Bad Left Hook Boxing Rankings (Dec. 14, 2020): Anthony Joshua, Shakur Stevenson hold with changes at heavyweight, 130, 160

Rankings go up on Mondays at Noon ET.

Ranked fights this week:

• Heavyweight: (10) Michael Hunter vs Shawn Laughery, Dec. 18
• Cruiserweight: (3) Ilunga Makabu vs Olanrewaju Durodola, Dec. 19
• Cruiserweight: (5) Kevin Lerena vs Patrick Ferguson, Dec. 19
• Light Heavyweight: (8) Gilberto Ramirez vs Alfonso Lopez, Dec. 18
• Super Middleweight: (1) Callum Smith vs (2) Canelo Alvarez, Dec. 19
• Super Middleweight: (6) John Ryder vs Mike Guy, Dec. 18
• Middleweight: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs Callum Smith [super middleweight], Dec. 19
• Middleweight: (2) Gennadiy Golovkin vs Kamil Szeremeta, Dec. 18
• Bantamweight: (6) Emmanuel Rodriguez vs Reymart Gallardo, Dec. 19
• Flyweight: (3) Moruti Mthalane vs Jayson Mama, Dec. 20
• Men’s P4P: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs Callum Smith, Dec. 19
• Women’s P4P: (3) Amanda Serrano vs Dahiana Santana, Dec. 16

YEAH IT’S A BUSY ONE but man a lot of this is not much, huh?

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Notes: Anthony Joshua’s win over Kubrat Pulev on Saturday was pretty predictable, but a solid win all the same, especially after a year off, the fact it was a mandatory, etc. Nothing changes for AJ. He was No. 2 before, he is No. 2 now.

Pulev is out, though. It’s nothing against Kubrat, he tried, but he lost clearly, got battered around when Joshua landed his power shots, and was stopped. Pulev is 39 and he’s a very decisive 0-2 in the two clear biggest fights of his career; against very good fighters, yes, but he’s surrounded that with little by way of truly quality wins. Some stuff that’s OK, which goes for most of the division here. He won’t be getting better. Michael Hunter is in at No. 10; he hasn’t fought since his 2019 draw with Alexander Povetkin, which looks even better now than it did before, but he seems set to return Friday. Seems.

Upcoming Fights: (10) Michael Hunter vs Shawn Laughery, Dec. 18

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Notes: Lawrence Okolie fought Saturday, destroying a way over-matched Nikodem Jezewski in short order. There’s nothing to take from that fight, Jezewski came in short notice, wasn’t supposed to be there, and frankly didn’t belong there. The plan is still for Okolie to face Krzysztof Glowacki for the vacant WBO belt in the new year.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Ilunga Makabu vs Olanrewaju Durodola, Dec. 19 ... (5) Kevin Lerena vs Patrick Ferguson, Dec. 19

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Upcoming Fights: (8) Gilberto Ramirez vs Alfonso Lopez, Dec. 18 ... (1) Artur Beterbiev vs Adam Deines, Jan. 30 ... (3) Sergey Kovalev vs Bektemir Melikuziev, Jan. 30 ... (4) Joe Smith Jr vs Maxim Vlasov, Feb. 13

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Upcoming Fights: (6) John Ryder vs Mike Guy, Dec. 18 ... (1) Callum Smith vs (2) Canelo Alvarez, Dec. 19 ... (3) Caleb Plant vs Caleb Truax, Jan. 30

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Notes: Matt Korobov was only barely hanging on to a spot here, and he’s out after losing a second straight outing via injury stoppage against Ronald Ellis. In all honesty, Korobov is about to turn 38, his body isn’t cooperating, and the last two fights he completed he got a tough loss to Jermall Charlo and a screwed up draw in a fight where he’d originally been announced the winner. Luck is just not on Korobov’s side, and you have to wonder how much more he wants to bother.

In his place at No. 10 is the veteran Liam Smith, a former 154-pound titlist. It’s not that Liam Smith has done anything real special in his two wins at 160, but here’s the thing: no other choice has either. The other options were Liam Williams (Smith beat him twice at 154), Maciej Sulecki (0-2 in his two best fights), Ronald Ellis (got the official win over Korobov but missed weight and has been a very inconsistent performer in general), and then guys like Tureano Johnson and Brandon Adams. I went with Smith. And it’s very possible we have another slot to fill next week if Canelo beats Callum Smith and fully intends to stay at 168.

Upcoming Fights: (2) Gennadiy Golovkin vs Kamil Szeremeta, Dec. 18 ... (1) Canelo Alvarez vs Callum Smith [super middleweight], Dec. 19

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Upcoming Fights: (3) Brian Castano vs (9) Patrick Teixeira, Feb. 6

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Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (5) Luke Campbell vs (9) Ryan Garcia, Jan. 2 ... (6) Richard Commey vs Jackson Marinez, Feb. 13

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Notes: Shakur Stevenson stays put at No. 7 following an easy win over Toka Kahn Clary. The fight was boring as hell but I can’t really blame Shakur that much, he didn’t even expect to have that fight five weeks ago. Talent-wise, Stevenson really seems to have the goods to be higher; I think most people would favor him against Jamel Herring or JoJo Diaz, with respect to those two, and I imagine a lot of people would favor him against Berchelt and maybe Tank, too. Definitely over Valdez or Santa Cruz. But Shakur’s best win — by a lot — is Joet Gonzalez. And yeah, we have Joet in the top 10 at 126 now, but it’s more because 126 has fallen apart with the likes of Valdez, Stevenson, Diaz, Santa Cruz, and Frampton all moving up in the relatively recent past. 2021 needs to be the year Stevenson starts stepping up the competition. He’s hunted it, to be fair. He could’ve stayed at 126, but there was nothing there. Expect him to fight the Herring-Frampton winner in the summer, perhaps.

Chris Colbert is in at No. 10 after a stoppage win over Jaime Arboleda, replacing Rene Alvarado. Alvarado is no great shakes and Colbert’s wins over Arboleda and Jezzrel Corrales are very good signs. He’s got a lot of confidence, fights with that confident instead of just speaking it during fight week, and

Upcoming Fights: (1) Miguel Berchelt vs (6) Oscar Valdez, Feb. 20 ... (4) Joseph Diaz Jr vs Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov, TBA ... (3) Jamel Herring vs (9) Carl Frampton, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (6) Brandon Figueroa vs (8) Luis Nery, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (6) Emmanuel Rodriguez vs Reymart Gallardo, Dec. 19 ... (8) Takuma Inoue vs Keita Kurihara, Jan. 14

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Upcoming Fights: (4) Kazuto Ioka vs Kosei Tanaka, Dec. 31

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Upcoming Fights: (3) Moruti Mthalane vs Jayson Mama, Dec. 20 ... (1) Kosei Tanaka vs Kazuto Ioka, Dec. 31 [junior bantamweight]

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Upcoming Fights: (4) Felix Alvarado vs (8) DeeJay Kriel, Jan. 2

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Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs Callum Smith, Dec. 19 ... (9) Miguel Berchelt vs Oscar Valdez, Feb. 20

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Upcoming Fights: (3) Amanda Serrano vs Dahiana Santana, Dec. 16 ... (1) Claressa Shields vs Marie-Eve Dicaire, TBA ... (5) Jessica McCaskill vs (6) Cecilia Braekhus, TBA