Bad Left Hook Boxing Rankings (July 13, 2020): Zepeda holds, Stevenson and Navarrete move up

Rankings go up on Mondays at Noon ET.

Ranked fights this week:

• Flyweight: (9) Cristofer Rosales vs Jeno Tonte, July 17

---

Upcoming Fights: (5) Dillian Whyte vs (7) Alexander Povetkin, Aug. 22 ... (1) Tyson Fury vs (3) Deontay Wilder, Dec. 19 ... (2) Anthony Joshua vs (8) Kubrat Pulev, TBA ... (10) Oleksandr Usyk vs Derek Chisora, TBA

---

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

---

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

---

Upcoming Fights: (2) David Benavidez vs Roamer Alexis Angulo, Aug. 15 ... (3) Canelo Alvarez vs TBA, Sept. 12

---

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

---

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

---

Upcoming Fights: (9) Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Samuel Vargas, July 24 ... (7) Yordenis Ugas vs Abel Ramos, TBA

---

Notes: Zepeda’s win last Tuesday over Kendo Castaneda was both a reminder of his talent and his flaws. He’s a good, sharp boxer, but he once again showed some fatigue as the fight went on, and this was just a 12-round distance. Yes, he gave Jose Ramirez a very tough fight in 2019, he can compete at the top level. But does he hit that ceiling repeatedly against those guys? It seems likely, honestly. Had he fought Ivan Barnachyk as originally scheduled, I think he’d be coming off an L right now. He can out-box Baranchyk, but the Belarusian King of Miami, Oklahoma has a tremendous gas tank, too. We won’t know for sure unless they fight, but just for conversation’s sake.

Upcoming Fights: (2) Jose Ramirez vs (5) Viktor Postol, TBA

---

Notes: I have given up the ghost and put Ryan Garcia into the No. 10 slot, not because he’s done anything new but just because I decided to look at the situation again and came to the conclusion I was fibbing a bit to myself by having European champ Francesco Patera there instead. I’ve seen Patera fight a lot, and while he’s a solid guy, it’s really hard to see a fight with Garcia where the youngster’s speed doesn’t totally overwhelm Patera, who does not have any elite abilities. As far as résumé goes, Garcia’s is as good as Patera’s, really — wins over Jayson Velez, Romero Duno, Carlos Morales, and Francisco Fonseca match up just fine against Patera’s wins over Edis Tatli (also a loss to Tatli), Lewis Ritson, Marvin Petit, Paul Hyland Jr, and Domenico Valentino. If you really think there are 10 clearly better or more deserving lightweights in the world right now, I think you might be trying really hard to discount Garcia. Not saying maybe you can’t find 10 with an argument, but honestly past Linares you’re going to have to concede the arguments are debatable at best. But that’s just my opinion, of course. And it’s the one that matters in these dumb rankings. Garcia in 4, end of discussion.

Upcoming Fights: (7) Jorge Linares vs (8) Javier Fortuna, Aug. 28 ... (1) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs (2) Teofimo Lopez, Oct. 3 ... (4) Luke Campbell vs (10) Ryan Garcia, TBA

---

Notes: Alright, we’ve got some shuffling in the next three divisions — actually, not really shuffling, just two guys moving up and then an empty spot at 122. Shakur Stevenson hasn’t yet officially vacated his WBO featherweight title, but intends to do so and is staying at 130, and he fought his last bout at 130, too, so he comes in here now. There’s no point in him filling a spot on the 126 list, he’s moved up. I think No. 6 is a nice balance between talent/likely achievements and, you know, the minor amount of achievements he’s produced thus far. I mean he won a world title at 126 but it was a vacant belt against a C-plus prospect. But he is really good. Anyway, we’ll see.

Upcoming Fights: (5) Oscar Valdez vs Jayson Velez, July 21

---

Notes: Same deal with Stevenson, Navarrete is vacating at 122 and moving up, and his last fight (which wasn’t even really sanctioned in Mexico City) was at 126, anyway. Same spot, too; I considered No. 7 for him here, but he and Magdaleno have the same achievements other than Magdaleno lost to Dogboe and Navarrete beat the shit out of Dogboe twice. I’m not as high on Navarrete’s potential to be a top guy at 126 as I am Stevenson’s at 130, but if he can actually get or will take fights with any of these guys, there’s some fun stuff to be done. The WBO might put him in a vacant title fight, my guess is it would be with either Ruben Villa or Magdaleno, with Michael Conlan advised to pass for now, and both Villa and Magdaleno could be a good opponent for Navarrete.

Upcoming Fights: (9) Ryan Walsh vs Jazza Dickens, TBA

---

Notes: Navarrete moving up opens a spot at 122, and we’ll go with Angelo Leo, who was right outside the top 10 already and will reportedly face Stephen Fulton Jr for the vacant belt on Aug. 1 on Showtime, which is a good matchup.

Upcoming Fights: (5) Issac Dogboe vs Chris Avalos [featherweight], July 21 ... (6) Stephen Fulton Jr vs (10) Angelo Leo, Aug. 1

---

Upcoming Fights: (2) Luis Nery vs Aaron Alameda [junior featherweight], TBA ... (3) Nordine Oubaali vs (4) Nonito Donaire, TBA

---

Upcoming Fights: (9) McWilliams Arroyo vs Julio Cesar Martinez [flyweight], Aug. 15 ... (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (3) Roman Gonzalez, TBA ... (4) Kazuto Ioka vs Kosei Tanaka, TBA ... (7) Joshua Franco vs Andrew Moloney, TBA

---

Upcoming Fights: (9) Cristofer Rosales vs Jeno Tonte, July 17 ... (2) Julio Cesar Martinez vs McWilliams Arroyo, Aug. 15 ... (9) Junto Nakatani vs (10) Giemel Magramo, Aug. 21 ... (1) Kosei Tanaka vs Kazuto Ioka [junior bantamweight], TBA

---

Upcoming Fights: (10) Jonathan Gonzalez vs TBA, Aug. 21

---

Upcoming Fights: TBA