salvador Rodriguez share their votes.
More rankings: Divisional rankings and ESPN’s women’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Note: Results are through Dec. 14.
1. CANELO ALVAREZ Previous ranking: No. 1
RECORD: 56-1-2, 38 KOs
DIVISION: Super middleweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO11) Caleb Plant, Nov. 6
NEXT FIGHT: TBA vs. Ilunga Junior Makabu
2. TERENCE CRAWFORD Previous ranking: No. 2
RECORD: 38-0, 29 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO10) Shawn Porter, Nov. 20
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
3. NAOYA INOUE Previous ranking: No. 3
RECORD: 21-0, 18 KOs
DIVISION: Bantamweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (KO8) Aran Diapen, Dec. 14
NEXT FIGHT: TBD
4. OLEKSANDR USYK Previous ranking: No. 5
RECORD: 19-0, 13 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Anthony Joshua, Sept. 25
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
5. TYSON FURY Previous ranking: No. 4
RECORD: 31-0-1, 22 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (KO11) Deontay Wilder, Oct. 9
NEXT FIGHT: TBA vs. Dillian Whyte
6. ERROL SPENCE JR. Previous ranking: No. 6
RECORD: 27-0, 21 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Danny Garcia, Dec. 5, 2020
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
7. JOSH TAYLOR Previous ranking: No. 8
RECORD: 18-0, 13 KOs
DIVISION: Junior welterweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Jose Ramirez, May 22
NEXT FIGHT: Feb. 26 vs. Jack Catterall
8. VASILIY LOMACHENKO Previous ranking: No. 9
RECORD: 16-2, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Richard Commey, Dec. 11
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
9. JUAN FRANCISCO ESTRADA Previous ranking: No. 10
RECORD: 42-3, 28 KOs
DIVISION: Junior bantamweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD12) Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, March 13
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
T-10. GERVONTA DAVIS Previous ranking: NR
RECORD: 26-0, 24 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight (titlist)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Isaac Cruz, Dec. 5
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
T-10. GEROGE KAMBOSOS JR. Previous ranking: NR
RECORD: 20-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD12) Teofimo Lopez, Dec. 4
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
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: Gennadiy Golovkin (3), Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (3), Teofimo Lopez (2), Artur Beterbiev (1), Jermell Charlo (1), Stephen Fulton (1).
How our writers voted
Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Alvarez, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Lomachenko, 6. Spence, 7. Fury, 8. Taylor, 9. Davis, 10. Estrada
Bradley: 1. Crawford, 2. Alvarez, 3. Usyk, 4. Inoue, 5. Taylor, 6. Kambosos, 7. Fury, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Spence, 10. Davis
Ward: 1. Crawford, 2. Alvarez, 3. Fury, 4. Usyk, 5. Spence, 6. Inoue, 7. Taylor, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Estrada, 10. Davis
Coppinger: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Fury, 5. Usyk, 6. Spence, 7. Taylor, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Gonzalez, 10. Estrada
Tessitore: 1. Crawford, 2. Alvarez, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Taylor, 6. Lomachenko, 7. Fury, 8. Spence, 9. Estrada, 10. Davis
Parkinson: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Fury, 5. Usyk, 6. Taylor, 7. Kambosos, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Spence, 10. Estrada
Baby: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Inoue, 5. Taylor, 6. Fury, 7. Spence, 8. Estrada, 9. Lomachenko, 10. Fulton
Rothstein: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Fury, 5. Usyk, 6. Spence, 7. Taylor, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Davis, 10. Estrada
Woodyard: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Fury, 4. Inoue, 5. Spence, 6. Usyk, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Taylor, 9. Davis, 10. Kambosos
Raskin: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Spence, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Taylor, 9. Estrada, 10. Gonzalez
Phelps: 1. Alvarez, 2.. Crawford, 3. Taylor, 4. Spence, 5. Inoue, 6. Usyk, 7. Fury, 8. Kambosos, 9. Lopez, 10. Charlo
Dansby: 1. Alvarez, 2. Usyk, 3. Crawford, 4. Inoue, 5. Fury, 6. Spence, 7. Taylor, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Davis, 10. Beterbiev
Moynihan: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Spence, 4. Inoue, 5. Usyk, 6. Fury, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Golovkin, 9. Estrada, 10. Taylor
Pilatti: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Spence, 4. Alvarez, 5. Lomachenko, 6. Fury, 7. Estrada, 8. Usyk, 9. Taylor, 10. Davis
Rodriguez: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Fury, 4. Inoue, 5. Usyk, 6. Lomachenko, 7. Spence, 8. Taylor, 9. Estrada, 10. Davis
ESPN experts’ poll
First place: Alvarez (10), Crawford (15)
Second place: Crawford (9), Alvarez (4), Inoue (1), Usyk (1)
Third place: Inoue (6), Fury (3), Usyk (2), Spence (2), Crawford (1), Taylor (1)
Fourth place: Inoue (6), Usyk (3), Fury (3), Spence (2), Alvarez (1)
Fifth place: Usyk (5), Taylor (3), Fury (2), Spence (2), Lomachenko (2), Inoue (1)
Sixth place: Spence (4), Usyk (3), Fury (3), Lomachenko (2), Inoue (1), Taylor (1), Kambosos (1)
Seventh place: Fury (4), Taylor (4), Lomachenko (3), Spence (2), Estrada (1), Kambosos (1)
Eighth place: Lomachenko (6), Taylor (4), Usyk (1), Spence (1), Estrada (1), Kambosos (1), Golovkin (1)
Ninth place: Estrada (5), Davis (4), Spence (2), Taylor (1), Lomachenko (1), Lopez (1), Gonzalez (1)
10th place: Davis (5), Estrada (4), Taylor (1), Kambosos (1), Gonzalez (1), Beterbiev (1), Fulton (1), Jermelll Charlo (1)