Julio Cesar Chavez Jr Goes Legit: Boxing Rankings For June 21

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr has made a climb up the rankings this week in the middleweight division, and there are a couple other notable movements, as well.

Usually this is done on Tuesdays, but I was holding out until Wednesday to wait for the Kazuto Ioka vs Akira Yaegashi fight in Japan, and then I got sidetracked yesterday and didn't get the chance to do it then, so I figured, hell, push it back one more morning. One too many mornings.

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Middleweight

Chavez! Chavez! Viva Chavez!

Sorry to disappoint those who hold out on his not being good enough to be a top five fighter in this division, but I'm jumping ship. He's good enough. Yeah, I thought the Zbik fight was debatable, and I even thought the Rubio fight was debatable, and I agree the Texas commission is fishy and all that, but the kid can fight, and you'll have to forgive me if I'm not enamored with the records of the likes of Dmitry Pirog, who is still living off of a win over Danny Jacobs, who frankly never beat anyone outside of Ishe Smith (which was fine), just was supposed to be good -- and Gennady Golovkin, who I've seen let Kassim Ouma have free turns at the Whack-a-Mole table.

So young Julio (46-0-1, 32 KO) is up to No. 5 in the division after his solid TKO win over Andy Lee. This could change before Julio fights next. Pirog (6) and Golovkin (7) meet on August 25 on HBO, and if the winner is highly impressive, they'll probably jump over Chavez. None of this is set in stone, even if the Klitschkos up top on the page might lead one to believe that some things are.

Lee (28-2, 20 KO) is obviously out, as he was ranked No. 10 last week. Replacing him is Golden Boy/Haymon hopeful Peter Quillin (27-0, 20 KO).

Heavyweight

Tomasz Adamek (46-2, 28 KO) stays at No. 4 following his win over Eddie Chambers last Saturday, but I really didn't think it was an impressive performance. The reason he stays is that it wasn't so rocky that I felt any need to have him jumped by The Incredible Can-Smashing Chris Arreola, or by WBA "titleholder" Alexander Povetkin, who I felt lost to Marco Huck in February and has a fight lined up with the withered, bloated remains of Hasim Rahman on July 14, on the Haye-Chisora card.

Chambers (36-3, 18 KO) is back in the rankings at No. 7 despite the loss, which is where he would have been ranked if he'd been an active fighter going into the June 16 bout. He fought with one arm and still looked decent, and plenty good enough to beat the likes of Tony Thompson or Tyson Fury, but perhaps not Kubrat Pulev, who may actually be the third-best heavyweight in the world at the moment, or it could be Odlanier Solis and his belly for all I know, and frankly, for all it really matters in today's Klitschko world.

Dereck Chisora loses his spot with Chambers' return.

Strawweight

Kazuto Ioka (10-0, 5 KO) holds at No. 2 following his win over Akira Yaegashi, which our own Sidney Boquiren says may be the young standout's last fight at 105 pounds. Yaegashi (15-3, 8 KO) moves up a few spots with the loss, because he was highly competitive and fought one-eyed to boot.

This Week's Ranked Fighters in Action

Welterweight: No. 4 Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO) vs Josesito Lopez (29-4, 17 KO)

Junior Welterweight: No. 4 Lucas Matthysse (30-2, 28 KO) vs No. 10 Humberto Soto (58-7-2, 34 KO)

Lightweight: No. 10 John Molina (23-1, 19 KO) vs Miguel Angel Munguia (25-23-1, 21 KO)

Featherweight: No. 9 Jonathan Victor Barros (33-2-1, 18 KO) vs Gustavo Bermudez (14-7-1, 6 KO)

Other Notable Fighters in Action

Super Bantamweight: Rico Ramos (20-1, 11 KO) vs Efrain Esquivias (16-0, 9 KO)