This week wasn’t a particularly active one. There were only two major cards of note internationally and there were no big splashes on the weekend’s lesser known shows either. Still, we have some movement. The biggest question here is where Juergen Braehmer fits on following his dominant performance over younger American Rob Brant.
To begin, I removed Braehmer entirely from light heavyweight. As I speculated in the preview, he had no issues making super middleweight and will at the very least be taking his next fight there. I suspect that will be his home going forward as well. As for his ranking, I slotted him in at #10 following his great performance over Rob Brant. As Brant’s team had noted publicly, he was never staying at super middleweight regardless of the tournament outcome. Accordingly I put him back at middleweight, but given the weak performance he is all the way down at #22.
Also at super middleweight, back end ranked fighters Vincent Feigenbutz and Lolenga Mock moved up to #20 and #21 respectively following wins in Europe. It wasn’t so much who they defeated, but the ongoing realization that these two would probably beat Avni Yildirim that got them the positive movement.
The biggest fight of the week was of course #1 heavyweight Anthony Joshua’s two title defense over late replacement #20 Carlos Takam. Both fighters held their position. I considered moving Takam up as I believe I have him underrated by a few slots upon further reflection, but it is hard to move someone after winning maybe two rounds in a fight. He will likely shoot up in the future if he can muster even a halfway relevant win. Dillian Whyte also held at #10 following his clear but uninspiring win on the undercard.
Otherwise, not a lot happened. I moved Moises Fuentes from light flyweight to full flyweight and inserted him at #12 since he has been fighting there or bigger in his last three. Top five flyweight Moruti Mthalane held his #5 ranking with an easy win too. Up at super flyweight, Sho Ishida challenged for Khalid Yafai’s belt and lost. Neither fighter moved, however, due to the fact that Ishida was way outranked to begin with and the super tough crowd ahead of the titleholder.
Finally, Montreal junior welterweight prospect Yves Ulysse Jr was upset by Steve Claggett in a domestic Canadian matchup. The decision was questionable, but given that I don’t have Claggett anywhere near the Top 25, I dropped the young Canadian out from his previous twenty second ranking for now for being in a close fight with him. I suspect he will return shortly though.
