Rigondeaux Rises, Ramos Vanishes: Bad Left Hook Rankings Update for Jan. 23

We haven't had a proper ratings post in a few weeks, but the ratings have been updated every week, even without any movement as boxing has passed its dead season and now we're starting to get things moving again.

Click here for the full rankings!

Super Bantamweight

With his decisive sixth round knockout of Rico Ramos on Friday night, Guillermo Rigondeaux (9-0, 7 KO) jumps to No. 2 in the division, trailing only Toshiaki Nishioka, a fighter he may be favored to defeat should they ever hook it up, but Nishioka has accomplished much more in the division than Rigondeaux has to this point. Pure talent, Rigondeaux is probably, at current standing, the best 122-pound fighter in the world, though Nonito Donaire will soon be in the discussion, at least if he wins as expected on February 4.

Vanishing from the top ten is the previous No. 2, Ramos. I overrated Ramos for his KO win over Akifumi Shimoda last year, in part because someone had to be No. 2 (Shimoda had been before that fight), and in part because it was a pretty thrilling knockout.

But combine those two fights and you have a tentative, nervous fighter who is not ready for the major stages. Rigondeaux is good, but not so good that you should only land 15 punches in six rounds and look at most points like you're on another planet. Ramos was made to look that way because, simply put, he's not at that level. He's not good enough to have done a whole lot better. He could have if he threw his hands, I guess, but he was taught early in the fight that throwing hands means Rigondeaux throwing them back, and that mentally thwarted him.

There's a little shake-up overall in the 122 rankings, with a few guys moving up, a couple down. As always, I consider the boxing rankings here a constant work in progress, snapshots in time, and never perfect. They are always to be considered and reconsidered, rather than just static laziness.

Coming in at No. 10, new to the list, is the UK's Scott Quigg (23-0, 16 KO). Quigg is my favorite British prospect at the moment and I think he'd give just about anyone at the weight some real trouble. He's got a fight with Jamie Arthur lined up for February 4, defending his British title.

No ranked fighters are in action this weekend. The best fight of the weekend is a women's bout in Tijuana between Chantall Martinz and Jackie Nava.