After an extremely active weekend in the sport full of major fights, there isn’t a ton of movement to report in the S8C Top 25. That is in part due to the draw in the GGG/Canelo PPV main event, not to mention some performances that didn’t elevate highly rated fighters like Billy Joe Saunders or Callum Smith. Still, there was a fair amount of movement at the lower weights as well as a new number one at junior middleweight, plus more.
Super bantamweight saw the most movement in the rankings. This week’s big winner was previously unranked Ryosuke Iwasa of Japan who upset Yukinori Oguni for his title. Iwasa is now #15. Given his very poor showing in that fight, Oguni suffered what might be the largest drop in the history of my rankings by going from fourth to #20. Diego De La Hoya also took a good leap from twenty second to #14 following his dominant showing against Randy Caballero who fell one spot to #23. Shingo Wake also won but held serve at #24.
While active in terms of fights, not much changed at middleweight. Golovkin and Canelo remain at #1 and #2 following their draw in Vegas while Billy Joe Saunders holds still at #5 following his rather boring win over Willie Monroe. Monroe drops out of the top ten to #12 though. This pushed Martin Murray up one spot following his own win to #11.
Junior middleweight was shaken up at the top by my removal of Canelo Alvarez. Given his good performance Saturday night, he isn’t going back. This elevates Erislandy Lara to top position. Oppositely, Viktor Postol returned to the junior welterweight rankings after his year plus layoff. Though he looked a bit shaky in his return fight, I could put him no worse than #3 given his resume in the division.
Erik Skoglund is now ranked in two divisions following his very competitive loss to Callum Smith in the World Boxing Super Series quarterfinals. He will remain that way until it becomes clear whether he plans on returning to light heavyweight or staying at super middleweight. He is now the #11 super middleweight in addition to being the #16 light heavyweight. Callum Smith remains at #6.
No longer in two divisions is Javier Fortuna. Though he has not fought at the full lightweight limit, his last four fights have been within its range. Accordingly I removed him from junior lightweight. He is #16 at 135 lbs.
Featherweight saw Jesus M Rojas stop Claudio Marrero Friday night. As a result, they have swapped places. Rojas is now #10 while Marrero is now #13.
John Riel Casimero made his debut at super flyweight, but it did not go as plan as he lost to the suddenly surging Jonas Sultan. Sultan jumps from fourteenth to #11 after the win while Casimero, still a top talent, debuts at #13.
Finally, #1 ranked light flyweight Kosei Tanaka successfully defended his belt and held his position. His Thai opponent, Palangpol CP Freshmart, was much better than I had realized however. In a division where everyone outside the top ten is bunched so tightly together, a really good loss jumps Freshmart from twenty third all the way up to #14. Milan Melindo also jumped a spot from third to #2 after his gutsy victory over Hekkie Budler who fell from sixth to #7
