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Rankings will be posted each Tuesday at Noon ET.
This week’s ranked fights:
Middleweight: (2) Gennadiy Golovkin vs (5) Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Oct. 5 (DAZN)
Junior Welterweight: (5) Ivan Baranchyk vs Gabriel Bracero, Oct. 5 (DAZN)
Junior Flyweight: (8) Milan Melindo vs Junto Nakatani [super flyweight], Oct. 4
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Upcoming Fights: (9) Joseph Parker vs Dereck Chisora, Oct. 26 ... (7) Kubrat Pulev vs Mark De Mori, Nov. 9 ... (2) Deontay Wilder vs (6) Luis Ortiz, Nov. 23 ... (3) Andy Ruiz Jr vs (4) Anthony Joshua, Dec. 7 ... (1) Tyson Fury vs (2) Deontay Wilder, Feb. 22
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Upcoming Fights: (1) Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyrone Spong, Oct. 12 [heavyweight] ... (2) Mairis Briedis vs (4) Yuniel Dorticos, Dec. 14
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Upcoming Fights: (3) Dmitry Bivol vs Lenin Castillo, Oct. 12 ... (1) Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs (2) Artur Beterbiev, Oct. 18 ... (4) Sergey Kovalev vs Canelo Alvarez, Nov. 2
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Notes: Did some slight reshuffling here. Benavidez regained his WBC belt and stays put at No. 2, with Anthony Dirrell, last week’s No. 4, and Jose Uzcategui, last week’s No. 5, dropping while Billy Joe Saunders and Chris Eubank Jr move up a couple spots each. My mind changes about things sometimes, I just roll with it. That said, I think this division has a clear top top in Smith and Benavidez, and then after that there’s a jumble. As talented as Saunders is, he hasn’t actually done much at 168 — he has a belt, yes, but that was a WBO special. Caleb Plant might be in league with Smith and Benavidez, or he might not. I don’t think we can say for sure. But Benavidez-Plant could be a really interesting unification if PBC pull that trigger.
Upcoming Fights: (4) Billy Joe Saunders vs TBA, Nov. 9 ... (10) Rocky Fielding vs Abdallah Paziwapazi, Nov. 15 ... (1) Callum Smith vs (9) John Ryder, Nov. 23
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Upcoming Fights: (2) Gennadiy Golovkin vs (5) Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Oct. 5 ... (1) Canelo Alvarez vs Sergey Kovalev [light heavyweight], Nov. 2 ... (6) Jermall Charlo vs Dennis Hogan, Dec. 7 ... (3) Daniel Jacobs vs TBA [super middleweight], Dec. 13
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Upcoming Fights: (4) Brian Castano vs Wale Omotoso, Nov. 2 ... (8) Dennis Hogan vs Jermall Charlo [middleweight], Dec. 7 ... (1) Julian Williams vs (2) Jarrett Hurd, TBA
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Notes: I had a think on it, and with his win over Shawn Porter to unify two titles this past weekend, I had to bump Spence to No. 1 and drop Terence Crawford to No. 2. I think that’s a compelling hypothetical matchup, might even pick Bud to win it, but it’s just really hard to keep defending Crawford as the top welterweight. It’s not Crawford’s fault, but he’s going to end 2019 having fought a pretty washed Amir Khan and, it appears, Egidijus Kavaliauskas. Other than that, his welterweight résumé is Jeff Horn and Jose Benavidez Jr. It’s not that Spence has some incredible run of his own, but he’s now beaten Kell Brook and Shawn Porter to win titles and dominated otherwise. I just personally can’t see Crawford ranked over Spence at 147 anymore. Top Rank simply can’t make good fights for Crawford at the moment. Spence, meanwhile, has another legit contender lined up next in Danny Garcia. And for what it’s worth, I don’t really get the argument that Porter “exposed” Spence and thus Spence isn’t as good as we thought. Porter brought his best fight to Spence, Spence outlasted him, and he won a really good fight against a determined, relentless opponent. If anything, I think more of Spence now, as he’s shown he can dig in with that sort of fight.
Upcoming Fights: (10) Kudratillo Abdukakhorov vs Luis Collazo, Oct. 18 ... (1) Terence Crawford vs Egidijus Kavaliauskas, Dec. 14 ... (1) Errol Spence Jr vs (6) Danny Garcia, TBA
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Notes: Mario Barrios scraped past Batyr Akhmedov this past weekend. I scored it even, with Akhmedov winning seven rounds to five on my card, but Barrios evening it up with two knockdowns. They were legitimate knockdowns, they count. And the judges gave it to Barrios, however much I might disagree with two of the scores. Barrios is a good young fighter. Akhmedov is a good fighter, too. And the guy I bumped out, Jack Catterall, is also a good fighter. Barrios has the best case for me at the moment.
Upcoming Fights: (5) Ivan Baranchyk vs Gabriel Bracero, Oct. 5 ... (1) Regis Prograis vs (2) Josh Taylor, Oct. 26 ... (4) Maurice Hooker vs TBA [welterweight], Dec. 13
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Upcoming Fights: (4) Robert Easter Jr vs Adrian Granados [junior welterweight], Oct. 26 ... (9) Devin Haney vs TBA, Nov. 9 ... (2) Richard Commey vs (8) Teofimo Lopez, Dec. 14
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Upcoming Fights: (1) Miguel Berchelt vs Jason Sosa, Nov. 2 ... (5) Jamel Herring vs Lamont Roach Jr, Nov. 9 ... (4) Andrew Cancio vs Rene Alvarado, Nov. 23
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Upcoming Fights: (2) Josh Warrington vs Sofiane Takoucht, Oct. 12 ... (7) Shakur Stevenson vs Joet Gonzalez, Oct. 26 ... (8) Can Xu vs Manny Robles III, Nov. 23 ... (4) Oscar Valdez vs TBA [super featherweight], Nov. 30 ... (5) Carl Frampton vs Isaac Dogboe, Nov. 30
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Upcoming Fights: (6) Isaac Dogboe vs Carl Frampton [featherweight], Nov. 30
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Upcoming Fights: (1) Naoya Inoue vs (3) Nonito Donaire, Nov. 7 ... (6) Nordine Oubaali vs (9) Takuma Inoue, Nov. 7 ... (5) Zolani Tete vs John Riel Casimero, Nov. 23
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Upcoming Fights: (5) Jerwin Ancajas vs Jonathan Rodriguez, Nov. 2 ... (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (7) Kal Yafai, Dec. 13 ... (4) Kazuto Ioka vs Jeyvier Cintron, Dec. 31
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Upcoming Fights: (6) Andrew Selby vs TBA, Nov. 22 ... (8) Muhammad Waseem vs TBA, Nov. 22 ... (4) Julio Cesar Martinez vs (5) Charlie Edwards, TBA
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Notes: Kyoguchi keeps his spot with a solid win just earlier today over veteran Tetsuya Hisada, who gave a great effort but was a bit outclassed overall. You could switch Ken Shiro and Kyoguchi, really — they’re right on level with each other, as far as I’m concerned, and Canizales ain’t far off, either. Good division right now.
Upcoming Fights: (8) Milan Melindo vs Junto Nakatani [super flyweight], Oct. 5 ... (6) Elwin Soto vs (10) Edward Heno, Oct. 24 ... (7) Angel Acosta vs TBA [flyweight], Oct. 24
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Upcoming Fights: (1) Wanheng Menayothin vs (3) Simpiwe Konkco, Oct. 25