The ranking goes up on Mondays.
Ranked fights this week:
- Cruiser weight: (2) Lawrence Okolie vs (9) Chris Billam-Smith, May 27
- Junior Welterweight: (3) Jack Catterall vs Darragh Foley, 27 May
- Featherweight: (1) Mauricio Lara vs (4) Leigh Wood, May 27
- Featherweight: (6) Luis Alberto Lopez vs. Michael Conlan, May 27
- Junior Bantamweight: (7) Wisaksil Wangek vs Komgrich Nantapech, May 27
As always, when it came after a significant women’s fight and a change in their P4P, we start here.
Notes: Chantelle Cameron up to No. 2, you might ask? Actually, I have no idea if it will be contested at all, but if it is, let’s break it down.
- She is the undisputed champion at 140.
- Last November, she challenged the then-undisputed champion at 147, beating Jessica McCaskill.
- On Saturday she stood up to a challenge from the undisputed 135 champion, one of the great legends of women’s boxing, down the road in Dublin, beating Katie Taylor.
Other than Shields, nobody has that juice right now. I think Il Capo really has it served her place.
Taylor drops down to No. 3 but no further for now. She lost, but Taylor was still competitive, and there will be a rematch, which sounds like it will come at 135 through Cameron’s insistence as much as anything else. Serrano, Baumgardner and Estrada are right there on her heels.
Upcoming Fights: (1) Claressa Shields vs Hanna Gabriels, June 3 … (5) Alycia Baumgardner vs Christina Linardatou, July 15 … (4) Amanda Serrano vs Heather Hardy, August 5
Notes: Wake me up when Tyson Fury is done with social media feuds with Joe Rogan and Jon Jones, two people he will never fight in any capacity, and he signs to fight a real contender in a boxing ring. Or maybe he can get a rematch with Braun Strowman. Considering his other idea is probably a fourth fight with Derek Chisora, I think I prefer Strowman.
Upcoming Fights: TBA
Upcoming Fights: (2) Lawrence Okolie vs (9) Chris Billam-Smith, May 27
Upcoming Fights: (2) Artur Beterbiev vs. (3) Callum Smith, TBA
Notes: The weird situation where Canelo insists on rematching Dmitry Bivol at 175 but Bivol wants to do it at 168 could actually lead to Canelo vs Benavidez instead. I mean, if you’re going to fight at 168 either way and not get exactly what you want for once, Canelo and his team are going to decide more cleanly what they’re offering money for both fights. Both will be huge. But Canelo vs Bivol 2 isn’t as set in stone as Canelo seems to want, and Benavidez is an incredible second option, and I think the fight a lot of fans would honestly rather see.
Upcoming Fights: TBA
Notes: Janibek beat Steven Butler on May 13. Considering Golovkin is only technically active right now and Jermall Charlo isn’t super active, Janibek probably deserves to be called the best middleweight in the world right now. For beating Danny Dignum, Denzel Bentley and Steven Butler.
This is not the golden age of middleweight.
Upcoming Fights: (3) Jaime Munguia vs (7) Sergiy Derevyanchenko, June 10 … (4) Carlos Adames vs Julian Williams, June 24 … (5) Liam Smith vs (8) Chris Eubank Jr, July 1 … ( 7) Erislandy Lara vs. Danny Garcia, August 5
Upcoming Fights: (2) Tim Tszyu vs. Carlos Ocampo, June 17 … (7) Erickson Lubin vs. Luis Arias, June 24
Notes:
Upcoming Fights: (5) Vergil Ortiz Jr vs. (6) Eimantas Stanionis, July 8
Upcoming Fights: (3) Jack Catterall vs Darragh Foley, May 27 … (2) Josh Taylor vs (9) Teofimo Lopez, June 10 … (1) Regis Prograis vs TBA, June 17
Notes: Vasiliy Lomachenko goes back to No. 2. The Lomachenko I saw last Saturday was still Lomachenko. Yes, a 35-year-old Lomachenko, but against a fantastic young fighter who himself answered the call at a really high level and undoubtedly won the fight. I thought he won the fight.
I don’t think any less of Gervonta Davis than I did last week, but I have new evidence that Loma still has Lame in him, which we didn’t see as much against Jamaine Ortiz. This is a great top four, and with that comes the notes that Haney could go up to 140 instead of fighting Shakur Stevenson (who honestly might be the best of the four) or Tank Davis, and it sure doesn’t sound like Bill wants something to do with a Loma rematch.
And man, I’ve kind of said it already and I’m sure I’ll say it more in tomorrow’s podcast, but I hate that in all the debate about scoring it’s so easy to lose sight of the fact that this is a Good combat. This was one huge show for the highest level of boxing, and I was more impressed with Devin Haney than ever too! Even if I scored the match for Loma (which I did, 115-113), I thought this was the most dynamic performance we’ve ever seen from Haney, and it came against a guy like me know is great, and fought a great battle.
Sure, we’ve had big fights, but this was the first one in a while where I, like a fan, felt that tension through 12 rounds, it tingled my body watching these fighters go about their business. It was an excellent fight. I absolutely loved it. I personally would love to see a rematch, although I don’t think, right now, we’re getting one. I don’t put it at zero percent, though; Bill seems so against it that it could backfire and make it more likely if the calls for it are strong enough and Top Rank/ESPN offers the right deal.
Upcoming Fights: (6) George Kambosos Jr vs. Maxi Hughes, TBA, July 29
Notes: Oscar Valdez looked pretty good in his win over Adam Lopez, a win that was expected but you could see Valdez on his game, and Lopez is a tough guy, almost impossible to really stop, he makes you work for the rounds.
It is expected that Valdez will fight Emanuel Navarrete next, which was the plan in February before Valdez was injured. I loved that fight then, love it even more now, because we saw Navarrete look vulnerable against Liam Wilson, and it could just be a great, dramatic fight. I’m even suggesting a date: Friday, September 15th on ESPN. Canelo will almost certainly fight on Saturday, September 16. Take advantage of the week. Two Mexican warriors on Mexican Independence Day. And you don’t fight that much college football on a Friday night. I know and understand that Friday is not Saturday, but I think that the situation is being worked on.
Upcoming Fights: TBA
Notes: Ruben Villa returned on 13 May and won handily and impressively, albeit against a lower level foe. It was a tune-up, a rust-shaker, a Top Rank how-to. Now he shall be able to get the chances to build on that. He’s a really good boxer, there’s a lot of people on this list I think he should beat, and if Mick Conlan beats Luis Alberto Lopez, it might not be Villa who fall outside the top 10 next week. It could be a real surprise!
Upcoming Fights: (1) Mauricio Lara vs (4) Leigh Wood, May 27 … (6) Luis Alberto Lopez vs Michael Conlan, May 27
Upcoming Fights: (5) Raeese Aleem vs (10) Sam Goodman, June 17 … (1) Stephen Fulton Jr vs Naoya Inoue, July 25 … (9) Liam Davies vs Jason Cunningham, July 29
Notes: Jason Moloney won a world title in his third crack, beating Vincent Astrolabio cleanly.
So Moloney pops up to No. 3, behind Donaire and one of the two guys who have beaten him, while Astrolabio drops to No. 6 in a bit of a reshuffle, with Takuma Inoue getting a bump up into the top five. Inoue may not be special like his brother, but he is a skilled boxer, and look at the rest of this group, no one has a case that they are better, and I think he deserves that spot.
Upcoming Fights: (1) Nonito Donaire vs. (9) Alexandro Santiago, TBA … (2) Emmanuel Rodriguez vs. Melvin Lopez, TBA
Notes: More reshuffle, this one after Junto Nakatani dominated and then brutally knocked out Andrew Moloney to take the vacant WBO title, and just a fresh thought on the division.
I really like Fernando Martinez, I do, and I would love to see him fight someone. He takes the drop because it’s a big division. Still. Even with people coming and going, this has been a great division for years now. Jade Bornea, Martinez’s next opponent, comes in at No. 10 to replace Moloney, who is still a good fighter, but again, it’s just a good division.
Nakatani looks like the real deal. He scored at 112, he scores at 115. There is nothing limited about his game. He can snap, he can box, he’s an incredibly accurate puncher who has a ton of different shots in his arsenal that are plus punches for him. I’m not saying that he beats everyone for sure, fighting someone as resourceful as an Estrada or Chocolatito or whoever is tougher than the guys he’s faced so far, but skill-wise it’s all there.
Joshua Franco is at #2 because I really think he beat Kazuto Ioka when they fought. And they will do it again because they are both legit. That has been the story of this division for a long time.
Upcoming Fights: (7) Wisaksil Wangek vs. Komgrich Nantapech, May 27 … (6) Fernando Martinez vs. Jade Bornea, June 24 … (2) Joshua Franco vs. (4) Kazuto Ioka, June 24
Notes: Hiroto Kyoguchi moved up to flyweight on Saturday. His win was dominant, though against a medium sized fighter. But yeah, I think he’s instantly one of the top 10 in this division. It’s going to be tough to be a three-weight world champion, but I’m guessing he’ll get the chance to go for it.
Upcoming Fights: (1) Sunny Edwards vs. Andres Campos, June 10 … (5) Felix Alvarado vs. Armando Hernandez, June 10 … (9) Taku Kuwahara vs. Wulan Tuolehazi, July 11
Upcoming Fights: (5) Daniel Matellon vs (10) Carlos Canizales, June 10 … (5) Sivenathi Nontshinga vs (10) Regie Suganob, June 16
Notes: Luis Castillo knocked out Ayanda Ndulani on Friday in South Africa, so he’s in! I watched the fight on YouTube, he didn’t look like a good fighter or anything, but he showed some raw power, and, well, the top 10 in the sport is full of guys who aren’t a good fighter or anything, but they’re good , and they are in the running.
Upcoming Fights: TBA
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