Bad Left Hook Boxing Rankings (June 18, 2019): Fury makes expected statement

Rankings will be posted every Tuesday at Noon ET.

This week’s ranked fights:

Junior Middleweight: (6) Jermell Charlo vs Jorge Cota, June 23

Super Featherweight: (4) Andrew Cancio vs (5) Alberto Machado, June 21

Super Bantamweight: (4) Guillermo Rigondeaux vs Julio Ceja, June 23

Super Flyweight: (6) Kazuto Ioka vs (9) Aston Palicte, June 19

Junior Flyweight: (2) Hiroto Kyoguchi vs Satanmuanglek CP Freshmart, June 19

Junior Flyweight: (3) Angel Acosta vs Elwin Soto, June 21

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Notes: Fury won his return against Tom Schwarz as expected, probably in even easier and more emphatic fashion than some expected. Also he wore an outfit and sang a song which apparently will make him sell 17 million pay-per-views against Deontay Wilder next year, if the both of them get there. Fury expects to fight again on Sept. 21 or Oct. 5, Wilder will face Ortiz in that same timeframe, and then they rematch in 2020. Or that’s the plan for now. So we’re through the big three heavyweight fights of the spring, and on we go. Things got pretty drastically shaken up by Andy Ruiz Jr, so now we have a big four for the moment, and with Ruiz-Joshua II coming later this year and Wilder-Fury II planned for early 2020, hey, it’s all on track.

Upcoming Fights: (10) Joseph Parker vs Alex Leapai, June 29 ... (5) Dillian Whyte vs (9) Oscar Rivas, July 20 ... (2) Deontay Wilder vs (6) Luis Ortiz, TBA ... (3) Andy Ruiz Jr vs (4) Anthony Joshua, TBA

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Notes: Busy weekend for the cruisers. Andrew Tabiti, ranked No. 9 previously, drops out with his KO loss to Yuniel Dorticos on Saturday. There’s no shame in losing to Dorticos, but Tabiti lost, and lost clean and clear. So Poland’s Michal Cieslak is in at No. 10. Mairis Briedis holds at No. 2 with his bizarre win over Krzysztof Glowacki, who switches 4/5 spots with Dorticos. The way Glowacki lost doesn’t make me downgrade him much. Makabu was also in action, stopping Dmitry Kudryashov in five on Sunday in Russia, and Mikaelian stayed busy with a nothing win in Latvia. Eventually this division loses the facade of Usyk and Gassiev, but it’s still pretty strong, and there’s no overwhelming talent without Usyk, either. As for the belts, those are being redistributed — the WBC remains vacant after they yanked sanctioning for Briedis-Glowacki at the last minute, but Dorticos now has the IBF. Don’t worry, though, Usyk is lineal, as he beat the man who — well, he beat Murat Gassiev. Lineal had been vacant nearly a decade.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Murat Gassiev vs Joey Dawejko [heavyweight], July 27 ... (6) Denis Lebedev vs Arsen Goulamirian, TBA

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Notes: Pretty simple change this week. Jesse Hart, ranked No. 4 at 168 previously, moved up and beat Sullivan Barrera, who was No. 8 at 175. So now Hart is in and Barrera is out. Hart is no world-beater, but he’s a solid contender adding to a competitive division, and he happens to be on the right team at this weight, with Top Rank and ESPN having a hand in six of the top 10 here, including three of the titleholders.

Upcoming Fights: (5) Marcus Browne vs Jean Pascal, August 3 ... (2) Sergey Kovalev vs Anthony Yarde, TBA

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Notes: With Hart out, we needed a new No. 10. I’ve settled on Rocky Fielding. I know, I know — he got thrashed by Canelo in December, how could this be? Most divisions aren’t as deep in true quality as some people seem to believe they are, for starters, and this is one of them. The argument for me here came down to Fielding, Fedor Chudinov, or Peter Quillin, basically. I eliminated Quillin first, but he’ll have his chance to make a statement on Aug. 31 when he faces Caleb Truax. I then decided against Chudinov, who is a former titleholder of sorts but has never been overly impressive, and went with Fielding. I think Fielding’s recent résumé is just a bit better. Look, Canelo would’ve smoked Chudinov if he fought Chudinov in December, too. Fielding beat John Ryder back in 2017 and Tyron Zeuge in 2018, both decent wins. You could argue someone else in, and we’ll see how Fielding does when he returns on July 12, but for today, that’s where I am.

Upcoming Fights: (10) Rocky Fielding vs TBA, July 12 ... (3) Caleb Plant vs Mike Lee, July 20 ... (8) Caleb Truax vs Peter Quillin, Aug. 31 ... (2) David Benavidez vs (4) Anthony Dirrell, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (4) Demetrius Andrade vs (9) Maciej Sulecki, June 29 ... (6) Jermall Charlo vs Brandon Adams, June 29 ... (7) Rob Brant vs (8) Ryota Murata, July 12 ... (1) Canelo Alvarez vs TBA, Sept. 14

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Upcoming Fights: (6) Jermell Charlo vs Jorge Cota, June 23 ... (3) Erislandy Lara vs Ramon Alvarez, Aug. 31

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Upcoming Fights: (9) Amir Khan vs Neeraj Goyat, July 12 ... (3) Manny Pacquiao vs (4) Keith Thurman, July 20 ... (7) Yordenis Ugas vs Omar Figueroa Jr, July 20 ... (8) Sergey Lipinets vs John Molina Jr, July 20

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Upcoming Fights: (3) Maurice Hooker vs (4) Jose Ramirez, July 27 ... (1) Regis Prograis vs (2) Josh Taylor, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (3) Richard Commey vs (10) Ray Beltran, June 28 ... (9) Teofimo Lopez vs Masayoshi Nakatani, July 19 ... (1) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs (4) Luke Campbell, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (4) Andrew Cancio vs (5) Alberto Machado, June 21 ... (2) Tevin Farmer vs Guillaume Frenois, July 27 ... (3) Gervonta Davis vs Ricardo Nunez, July 27

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Notes: Warrington’s win over Galahad was an interesting one. I can’t figure dropping Galahad from the top 10 for losing to Warrington, because there’s an argument he deserved a draw or even a hideously ugly win, maybe. But I’ve switched him down to 10. I debated moving Warrington down to No. 3, switching him and Gary Russell Jr. On the one hand, watching Warrington against Galahad, I couldn’t imagine that guy beating Russell, if I’m being honest. Frankly I have a hard time imagining Warrington or Santa Cruz beating Russell in general, but Russell’s career choices have been what they’ve been. But then I thought, well, hang on here. Let’s say Warrington had fought Kiko Martinez on Saturday instead of Russell fighting Kiko Martinez in May, and that instead of the reluctant spoiler style of Galahad, Warrington had been in with a guy who would have been totally willing to bang. Warrington likely would have looked much more exciting and whatnot, and we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Or let’s say Warrington had fought Rafael Rivera, as Santa Cruz did in February. Warrington would’ve looked much more impressive. In reality, while Galahad isn’t exactly a pound-for-pound contender, he’s a good deal better than today’s version of Kiko Martinez or Rafael Rivera. So while it was the least visually pleasing of the three wins, Warrington’s narrow, arguably debatable victory over Galahad is the best win any of those three have this year. If you’re looking at their last three fights, Warrington has Galahad, Carl Frampton, and Lee Selby. Santa Cruz has Rivera, Abner Mares, and Chris Avalos. Russell has Kiko, JoJo Diaz, and Oscar Escandon. And Oscar Valdez, for the sake of argument, has Jason Sanchez, Carmine Tommasone, and Scott Quigg. By the end of this thought process, I wound up closer to moving Warrington up to No. 1 than moving him down to No. 3.

Upcoming Fights: (8) Shakur Stevenson vs Hairon Socarras, July 13

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Upcoming Fights: (4) Guillermo Rigondeaux vs Julio Ceja, June 23 ... (1) Rey Vargas vs (8) Tomoki Kameda, July 13 ... (10) Brandon Figueroa vs Javier Nicolas Chacon, Aug. 24 ... (2) Daniel Roman vs Murodjon Akhmadaliev, TBA

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Notes: Moloney stayed busy with an easy win in Australia.

Upcoming Fights: (6) Nordine Oubaali vs Arthur Villanueva, July 6 ... (2) Luis Nery vs (10) Juan Carlos Payano, July 20 ... (1) Naoya Inoue vs (3) Nonito Donaire, TBA

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Notes: Moloney stayed busy with an easy win in Australia.

Upcoming Fights: (6) Kazuto Ioka vs (9) Aston Palicte, June 19 ... (7) Kal Yafai vs Norbelto Jimenez, June 29

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Notes: Both Dalakian and Arroyo won this weekend, Dalakian retaining his belt in Ukraine and Arroyo beating Carlos Buitrago in Puerto Rico.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Kosei Tanaka vs Jonathan Gonzalez, Aug. 24 ... (4) Charlie Edwards vs (5) Julio Cesar Martinez, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (2) Hiroto Kyoguchi vs Satanmuanglek CP Freshmart, June 19 ... (3) Angel Acosta vs Elwin Soto, June 21 ... (1) Ken Shiro vs Jonathan Taconing, July 12

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Upcoming Fights: None