Bad Left Hook Boxing Rankings (June 15, 2020): Stevenson and Magdaleno hold firm as boxing returns

Rankings are back! We used to post on Tuesdays at Noon ET, but with Top Rank now running shows on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the foreseeable future, rankings will go up on Mondays at Noon ET instead.

Ranked fights this week:

• Junior Featherweight: (2) Emanuel Navarrete vs Uriel Lopez [featherweight], June 20

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Notes: Apart from the big news that Fury and Joshua have a two-fight agreement in principle in place, we’ve still got Fury-Wilder 3, Joshua-Pulev, and Usyk-Chisora coming up at some point, though Matchroom have scrapped plans for Whyte-Povetkin.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Tyson Fury vs (3) Deontay Wilder, TBA ... (2) Anthony Joshua vs (8) Kubrat Pulev, TBA ... (10) Oleksandr Usyk vs Derek Chisora, TBA

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Notes: There’s actually been no news at all on the Briedis-Dorticos WBSS tournament final since its second cancellation off of a May date, having been moved from March. But we’ll keep it listed here and hope for the best. It’s a hell of a good matchup and we hope it still happens, but the chances of it actually coming off are significantly lower than ever, and it was a troubled situation for some time.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Mairis Briedis vs (2) Yuniel Dorticos, TBA

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Notes: Since our last update in mid-March, Oleksandr Gvozdyk has retired, meaning he’s out of the rankings, having previously sat at No. 3. Former British champ and world title challenger Callum Johnson is in at No. 10, with a possible fight against Joshua Buatsi in his near future. Alvarez-Smith is on deck for Top Rank next month, and a good matchup for the division. And Gvozdyk retiring means Jean “B-Hop Jr” Pascal is back into the top five. The crazy SOB did it again.

Upcoming Fights: (4) Eleider Alvarez vs (9) Joe Smith Jr, July 16

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Notes: Everything suggests that Canelo Alvarez is done at 160 and will be fighting at 168 for the time being, but at the moment he does still hold the WBA middleweight title, so he remains dual-ranked. Realistically I could probably argue him into the top spot at 168 already, and basically the first decent win he gets at the weight will put him there. There’s a lot of talk about possible fights. Alvarez is set to return on Sept. 12, with Billy Joe Saunders still wanting it and Sergiy Derevyanchenko also possible as an opponent, coming up from 160. Apparently Anthony Dirrell is also being considered and Willie Monroe Jr is on a bizarre Instagram crusade pretending he’s also being considered. (This paragraph will look bad if Monroe gets the fight, I admit.)

Upcoming Fights: (3) Canelo Alvarez vs TBA, Sept. 12

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Notes: With Canelo likely gone from 160 for good, Old Man Gennadiy is sort of “interim” No. 1, in a way, and he’s got his sights set on a thrilling mandatory title defense against Kamil Szeremeta, which will drive the people wild. This division may also soon be losing Derevyanchenko, and no matter how hard Chris Mannix stumps for it — or how right he is that it’s a fight we should be seeing — Andrade-Charlo doesn’t seem to be in any danger of actually happening. Middleweight hasn’t been this uninteresting in a long time.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs TBA, Sept. 12 [super middleweight] ... (2) Gennadiy Golovkin vs Kamil Szeremeta, TBA

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Notes: PBC has most of the names in the division, and PBC have been very quiet about any plans other than a couple smaller fights getting rescheduled for July. At this rate, one figures they’ll dump a load of fight news at once, as they’ve done before with press conferences. Castano-Teixeira will probably still happen, since that was a mandatory.

Upcoming Fights: (6) Brian Castano vs (10) Patrick Teixeira, TBA

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Notes: There’s some reason for optimism at 147, as four of the top six guys here are at least in discussion for fights with one another. Errol Spence Jr vs Danny Garcia seems like it’s happening in the fall, and Top Rank have shown legitimate interest in finally doing Terence Crawford vs Manny Pacquiao, which may have to be held abroad. In a sense, Top Rank could win big there, at least if “Bud” beats Manny. Their other ideas were Shawn Porter and Kell Brook; Porter’s team seemed to drag ass after that “green light” from PBC, and Brook was seen, honestly, as last resort at giving Terence some kind of name opponent. Pacquiao is a much bigger fight than either of them.

Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Notes: Former titleholder Maurice Hooker has officially given up the ghost, halting negotiations to get a new date for a fight with Regis Prograis, which was meant to happen in mid-April. Prograis wouldn’t agree on weight, so Hooker is headed up to 147, meaning he’s out here, because his last fight was north of 140, too. Also because it gave me something to do with this update. If he changes his mind I’ll put him back later, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s a list on a web site. Ergashev gets the No. 10 slot for now; he’s a good fighter and I just barely took him over Jack Catterall and Robert Easter Jr, but things could change quickly there. Top Rank is going to FINALLY do Ramirez against WBC mandatory Viktor Postol, which was twice scrapped due to coronavirus, later in the summer, and mean to work toward an undisputed fight between Taylor and Ramirez. Either Taylor won’t have to deal with mandatory challenger Apinun Khongsong for the time being, or Bob Arum has forgotten Khongsong and that mandatory. Either one seems reasonable enough. And we’ve got a nice Baranchyk-Zepeda fight lined up for July, too.

Upcoming Fights: (4) Ivan Baranchyk vs (8) Jose Zepeda, July 7 ... (2) Jose Ramirez vs (5) Viktor Postol, TBA

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Notes: Lightweight has had a lot of chatter over the last three months, much of it coming from Ryan Garcia, who isn’t ranked here because I don’t work for Golden Boy or DAZN. I suppose he could be, really, but I don’t think it’s clear just yet. Garcia has his own concerns about working for Golden Boy and DAZN, which isn’t a fresh development despite the big make-up sesh and new contract last summer after his first public beef with his promoter. There’s also Lomachenko-Lopez, which is bigger actual fight news, and Arum is hoping to do it in September. And Devin Haney’s long nightmare with being not-stripped by the WBC ended with the WBC returning his belt and, we suspect, sending along a nice Edible Arrangements.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs (2) Teofimo Lopez, TBA ... (4) Luke Campbell vs (8) Javier Fortuna, TBA

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Notes: Berchelt has a tune-up date coming and Top Rank still plan to do Berchelt-Valdez sometime. Herring has a title defense and Top Rank still plan to do Herring-Frampton later. Diaz-Farmer 2 is expected to happen although JoJo is also living in some alternate reality where he wants to fight Abner Mares and “sell out the Staples Center.”

Upcoming Fights: (1) Miguel Berchelt vs TBA, June 27 ... (3) Jamel Herring vs Jonathan Oquendo, July 2

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Notes: Stevenson and Magdaleno won fights this week, Stevenson’s a limp demolition of Felix Caraballo, Magdaleno’s a DQ mess with Yenifel Vicente. Neither showed anything new. Stevenson does appear to be headed to 130 permanently, but until he vacates that WBO belt he stays here.

Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Notes: Navarrete returns this weekend in an absolute garbage fight up at 126. He’s probably going to 126 sooner than later for good, but he has said he wants a big fight at 122, because he really hasn’t had one since beating Dogboe twice. That might just not be in the cards, but he’s another guy who hasn’t vacated his belt, so he stays where he is.

Upcoming Fights: (2) Emanuel Navarrete vs Uriel Lopez [featherweight], June 20

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Notes: Nery has rescheduled his fight with Aaron Alameda for July 18 on Showtime, meaning his move to 122 is set once again. Inoue-Casimero was supposed to happen, as was Oubaali-Donaire, and it figures both still will, though it’s not clear if anyone will do an interim fight between now and then. Largely depends on travel issues, you’d figure.

Upcoming Fights: (8) Jason Moloney vs Leonardo Baez, June 25 ... (2) Luis Nery vs Aaron Alameda [junior featherweight], July 18

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Notes: The big news lately here has been that Estrada-Gonzalez 2 is finally due to happen this summer or early fall, or so it would appear. Both fighters are on board and Matchroom want to get it done. I still think that’s at least close to a 50/50 fight, as rumors of Chocolatito’s demise were clearly exaggerated. And it looks like Ioka will be facing Kosei Tanaka, up from flyweight, at some point.

Upcoming Fights: (6) Andrew Moloney vs Joshua Franco, June 23 ... (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (3) Roman Gonzalez, TBA

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Notes: It’s been a quiet spell at 112. Charlie Edwards is out, because he’s signed with Frank Warren and officially moving up to 115/118, so Japan’s Junto Nakatani is in at No. 10, and he could shoot up a few spots depending on the results of his vacant WBO title fight with Giemel Magramo on Aug. 21. Nakatani looks like a really promising young fighter. Tanaka also plans to move up, of course, and has vacated his belt, but I’m leaving him until he makes the move up in the ring, because it’s my stupid list on the internet and I can be inconsistent if I want.

Upcoming Fights: (9) Cristofer Rosales vs Jeno Tonte, July 17 ... (10) Junto Nakatani vs Giemel Magramo, Aug. 21

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Notes: Another division which has been quiet. Soto is due back for a tune-up or whatever on June 27, same Mexico City card as Miguel Berchelt.

Upcoming Fights: (5) Elwin Soto vs TBA, June 27

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Notes: Wanheng was set to make his U.S. debut at age 34 in the spring but, you know, didn’t. Hopefully he will as soon as he can. Terrible that we’ve been deprived TBE for this long.

Upcoming Fights: TBA