Rankings (Oct. 25): Is Stevenson the best at 130? Plus more notes

Rankings go up on Mondays.

Ranked fights this week:

• Welterweight: (7) Jaron Ennis vs Thomas Dulorme, Oct. 30
• Welterweight: (9) Jamal James vs Radzhab Butaev, Oct. 30
• Junior Welterweight: (4) Jose Zepeda vs Josue Vargas, Oct. 30

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Upcoming Fights: (8) Joseph Parker vs Derek Chisora, Dec. 18

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Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Notes: This will be Kovalev’s final week in the rankings unless he comes out of nowhere and schedules a fight by next Monday. I could have just taken him out now, but mostly I didn’t feel like thinking about it right now.

Upcoming Fights: (8) Maxim Vlasov vs TBA, Nov. 27 … (1) Artur Beterbiev vs (5) Marcus Browne, Dec. 17 … (4) Joe Smith Jr vs Umar Salamov, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs (2) Caleb Plant, Nov. 6 … (9) Zach Parker vs TBA, Nov. 6 … (3) David Benavidez vs Jose Uzcategui, Nov. 13

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Upcoming Fights: (8) Janibek Alimkhanuly vs Hassan N’Dam, Nov. 5 … (7) Jaime Munguia vs Gabriel Rosado, Nov. 13 … (3) Demetrius Andrade vs Jason Quigley, Nov. 19 … (1) Gennadiy Golovkin vs (5) Ryota Murata, Dec. 28

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Upcoming Fights: (6) Tim Tszyu vs Takeshi Inoue, Nov. 17 … (8) Michel Soro vs (9) Israil Madrimov, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (7) Jaron Ennis vs Thomas Dulorme, Oct. 30 … (9) Jamal James vs Radzhab Butaev, Oct. 30 … (2) Terence Crawford vs (4) Shawn Porter, Nov. 20 … (3) Yordenis Ugas vs Eimantas Stanionis, TBA

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Notes: Gervonta Davis’ next fight is going to be at 135. His last three fights have been at, in order, 135, 130, and 140. So now it’ll be 135, 130, 140, and 135. The one (seemingly) clear thing is that he’s not going to fight at 130 again; he already gave up a belt there. Davis has been a pain to rank, but anyway I’m putting him back at 135, which is where everyone wants to rank him anyway so that he’s with the other Hot Young Names of Boxing and Vasiliy Lomachenko — you know, a bunch of people he won’t be fighting.

So to fill the vacant slot, I’m going with Sandor Martin. He fought Mikey Garcia at a 145 catchweight two Saturdays ago, but he is a 140 lb fighter and stated his clear intention to go back to 140. Even if he rematches Garcia, that probably happens at 140, because Mikey meant to work his way back down to that weight anyway. Martin may be no world-beater, but, well, neither are most of these guys. He’s a solid boxer, crafty, very much knows what he’s doing in the ring.

Upcoming Fights: (4) Jose Zepeda vs Josue Vargas, Oct. 30 … (1) Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall, Feb. 26

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Notes: Tank Davis comes back in at 135, and I’m slotting him in at No. 6, which I think is fair. By talent maybe as high as No. 3, but you know, whatever. Garcia has a good win at 135, Haney’s had solid wins, Commey is a damn good fighter. Davis has time to move up and make his case. It’ll start in December, and we’ll also shake some other things out by then, and honestly, Ryan Garcia might start getting lapped for a moment, and y’all know I’m a believer in Garcia’s ability and all that. Boxing is weird.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Teofimo Lopez vs (9) George Kambosos Jr, Nov. 27 … (6) Gervonta Davis vs Rolando Romero, Dec. 5 … (2) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs (5) Richard Commey, Dec. 11 … (4) Devin Haney vs (8) Joseph Diaz Jr, TBA

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Notes: I think Shakur Stevenson is probably the best fighter in this division, but I don’t want to just jump and put him at No. 1 — Oscar Valdez earned that when he beat Miguel Berchelt, dominated him, and everyone had Berchelt No. 1. I will say that if Stevenson-Valdez happens, I will pick Stevenson without a second thought, but like many, I also picked Berchelt without much doubt. (I did consider Valdez, but settled firmly on Berchelt, and was wrong.)

Stevenson-Valdez is a great fight to make, the only fight to make at 130. (I will say that if Emanuel Navarrete wants to fight one of them, I would accept that, but also would kinda feel like someone’s avoiding someone.) Stevenson’s win over Jamel Herring was as many imagined, a clean and clear victory where he simply was too skilled for a good veteran fighter. I’m not dropping Herring too far. For one thing, once you get past the top two, almost nobody on this list has really proven much other than Berchelt and Herring, who lost to those top two guys. It’s a division that will shake itself out, but right now has a very clear top two, they’re both under the same promotional banner, it’s time to do the fight.

Upcoming Fights: (6) Chris Colbert vs (8) Roger Gutierrez, TBA … (7) Azinga Fuzile vs Kenichi Ogawa, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (4) Kid Galahad vs Kiko Martinez, Nov. 13 … (9) Isaac Dogboe vs Christopher Diaz, Nov. 20

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs (8) Ronny Rios, Nov. 19 … (2) Stephen Fulton Jr vs (3) Brandon Figueroa, Nov. 27 … (10) Ra’eese Aleem vs Eduardo Baez, Nov. 27

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Upcoming Fights: (9) Takuma Inoue vs Shingo Wake [junior featherweight], Nov. 11 … (2) Nonito Donaire vs Reymart Gaballo, TBA … (3) John Riel Casimero vs Paul Butler, TBA

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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: (1) Julio Ces Martinez vs (7) McWilliams Arroyo, Nov. 19 … (2) Sunny Edwards vs Jayson Mama, TBA … (5) Artem Dalakian vs Luis Concepcion, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (2) Petchmanee CP Freshmart vs Danai Ngiabphukhiaw, Nov. 2 … (9) Vic Saludar vs Erick Rosa Pacheco, Dec. 9

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs Caleb Plant, Nov. 6 … (7) Terence Crawford vs Shawn Porter, Nov. 20 … (5) Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos Jr, Nov. 27 … (8) Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall, Feb. 26 … (10) Juan Francisco Estrada vs Chocolatito Gonzalez, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (5) Delfine Persoon vs TBA, Nov. 1 … (6) Mikaela Mayer vs Maiva Hamadouche, Nov. 5 … (10) Terri Harper vs Alycia Baumgardner, Nov. 13 … (2) Claressa Shields vs Ema Kozin, Dec. 11 … (8) Savannah Marshall vs TBA, Dec. 11