This is an update to the S8C Top 25 Divisional Rankings spanning the last two and a half or so weeks. Mostly fighters have just picked up inconsequential wins that do not impact their rankings, but there has been some movement as well as men entering or re-entering the rankings. The biggest story, however, is that of a plummeting recent titleholder.
What is going on with Dejan Zlaticanin? I think Mikey Garcia might have ruined him for good. I’m not saying the Montenegrin was ever going to be a pound for pound threat, but he certainly looked like a top five lightweight with his tight offensive game. His three fight run starting with an upset of Ricky Burns and capped by the destruction of then unbeaten Ivan Redkach was excellent stuff. Yet, back two weeks ago for the first time against an opponent with a good record since Garcia, Zlaticanin was routed out in two by little known new Mexican contender Roberto Ramirez. With that result in mind, Zlaticanin has dive bombed from eighth in the lightweight rankings all the way down to #24. That is a huge fall. His conqueror, Roberto Ramirez, debuts at #22. Young prospect Devin Haney has been pushed out of the rankings to accommodate him.
With the slowness of summer, Zlatacanin is the only fighter that actually moves around in the rankings. We do have a handful of guys debuting in their respective divisions, however. After a two year retirement, former two division titleholder Beibut Shumenov has returned. I am putting him at #13 for now. Two Top Rank fighters cracked the Top 25 after two weeks in a row of their shows on ESPN too. Alex Saucedo is now the #21 junior welterweight coming off his bloody and exciting win while Andy Vences Jr is now at #19 in a less deep junior lightweight field. Finally in terms of debutantes, former minimumweight titleholder Jose Argumedo has taken consecutive fights at light flyweight now so I moved him in at #10 at 108 lbs. Former last men in Noel Gevor, Yves Ulysse Jr, Ryan Garcia, and Gilberto Pedroza were all pushed out from their respective divisional rankings to make room.
Lastly, the following men picked up wins not significant enough to have an impact on their rankings: #1 super middleweight Gilberto Ramirez, #7 heavyweight Andy Ruiz Jr, #9 light heavyweight Joe Smith Jr, #17 welterweight Egidijus Kavaliauskas, #17 junior welterweight Jack Catterall, #23 bantamweight Oscar Negrete, and #25 junior middleweight Sam Eggington. In terms of Kavaliauskas and Ramirez, their performances weren’t particularly inspiring. Of course Gilberto can’t move up, but he’s in real danger of being overtaken by the winner of the upcoming World Boxing Super Series finals between George Groves and Callum Smith if one of them looks great. Kavaliauskas showed enough limitations that I couldn’t move him up following his win over a decent fighter. The other four had no chance to move due to the weak level of opposition they fought.
