The list goes up shortly, but first let us take a look at who we lost.
The updated S8C Top 25 Pound for Pound list will be live in less than an hour. Here is a preview in the form of who has fallen off it since the last update roughly six months ago. The number in the parenthesis on the left is where they were previously ranked.
The Fallen
(25) Isaac Dogboe – 20-1, 14 KOs – Super Bantamweight – Ghana
I narrowly snuck Dogboe in last year on the strength of his wins over Cesar Juarez and Jessie Magdaleno. Now Emanuel Navarrete has bashed him back out.
(24) George Groves – 28-4, 20 KOs – Super Middleweight – England
Saint George finally had his belt and had made Chris Eubank Jr look foolish defending it, but then Callum Smith showed up knocked him back to square one.
(23) Gilberto Ramirez – 39-0, 25 KOs – Super Middleweight – Mexico
While Zurdo Ramirez hasn’t lost, I do think he has largely regressed technically. It took everything he had to get by Jessie Hart twice and Hart isn’t anywhere near this list yet.
(21) Erislandy Lara – 25-3-2, 14 – Junior Middleweight – Cuba
I kept the Cuban in after his loss to Jarrett Hurd, but so many fighters have had so many big wins that there were just too many deserving new faces to keep Erislandy Lara around without a win of his own.
(20) Danny Garcia – 34-2, 20 KOs – Welterweight – USA
Danny Garcia has always been a difficult guy for me to place in rankings like this one, so it was kind of Shawn Porter to just remove him entirely for me. That was easier.
(19) Sergey Kovalev – 32-3-1, 28 KOs – Light Heavyweight – Russia
Krusher Kovalev was doing well against Eleider Alvarez, but then he was violently stopped. He hasn’t won a fight against a contender since Isaac Chilemba in 2016 and even that wasn’t a good showing. The sport is passing Sergey by, but he has a chance to reassert himself in the Alvarez rematch.
(17) Deontay Wilder – 40-0-1, 39 KOs – Heavyweight – USA
I will do a rescore of the fight at some point, but I didn’t see the heavyweight titleholder as even in the fight mathematically against Tyson Fury despite the much debated draw. I thought he got schooled.
(16) Guillermo Rigondeaux – 17-1, 11 KOs – Super Bantamweight – Cuba
I wouldn’t be surprised if Rigondeaux proves himself still to be a pound for pound elite in his PBC driven comeback, but for now he just hasn’t done anything in an active sport since the Lomachenko disaster. I couldn’t keep him in.
(15) Jorge Linares – 44-4, 27 KOs – Lightweight – Venezuela
The former top lightweight is the highest ranked fighter to fall out. It was a surprise to me too when I couldn’t fit him in anymore. There is just too much competition across 17 weight classes for 25 slots. He is the spiritual #26, but Jorge Linares is not in this time around.
