By Chris Williams: Undisputed champions Devin Haney and Jermell Charlo were left off ESPN’s updated pound-for-pound list this week, and you got to wonder why.
Both Haney and Jermell recently became undisputed champions and should be on ESPN’s pound-for-pound list. Chris Williams doesn’t like ESPN’s Mickey Mouse list, and he needs to be redone from top to bottom.
Instead of those two talented fighters making the list, ESPN has recently beaten Canelo Alvarez at #4, retired WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, and Vasyl Lomachenko in the top ten.
With his recent victory over unified lightweight champion George Kamboso Jr. on June 5th, Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) deserves to be on ESPN’s P4P list. What has Haney got to do to be included on the list?
If becoming an undisputed champion at 135 isn’t a big enough accomplishment to make ESPN’s top 10 list, I don’t know what Haney needs to do.
Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) fights in the same division as Haney, and he hasn’t fought this year and has two defeats. Why is Loma on ESPN’s pound-for-pound list and NOT Haney?
ESPN’s updated pound-for-pound list
1. Terence Crawford
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Errol Spence Jr
4. Canelo Alvarez
5. Tyson Fury
6. Oleksandr Usyk
7. Artur Beterbiev
8. Dmitry Bivol
9. Vasyl Lomachenko
10. Shakur Stevenson
Why is retired Tyson Fury on the list? Repeatedly, Fury has told the boxing world that he’s retired and isn’t coming back unless he gets half a billion dollars, which will never happen.
Beterbiev’s 2nd round KO of Joe Smith Jr. propels him into the latest ESPN P4P rankings 🚀
See how the panel voted ➡️ https://t.co/CTXzR1vFld pic.twitter.com/E6uoYTlEsu
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) June 22, 2022
If Fury is retired, he shouldn’t be on this list, and he should be removed from the WBC rankings and stripped of his heavyweight title.
Chris Williams feels Naoya Inoue, Vasyl Lomachenko, and Tyson Fury shouldn’t be on ESPN’s pound-for-pound list because none of them have done enough to rate.
ESPN is making a big production about Naoya’s recent win over 39-year-old Nonito Donaire, but that guy was as old as the hills.
If Donaire was in his 20s, you could understand Inoue being vaulted to the #2 spot in ESPN’s pound-for-pound list, but that’s not the case. Donaire is about to turn 40 years old, and Inoue should have fought that guy again years ago after their first clash in 2018.
Chris Williams pound-for-pound rankings
1. Devin Haney
2. Jermell Charlo
3. Errol Spence Jr
4. Shakur Stevenson
5. Oleksandr Usyk
6. Dmitry Bivol
7. Artur Beterbiev
8. Demetrius Andrade
9. Roman Gonzalez
10. Terence Crawford
If Crawford had some quality wins at welterweight, I could put him higher than the ten spot, but he’s beaten a lot of lesser fighters, ones that are old like Shawn Porter.
