Naoya Inoue made another statement with a hard-fought, but dominant victory over Marlon Tapales to become only the second men’s fighter to win an undisputed championship in a second division in the four-belt era (Terence Crawford beat Errol Spence Jr.to become the first to do so earlier this year).
Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs), No. 2 in ESPN’s pound-for-pound rankings, stopped Tapales in the 10th round to add the IBF and WBA belts to his WBC and WBO junior featherweight titles.
“It was one of the most intense fights I’ve had before, probably, but my corner cheered me up and kept me focused throughout the bout,” Inoue said after the fight.
Inoue, a four-division champion previously won titles at junior flyweight, junior bantamweight and bantamweight, picked up some first-place votes but not enough to unseat Crawford at No. 1 — for now. He plans to stay at junior featherweight for the foreseeable future and defends his belts, before moving up in weight.
“I think [junior featherweight] is my weight class for now, so in 2024, I would like to show myself at [122 pounds] in even stronger form,” Inoue added.
WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol moved up one place after a one-sided unanimous decision victory over Lyndon Arthur. Bivol leapfrogs Canelo Alvarez to take the No. 4 spot.
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, who defeated Sunny Edwards on Dec. 16 to unify two flyweight world titles got some votes, but not enough to crack the top 10.
Our panel of Mike Coppinger, Ben Baby, Timothy Bradley Jr., Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Eric Raskin, Bernardo Osuna, Eric Woodyard, Bernardo Pilatti, Charles Moynihan, Salvador Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli, Michael Mascaro, Aladdin Freeman, Damian Delgado Averhof, and Victor Lopez, shares its votes.
More rankings: Divisional rankings and ESPN’s women’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Note: Results are through Dec. 28.
1. TERENCE CRAWFORD 
Previous ranking: No. 1
RECORD: 40-0, 31 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO9) Errol Spence Jr., July 29
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
2. NAOYA INOUE Previous ranking: No. 2
RECORD: 26-0, 23 KOs
DIVISION: Junior featherweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (KO10) Marlon Tapales, Dec. 26
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
3. OLEKSANDR USYK Previous ranking: No. 3
RECORD: 21-0, 14 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO9) Daniel Dubois, Aug. 26
NEXT FIGHT: Feb. 17 vs. Tyson Fury
4. DMITRY BIVOL 
Previous ranking: No. 5
RECORD: 22-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Lyndon Arthur, Dec. 23
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
5. CANELO ALVAREZ 
Previous ranking: No. 4
RECORD: 60-2-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Super middleweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Jermell Charlo, Sept. 30
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
6. DEVIN HANEY Previous ranking: No. 6
RECORD: 31-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Junior welterweight
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Regis Prograis, Dec. 9
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
7. ARTUR BETERBIEV Previous ranking: No. 7
RECORD: 19-0, 19 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO8) Anthony Yarde, Jan. 28
NEXT FIGHT: Jan. 13 vs. Callum Smith
8. GERVONTA DAVIS Previous ranking: No. 8
RECORD: 29-0, 27 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (KO7) Ryan Garcia, April 22
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
9. SHAKUR STEVENSON Previous ranking: No. 9
RECORD: 21-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight champion
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Edwin De Los Santos, Nov. 16
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
10. TYSON FURY Previous ranking: No. 10
RECORD: 34-0-1, 24 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD10) Francis Ngannou, Oct. 28
NEXT FIGHT: Feb. 17 vs. Oleksandr Usyk
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: Teofimo Lopez Jr. (19), Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (12), David Benavidez (7), Vasiliy Lomachenko (4), Errol Spence Jr. (2), Emanuel Navarrete (2).
How our writers voted
Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Usyk, 5. Haney, 6. Davis, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Beterbiev, 9.Alvarez, 10. Fury
Bradley: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Haney, 6. Bivol, 7. Alvarez, 8. Stevenson, 9. Lopez, 10. Davis
Coppinger: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Davis, 9. Lopez, 10. Fury
Tessitore: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Haney, 7. Stevenson, 8. Alvarez, 9. Lopez, 10. Rodriguez
Parkinson: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Bivol, 7. Haney, 8. Davis, 9. Rodriguez, 10. Lopez
Raskin: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Alvarez, 5. Usyk, 6. Stevenson, 7. Haney, 8. Benavidez, 9. Davis, 10. Beterbiev
Baby: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Haney, 6. Bivol, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Stevenson, 9. Fury, 10. Rodriguez
Rodriguez: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Bivol, 6. Haney, 7. Davis, 8. Fury, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Rodriguez
Woodyard: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Haney, 5. Davis, 6. Fury, 7. Lopez, 8. Usyk, 9. Stevenson, 10. Spence
Moynihan: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Haney, 6. Bivol, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Davis, 9. Fury, 10. Spence
Pilatti: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Haney, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Davis, 8. Benavidez, 9. Navarrete, 10. Rodriguez
Zirolli: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Stevenson, 4. Alvarez, 5. Usyk, 6. Haney, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Bivol, 9. Lopez, 10. Benavidez
Mascaro: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Haney, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Stevenson, 8. Alvarez, 9. Lopez, 10. Rodriguez
Freeman: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Haney, 6. Alvarez, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Rodriguez, 10. Davis
Lopez: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Bivol, 6. Haney, 7. Fury, 8. Davis, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Stevenson
Delgado Averhof: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Davis 9. Fury, 10. Rodriguez
Osuna: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Lopez, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Rodriguez, 10. Stevenson
ESPN experts’ poll
First place: Crawford (13), Inoue (4)
Second place: Inoue (13), Crawford (4)
Third place: Usyk (9), Alvarez (5), Bivol (2), Stevenson (1)
Fourth place: Bivol (6), Usyk (5), Alvarez (3), Beterbiev (2), Haney (1)
Fifth place: Haney (7), Bivol (3), Alvarez (3), Usyk (2), Beterbiev (1), Davis (1)
Sixth place: Haney (7), Bivol (4), Beterbiev (2), Alvarez (1), Davis (1), Stevenson (1), Fury (1)
Seventh place: Beterbiev (5), Stevenson (3), Haney (2), Davis (2), Lopez (2), Alvarez (1), Fury (1), Lomachenko (1)
Eighth place: Davis (5), Beterbiev (3), Alvarez (2), Stevenson (2), Benavidez (2), Usyk (1), Bivol (1), Fury (1)
Ninth place: Lopez (5), Fury (3), Rodriguez (3), Beterbiev (2), Alvarez (1), Alvarez (1), Stevenson (1), Navarrete (1)
10th place: Rodriguez (6), Davis (2), Stevenson (2), Fury (2), Spence (2), Beterbiev (1), Lopez (1), Benavidez (1)