Dmitry Bivol defended his WBA airy heavyweight rubric with an awesome unanimous-decision victory implicit Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez and positioned himself arsenic 1 of the champion pound-for-pound fighters presently successful boxing.
With the victory, Bivol moved from No. 8 to No. 7, portion besides creating a spread betwixt him and chap 175-pound champion Artur Beterbiev, present astatine No. 9. A Bivol-Beterbiev combat to crown an undisputed champion astatine airy heavyweight would beryllium a must-see bout.
"Bivol routed Canelo Alvarez successful May, and proved it was due to the fact that helium was amended -- not conscionable bigger -- by dominating a overmuch larger hostile successful "Zurdo" Ramirez," ESPN boxing writer Mike Coppinger said astir his determination to determination Bivol to the No. 5 spot. "This database is each astir who would triumph if everyone is the aforesaid weight, and it's hard to reason that Alvarez should beryllium supra Bivol successful the airy of Bivol's breakout run -- that should nett him fighter-of-the-year honors. It volition instrumentality a peculiar combatant to upend Bivol, and it's improbable adjacent Beterbiev tin bash it if they combat each other."
A imaginable unification combat could beryllium hard to make, though, considering Bivol and Beterbiev enactment with antithetic promoters.
"I proved myself, I tin beryllium the champion feline successful the world," Bivol said aft the fight. "I person a goal. I wanna beryllium undisputed champion, but it doesn't each beryllium connected me. If it each depends connected me, I combat for each 4 belts. ... I anticipation they are listening to me, what I want. I'm similar a kid who has a dream; I privation to spell with this dream."
Devin Haney enters the rankings for the archetypal clip astatine No. 8, pursuing his triumph implicit George Kambosos Jr. to support his undisputed lightweight championship.
Our sheet of Coppinger, Timothy Bradley Jr., Joe Tessitore, Michael Rothstein, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Andre Ward, Ben Baby, Eric Raskin, Crystina Poncher, Michelle Joy Phelps, Eric Woodyard, Kel Dansby, Bernardo Pilatti, Charles Moynihan, Salvador Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli. Michael Mascaro and Aladdin Freeman stock their votes.
More rankings: Divisional rankings and ESPN's women's pound-for-pound rankings.
Note: Results are done Nov. 8.
1. TERENCE CRAWFORD 
Previous ranking: No. 1
RECORD: 38-0, 29 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO10) Shawn Porter, Nov. 20
NEXT FIGHT: Dec. 10 vs. David Avanesyan
2. NAOYA INOUE Previous ranking: No. 2
RECORD: 23-0, 20 KOs
DIVISION: Bantamweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO2) Nonito Donaire, June 7
NEXT FIGHT: Dec. 13 vs. Paul Butler
3. ERROL SPENCE JR. Previous ranking: No. 3
RECORD: 28-0, 22 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO10) Yordenis Ugas, April 16
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
4. OLEKSANDR USYK Previous ranking: No. 4
RECORD: 20-0, 13 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD12) Anthony Joshua, Aug. 20
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
5. CANELO ALVAREZ 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: TBA
6. TYSON FURY Previous ranking: No. 6
RECORD: 32-0-1, 23 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO6) Dillian Whyte, April 23
NEXT FIGHT: Dec. 3 vs. Derek Chisora
7. DMITRY BIVOL 
Previous ranking: No. 8
RECORD: 21-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Gilberto Ramirez, Nov. 5
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
8. DEVIN HANEY Previous ranking: No. N/R
RECORD: 29-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) George Kambosos Jr., Oct. 16
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
9. ARTUR BETERBIEV 
Previous ranking: 7
RECORD: 18-0, 18 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO2) Joe Smith Jr., June 18
NEXT FIGHT: Jan. 28 vs. Anthony Yarde
10. SHAKUR STEVENSON Previous ranking: No. 9
RECORD: 19-0, 9 KOs
DIVISION: Junior lightweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Robson Conceicao, Sept. 23
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
The formula
The rankings are based connected a descending points system, with a first-place ballot receiving 10 points, a second-place ballot receiving 9 points, and truthful on. A necktie goes to the combatant with the highest ranking and past the 1 with the astir votes astatine that ranking.
Others receiving votes: Vasiliy Lomachenko (12), Jermell Charlo (10), Gervonta Davis (8), Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez (4), Stephen Fulton (1).
How our writers voted
Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Bivol, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Spence, 6. Fury, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Alvarez, 9. Davis, 10. Haney
Bradley: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Spence, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Usyk, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Fury, 9. Stevenson, 10. Haney
Coppinger: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Fury, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Spence, 8. Gonzalez, 9. Haney, 10. Beterbiev
Tessitore: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Spence, 6. Alvarez, 7. Stevenson, 8. Fury, 9. Bivol, 10. Haney
Parkinson: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Spence, 6. Bivol, 7. Fury, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Haney, 10. Lomachenko
Raskin: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Spence, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Fury, 7. Usyk, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Stevenson, 10. Gonzalez
Ward: 1. Crawford, 2. Spence, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Haney, 10. Davis
Baby: 1. Usyk, 2. Alvarez, 3. Haney, 4. Crawford, 5. Inoue, 6. Spence, 7. Fury, 8. Stevenson, 9. Bivol, 10. Fulton
Rothstein: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Fury, 4. Alvarez, 5. Spence, 6. Usyk, 7. Bivol, 8. Haney, 9. Davis, 10. Stevenson
Phelps: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Spence, 4. Usyk, 5. Haney, 6. Inoue, 7. Fury, 8. Charlo, 9. Bivol, 10. Stevenson
Rodriguez: 1. Inoue, 2. Fury, 3. Alvarez, 4. Crawford, 5. Spence, 6. Usyk, 7. Bivol, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Haney, 10. Charlo
Poncher: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Spence, 5. Fury, 6. Bivol, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Stevenson, 9. Haney, 10. Charlo
Osuna: 1. Usyk, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Crawford, 5. Spence, 6. Alvarez, 7. Haney, 8. Charlo, 9. Stevenson, 10. Beterbiev
Woodyard: 1. Crawford, 2. Fury, 3. Spence, 4. Alvarez, 5. Haney, 6. Inoue, 7. Usyk, 8. Davis, 9. Stevenson, 10. Bivol
Dansby: 1. Usyk, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Haney, 5. Spence, 6. Crawford, 7. Fury, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Bivol, 10. Charlo
Moynihan: 1. Spence, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Alvarez, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Bivol, 8. Haney, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Lomachenko
Pilatti: 1. Inoue, 2. Bivol, 3. Crawford, 4. Spence, 5. Usyk, 6. Fury, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Stevenson, 10. Charlo
Zirolli: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Spence, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Bivol, 10. Haney
Mascaro: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Spence, 4. Fury, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Alvarez, 7. Usyk, 8. Stevenson, 9. Lomachenko, 10. Haney
Freeman: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Spence, 4. Usyk, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Alvarez, 7. Stevenson, 8. Haney, 9. Bivol, 10. Lomachenko
ESPN experts' poll
First place: Crawford (9), Inoue (6), Usyk (3), Spence (1), Alvarez (1)
Second place: Inoue (8), Crawford (6), Fury (2), Bivol (2), Spence (1), Alvarez (1)
Third place: Spence (6), Alvarez (4), Inoue (3), Usyk (3), Crawford (1), Fury (1), Bivol (1), Haney (1)
Fourth place: Usyk (5), Crawford (3), Spence (3), Alvarez (3), Fury (2), Bivol (2), Beterbiev (1), Haney (1)
Fifth place: Spence (7), Fury (3), Beterbiev (2), Alvarez (2), Bivol (2), Haney (2), Usyk (1), Inoue (1)
Sixth place: Alvarez (6), Usyk (5), Fury (3), Inoue (2), Bivol (2), Crawford (1), Spence (1),
Seventh place: Fury (4), Stevenson (4), Usyk (3), Bivol (3), Beterbiev (3), Spence (1), Haney (1), Lomachenko (1)
Eighth place: Beterbiev (6), Haney (3), Stevenson (3), Fury (2), Charlo (2), Alvarez (1), Davis (1), Lomachenko (1), Gonzalez (1)
Ninth place: Bivol (6), Haney (5), Stevenson (5), Davis (2), Beterbiev (1), Lomachenko (1)
10th place: Haney (5), Charlo (4), Lomachenko (3), Stevenson (2), Beterbiev (2), Bivol (1), Davis (1), Fulton (1)
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