In a week light on significant action, there is predictably little movement in the S8C Top 25 to report. Still, there were Top 25 fights at junior welterweight and bantamweight, plus Rocky Fielding and a few top cruiserweights were in action. There wasn’t any room for movement for Mairis Briedis, but where do I rank Mike Perez at the weight?
This week’s big winner was Rocky Fielding following his impressive headlining first round demolition of David Brophy in the UK. Previously Fielding sat in the super middleweight rankings, but only at twenty fifth in a spot that someone had to fill. Now he is comfortably within the field up at #20 following his excellent performance.
Also on the same card were wins by bantamweight Paul Butler and lightweight Sean Dodd. While Dodd stayed still at #23, former titlist Paul Butler jumped from sixteenth up to #11, stealing the spot from his opponent Stuart Hall who fell to #15. At 37, Hall may never see a higher ranking than this again. #19 heavyweight Derek Chisora also won a tune up on this card that does not impact his spot.
In another S8C Top 25 matchup, Swedish junior welterweight Anthony Yigit outpointed Spain’s Sandor Martin in their European title match. It is a tough field at 140 and Yigit was only able to move up one spot to #16 as a result. Likewise, Martin fell a single slot to #24. At the same weight, veteran contender Humberto Soto expired from the rankings due to one year’s inactivity without a fight booked.
In the World Boxing Super Series quarterfinals, #3 ranked Mairis Briedis advanced by pocketing enough rounds in a very ugly fight against Mike Perez. Briedis certainly was not going to move up to one of the top two spots based on that performance, so he held at third. I ignored Mike Perez’s extremely low level cruiserweight debut a while back, but following this performance I had to bring him in. The Cuban ex-pat is now #13 in a good division. #5 Krzysztof Glowacki also held his position with a lower level win on the undercard.
Fixing an oversight of my own last week, Oscar Valdez’s record was updated properly and his better than expected Genesis Servania was brought into the featherweight rankings at #16. Thanks to those who pointed out that I neglected to factor in that bout.
Finally, retired long time top Japanese fighter Hozumi Hasegawa timed out of the rankings at super bantamweight. Good luck to him should he stay retired, and it looks like he might. Given Hasegawa’s top five ranking, a whole lot of super bantamweights moved up a slot. His last opponent, #6 Hugo Ruiz, also would have timed out, but he is granted an exception due to having a fight booked for later this month.
