On Saturday, Errol Spence Jr. fought for the first time since undergoing surgery to repair a detached retina on his left eye. He looked better than ever in a TKO victory over Yordenis Ugas, which unified three of the four significant welterweight world titles.
Spence punished Ugas, who suffered a broken orbital bone in Round 7, before the ringside doctor stopped the fight in the 10th. After the fight, Spence called out Terence Crawford, who has the other welterweight belt.
“Everybody knows who I want next; I want Terence Crawford next,” Spence said.
The victory was impressive enough for Spence to move up two spots on ESPN’s pound-for-pound rankings, but he still remains behind the man he wants to fight next, Crawford. A megafight between the two will finally end the discussion about who the best 147-pounder in the world is.
“Any unification title win elevates a fighter, especially when it is achieved with such a good performance as Spence managed to do over Ugas to unify three of the four major welterweight world belts,” ESPN boxing writer Nick Parkinson said. “He completely outgunned Ugas and looked razor sharp, erasing any doubts over an eye injury that kept him out through 2021. There was a lot of pressure on Spence, who had not fought in 17 months, with the potential megafight against Crawford now within tantalizing reach. So it was a big win, worthy of moving him above others in my list.”
Middleweight Gennadiy Golovkin and junior bantamweight Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez also scored impressive victories as well since our last rankings.
Our panel of Mike Coppinger, Andre Ward, Tim Bradley, Joe Tessitore, Michael Rothstein, Teddy Atlas, 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 April 20.
1. CANELO ALVAREZ 
Previous ranking: No. 1
RECORD: 57-1-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Super middleweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO11) Caleb Plant, Nov. 6
NEXT FIGHT: May 7 vs. Dmitry Bivol
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: 22-0, 19 KOs
DIVISION: Bantamweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (KO8) Aran Dipaen, Dec. 14
NEXT FIGHT: June 7 vs. Nonito Donaire
4. ERROL SPENCE JR. 
Previous ranking: No. 6
RECORD: 28-0, 22 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO10) Yordenis Ugas, April 16
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
5. OLEKSANDR USYK 
Previous ranking: No. 4
RECORD: 19-0, 13 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Anthony Joshua, Sept. 25
NEXT FIGHT: TBA vs. Anthony Joshua
6. TYSON FURY Previous ranking: No. 5
RECORD: 31-0-1, 22 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (KO11) Deontay Wilder, Oct. 9
NEXT FIGHT: April 23 vs. Dillian Whyte
7. VASILIY LOMACHENKO Previous ranking: No. 7
RECORD: 16-2, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Richard Commey, Dec. 11
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
8. JUAN FRANCISCO ESTRADA Previous ranking: No. 8
RECORD: 42-3, 28 KOs
DIVISION: Junior bantamweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD12) Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, March 13, 2021
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
T-9. JOSH TAYLOR Previous ranking: No. 9
RECORD: 19-0, 13 KOs
DIVISION: Junior welterweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD12) Jack Catterall, Feb. 26
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
T-9. GERVONTA DAVIS Previous ranking: 10
RECORD: 26-0, 24 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight (titlist)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Isaac Cruz, Dec. 5
NEXT FIGHT: May 28 vs. Rolando Romero
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: George Kambosos Jr. (14), Gennadiy Golovkin (5), Artur Beterbiev (4), Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (4), Jermell Charlo (2), Stephen Fulton (2), Teofimo Lopez (1), Shakur Stevenson (1).
How our writers voted
Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Alvarez, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Spence, 6. Lomachenko, 7. Fury, 8. Davis, 9. Estrada, 10. Beterbiev
Bradley: 1. Crawford, 2. Alvarez, 3. Spence, 4. Usyk, 5. Inoue, 6. Fury, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Kambosos, 9. Davis, 10. Taylor
Ward: 1. Crawford, 2. Alvarez, 3. Fury, 4. Spence, 5. Usyk, 6. Inoue, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Estrada, 9. Taylor, 10. Davis
Coppinger: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Fury, 5. Usyk, 6. Spence, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Gonzalez, 9. Estrada, 10. Beterbiev
Tessitore: 1. Crawford, 2. Alvarez, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Lomachenko, 6. Spence, 7. Fury, 8. Estrada, 9. Taylor, 10. Stevenson
Parkinson: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Spence, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Kambosos, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Estrada, 10. Gonzalez
Baby: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Inoue, 5. Spence, 6. Fury, 7. Estrada, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Fulton, 10. Davis
Rothstein: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Fury, 5. Spence, 6. Usyk, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Davis, 9. Estrada, 10. Kambosos
Woodyard: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Fury, 4. Spence, 5. Inoue, 6. Usyk, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Taylor, 9. Davis, 10. Kambosos
Phelps: 1. Alvarez, 2. Spence, 3. Crawford, 4. Inoue, 5. Usyk, 6. Taylor, 7. Fury, 8. Kambosos, 9. Charlo, 10. Lopez
Dansby: 1. Alvarez, 2. Usyk, 3. Crawford, 4. Spence, 5. Fury, 6. Inoue, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Davis, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Kambosos
Moynihan: 1. Alvarez, 2. Spence, 3. Crawford, 4. Inoue, 5. Usyk, 6. Fury, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Golovkin, 9. Estrada, 10. Kambosos
Pilatti: 1. Crawford, 2. Spence, 3. Inoue, 4. Alvarez, 5. Lomachenko, 6. Fury, 7. Estrada, 8. Usyk, 9. Davis, 10. Taylor
Rodriguez: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Fury, 4. Inoue, 5. Spence, 6. Usyk, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Taylor, 9. Golovkin, 10. Estrada
ESPN experts’ poll
First place: Alvarez (9), Crawford (5)
Second place: Crawford (6), Alvarez (4), Spence (3), Usyk (1)
Third place: Inoue (6), Crawford (3), Fury (3), Spence (1), Usyk (1)
Fourth place: Inoue (4), Spence (4), Usyk (3), Fury (2), Alvarez (1)
Fifth place: Spence (4), Usyk (4), Inoue (2), Fury (2), Lomachenko (2)
Sixth place: Usyk (4), Fury (4), Inoue (2), Spence (2), Lomachenko (1), Taylor (1)
Seventh place: Lomachenko (8), Fury (3), Estrada (2), Kambosos (1)
Eighth place: Davis (3), Lomachenko (2), Estrada (2), Taylor (2), Kambosos (2), Usyk (1), Golovkin (1), Gonzalez (1)
Ninth place: Estrada (5), Davis (3), Taylor (2), Golovkin (1), Fulton (1), Beterbiev (1), Jermell Charlo (1)
10th place: Kambosos (4), Taylor (2), Davis (2), Beterbiev (2), Estrada (1), Gonzalez (1), Stevenson (1), Lopez (1)