Rankings go up on Mondays at Noon ET.
Ranked fights this week:
- Light Heavyweight: (6) Marcus Browne vs Denis Grachev, Apr. 20 (Note: It looks like this fight is happening, it just won’t be part of PBC’s televised broadcast on Tuesday; if it doesn’t, oh well)
- Light Heavyweight: (10) Callum Johnson vs Emil Markic, Apr. 24
- Featherweight: (3) Emanuel Navarrete vs Christopher Diaz, Apr. 24
- Junior Flyweight: (1) Kenshiro Teraji vs (7) Tetsuya Hisada, Apr. 24
- Junior Flyweight: (9) Sivenathi Nontshinga vs Christian Araneta, Apr. 24
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Upcoming Fights: (4) Andy Ruiz Jr vs Chris Arreola, May 1 … (8) Joseph Parker vs Derek Chisora, May 1 … (1) Tyson Fury vs (2) Anthony Joshua, TBA … (9) Michael Hunter vs Filip Hrgovic, TBA
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Notes: This is the week I’ve chosen to drop Andrew Tabiti from the rankings. In about two months it will be two years since he last fought, and while losing to Yuniel Dorticos is no shame, he also lost that most recent fight. He has nothing scheduled. We’ve heard nothing about him maybe getting something scheduled. I’ve tried to be way more forgiving of inactivity due to COVID making a disaster of 2020 for months, but at some point you gotta fight to stay ranked. Basically everyone has fought since June 2019.
So in is Thabiso Mchunu, the 33-year-old South African veteran who has been on a solid run and beat the hell out of Evgeny Tishchenko on March 27. We talked about him not being in then, and I said he was basically No. 11 for me. Now he’s No. 10, and frankly you could argue him into the top five, it’s a bunched division after the top three or four.
Upcoming Fights: TBA
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Upcoming Fights: (6) Marcus Browne vs Denis Grachev, Apr. 20 … (10) Callum Johnson vs Emil Markic, Apr. 24 … (2) Dmitry Bivol vs Craig Richards, May 1
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Notes: I admit it’s kind of hard to go banana over Carlos Gongora after wins against Ali Akhmedov and Christopher Pearson, but let me try to break down how I feel about him right now. The Akhmedov win in December was an upset, and fair enough, maybe it shouldn’t have been seen as one. The Pearson win was not an upset, and Pearson has never been a real contender or anything.
So fair enough, Pearson doesn’t really elevate Gongora from where he was. But if Gongora is a real contender, what he did against Pearson is what he should have done against Pearson. Christopher Pearson is the level of fighter who can tell you if someone might be a bit more pretender than contender, and he couldn’t do a damn thing with Gongora.
Gongora’s 31, he had a good amateur background (two-time Olympian, which in itself only says so much, some Olympians are frankly not very good), and can clearly fight. He’s a contender now at 168. This is a top-heavy division with a clear king at the moment, some good top contenders. If you matched Gongora with John Ryder or Daniel Jacobs right now, I’m picking Gongora. If Gongora were fighting Callum Smith or Billy Joe Saunders next, I don’t know that I’m picking against Gongora. Styles make fights and all that, sure, but he’s got real momentum, he’s got skills and power, and he’s fighting with hunger. This is a dangerous dude at 168 right now.
Upcoming Fights: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs (4) Billy Joe Saunders, May 8 … (3) David Benavidez vs Jose Uzcategui, Aug. 28
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Notes: I’m not budging either Demetrius Andrade or Liam Williams after their fight Saturday, which Andrade won by decision. I don’t think we learned much new with that one. Andrade was the rightful favorite and won. Williams was the game underdog and fought his ass off all the way. They both showed who I thought they were already. Boxing rankings are stupid no matter how you do them, but I hate penalizing a guy like Liam Williams for actually taking a good fight, performing to the best of his ability and competing, and losing to a top guy.
Who would I even rank over him? Kanat Islam is at No. 10 halfway by default and could be a lot of other guys. The Denzel Bentley-Felix Cash winner this weekend will have some claim to that spot and might move in next week. Who else is there? Am I supposed to now say I think Michael Zerafa or Vincent Feigenbutz have done something that makes them more worthy than Liam Williams? Esquiva Falcao or Zhanibek Alimkhanuly?
Upcoming Fights: (7) Chris Eubank Jr vs Marcus Morrison, May 1 … (2) Jermall Charlo vs Juan Macias Montiel, June 19 … (8) Jaime Munguia vs TBA, June 19
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Notes: So we had that whole Michel Soro debate/discussion a couple weeks back for basically nothing. We don’t even have to wait for Erislandy Lara to move up on May 1, he’s right back into the top 10 after Tony Harrison’s draw with Bryant Perrella on Saturday.
I watched the fight on Sunday and had it 114-114, same as Wil had live. I think it was legitimately about a 50/50 fight. I think I’ve made clear I think the world of Harrison as a human being and am a really big fan of his boxing, too. He didn’t fight badly. Perrella fought well. But Harrison went 50/50 with a guy moving up from 147 coming off a loss, who’s never gotten over the hump in his career. It was a fine fight and a matchup I liked going in. But this is an extremely competitive division, very crowded with good talent. Harrison falls just out for me on the result.
Upcoming Fights: (3) Erislandy Lara vs Thomas Lamanna [middleweight], May 1 … (9) Sebastian Fundora vs Jorge Cota, May 1 … (4) Jeison Rosario vs (8) Erickson Lubin, June 26 … (1) Jermell Charlo vs (2) Brian Castano, July 17
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Notes: Would be nice if one of these yahoos in boxing’s glorious glamorous welterweight division scheduled a damn fight. (I am trying to manifest a FOX schedule this week.)
Upcoming Fights: TBA
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Notes: Regis Prograis won Saturday against Ivan Redkach, won easily as everyone expected, Redkach was no real problem for him. The less said otherwise, the better. Prograis to me looked a touch slower than normal, but that might just be one of those nights, might just be that he didn’t take Redkach that seriously as an opponent. Nothing worth over-thinking yet either way.
Upcoming Fights: (1) Josh Taylor vs (2) Jose Ramirez, May 22 … (4) Jose Zepeda vs Pedro Campa, May 22 … (7) Mario Barrios vs Gervonta Davis, June 26
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Upcoming Fights: (4) Devin Haney vs (7) Jorge Linares, May 29 … (1) Teofimo Lopez vs (10) George Kambosos Jr, June 5 … (5) Gervonta Davis vs Mario Barrios [junior welterweight], June 26 … (3) Ryan Garcia vs (8) Javier Fortuna, July 9
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Upcoming Fights: (6) Shakur Stevenson vs Jeremiah Nakathila, June 12 … (2) Gervonta Davis vs Mario Barrios [junior welterweight], June 26 … (3) Chris Colbert vs Yuriorkis Gamboa, July 3 … (8) Shavkat Rakhimov vs Kenichi Ogawa, TBA
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Upcoming Fights: (3) Emanuel Navarrete vs Christopher Diaz, Apr. 24 … (2) Kid Galahad vs Jazza Dickens, May 8 … (1) Gary Russell Jr vs Rey Vargas, TBA … (5) Mauricio Lara vs (6) Josh Warrington, TBA
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Upcoming Fights: (3) Danny Roman vs Ricardo Espinoza, May 15 …. (4) Brandon Figueroa vs (5) Luis Nery, May 15 … (2) Stephen Fulton Jr vs Nery-Figueroa winner, Sept. 11 … (1) Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs (8) Ronny Rios, TBA
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Upcoming Fights: (2) Nordine Oubaali vs (3) Nonito Donaire, May 29 … (1) Naoya Inoue vs Michael Dasmarinas, June 19
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Upcoming Fights: (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (4) Chocolatito Gonzalez, TBA … (3) Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs Carlos Cuadras, TBA
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Upcoming Fights: (2) Moruti Mthalane vs Sunny Edwards, Apr. 30 … (6) Jay Harris vs Ricardo Sandoval, May 14
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Upcoming Fights: (1) Kenshiro Teraji vs (7) Tetsuya Hisada, Apr. 24 … (9) Sivenathi Nontshinga vs Christian Araneta, Apr. 24 … (5) Elwin Soto vs Katsunari Takayama, May 8
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Upcoming Fights: (9) Ginjiro Shigeoka vs Toshiki Kawamitsu, May 23 … (1) Knockout CP Freshmart vs Pongsaklek Sithdabnij, May 29
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Upcoming Fights: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs Billy Joe Saunders, May 8 … (5) Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos Jr, June 5 … (2) Naoya Inoue vs Michael Dasmarinas, June 19 … (10) Jermell Charlo vs Brian Castano, July 17 … (8) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (4) Chocolatito Gonzalez, TBA … (9) Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua, TBA
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Notes: As with dropping Tabiti at cruiserweight, I’m dropping Yesica Bopp here. She hasn’t fought since the exact same date in June 2019 and has nothing on the schedule. I hate doing it because Bopp really is one of the best women’s fighters in the world, but good for the goose, etc. Eventually you gotta fight. If she fights, she probably returns to the rankings just because she fought. Hamadouche gets the nod for me at No. 10; she’s a good, mean fighter, really fun to watch, and has rare power. Her only loss was to Delfine Persoon back in 2015.
Upcoming Fights: (2) Katie Taylor vs Natasha Jonas, May 1 … (7) Mikaela Mayer vs TBA, June 19