OK, it's a day late. I got really sidetracked yesterday and just completely forgot this. True story. Why would I make that up?
Flyweight Shakeup
The biggest news out of this past weekend was the upset in Panama City which saw Hernan Marquez topple Luis Concepcion, previously the No. 2 rated flyweight. Marquez was unranked, but obviously that had to change.
The thought process was pretty simple, and I decided to just fast forward time, so to speak. Previously, Daisuke Naito was ranked No. 5. But Naito hasn't fought since May 2010, when he took an interim fight at super flyweight to bounce back from his November 2009 loss to Koki Kameda. Naito also has nothing on the schedule, so in other words, we were about a month from likely dropping Naito from the rankings. I chose to just drop him now.
Hernan Marquez comes in at No. 5 at flyweight, with Concepcion dropping four spots to No. 6. Nos. 7-10 remain unchanged, with Wilbert Uicab, Rocky Fuentes, Milan Melindo, and Julio Cesar Miranda maintaining their spots.
The top five changes. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam stays in the top spot, with Moruti Mthalane moving up to No. 2, followed by Daiki Kameda and Edgar Sosa, who jumps two spots from sixth place.
Other than the flyweight business, everything across the sport stays the same, except for Ivan Calderon dropping from No. 3 to No. 5 at junior flyweight, with Ulises Solis and Juan Carlos Reveco moving up one spot each. Calderon is probably headed back to strawweight next anyway. Let's look at which ranked fighters are in action this weekend.
Upcoming
- Heavyweights: Tomasz Adamek (4) v. Kevin McBride
- Middleweights: David Lemieux (10) v. Marco Antonio Rubio
- Junior Welterweights: Marcos Maidana (3) v. Erik Morales
- Lightweights: Robert Guerrero (2) v. Michael Katsidis (7)
- Super Featherweights: Takahiro Ao (4) v. Humberto Gutierrez (10)
- Featherweights: Hozumi Hasegawa (9) v. Jhonny Gonzalez (7)
- Super Bantamweights: Toshiaki Nishioka (1) v. Mauricio Javier Munoz
- Strawweights: Donnie Nietes (5) v. Armando Vazquez
A few other notables:
- "Junior" Middleweights: James Kirkland v. Nobuhiro Ishida. It's a good fight for Kirk right now -- not sure if they're going to get it all the way down to 154, but probably they'll be a bit over. This is the first fight that might possibly tell us anything real about his comeback, and where it is right now. The hope is that by the fall, JK will be in a fight that gets him back into the rankings.
- Welterweights: Paul Malignaggi v. Jose Miguel Cotto. If Malignaggi is very impressive, he gets on the map for real at welterweight. Right now he's outside the fold and behind a few other guys, and Cotto isn't a good enough opponent for him to jump into the rankings, but a good win here and he probably starts looking for bigger fights.
- Super Flyweights: Yota Sato v. Kohei Kono. An impressive Sato win could see him move into the back end of the rankings at 115.