Rankings go up on Mondays at Noon ET.
Ranked fights this week:
- Heavyweight: (5) Dillian Whyte vs (7) Alexander Povetkin, Aug. 22
- Light Heavyweight: (4) Eleider Alvarez vs (9) Joe Smith Jr, Aug. 22
- Super Middleweight: (10) Fedor Chudinov vs Ronny Landaeta, Aug. 22
- Middleweight: (7) Rob Brant vs Vitalii Kopylenko, Aug. 22
- Welterweight: (4) Shawn Porter vs Sebastian Formella, Aug. 22
Upcoming Fights: (5) Dillian Whyte vs (7) Alexander Povetkin, Aug. 22 ... (1) Tyson Fury vs (3) Deontay Wilder, TBA ... (2) Anthony Joshua vs (8) Kubrat Pulev, TBA ... (10) Oleksandr Usyk vs Derek Chisora, TBA
Upcoming Fights: TBA
Upcoming Fights: (4) Eleider Alvarez vs (9) Joe Smith Jr, Aug. 22 ... (1) Artur Beterbiev vs Meng Fanlong, Sept. 25 ... (7) Badou Jack vs Blake McKernan [cruiserweight], Nov. 28
Notes: David Benavidez won on Saturday against Roamer Alexis Angulo, but he dropped his WBC belt on the scales on Friday, missing weight for the Showtime main event, and it’s the second time he’s lost that belt without ever losing a fight. Because of the weight miss far more than the dropping of the belt, Benavidez loses a couple spots here. Realistically, Canelo is the best fighter in this division, and in my view by a good bit, but he’s barely competed in the division, too. More likely than not, when he fights again, and it’s at 168, and he wins, I’ll bump him to No. 1 if it’s even a decently credible opponent. For now Smith is keeping the seat warm, and other than Canelo I think the rest of the notable top guys — Smith, Benavidez, Plant, Saunders sometimes — are about on the same level. Benavidez isn’t dropping because he performed poorly, but he was performing with an unfair advantage. All indications are that he’ll stay at 168. If he comes back, makes weight, gets a decent win, then maybe he pops back up, depending on what the others do. Bottom line: it felt like he should lose some standing here, so he does, and if he comes back well, he can go back up. It’s a rankings list that has no impact on fights being made or not made or whatever. You can disagree, but to me this felt like at the very least something that should be done.
Upcoming Fights: (10) Fedor Chudinov vs Ronny Landaeta, Aug. 22
Upcoming Fights: (7) Rob Brant vs Vitalii Kopylenko, Aug. 22 ... (4) Sergiy Derevyanchenko vs (5) Jermall Charlo, Sept. 26 ... (2) Gennadiy Golovkin vs Kamil Szeremeta, TBA
Upcoming Fights: (5) Erislandy Lara vs Greg Vendetti, Aug. 29 ... (1) Jermell Charlo vs (2) Jeison Rosario, Sept. 26
Upcoming Fights: (4) Shawn Porter vs Sebastian Formella, Aug. 22 ... (7) Yordenis Ugas vs Abel Ramos, Sept. 6 ... (8) Sergey Lipinets vs Kudratillo Abdukakhorov, Oct. 10 ... (1) Errol Spence Jr vs (6) Danny Garcia, Nov. 21
Upcoming Fights: (2) Jose Ramirez vs (5) Viktor Postol, Aug. 29 ... (8) Mario Barrios vs Ryan Karl, Sept. 26 ... (1) Josh Taylor vs Apinun Khongsong, TBA
Upcoming Fights: (8) Javier Fortuna vs TBA, Aug. 28 ... (9) Rances Barthelemy vs Alberto Puello [junior welterweight], Sept. 6 ... (1) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs (2) Teofimo Lopez, Oct. 17 ... (6) Gervonta Davis vs Leo Santa Cruz [junior lightweight], Oct. 24 ... (4) Luke Campbell vs (10) Ryan Garcia, TBA
Notes: Carl Frampton picked up a tune-up win on Saturday against over-matched Darren Traynor, which keeps him sitting where he was and awaiting a possible November clash with WBO titleholder Jamel Herring, who fights on Sept. 5 and has to hold up his end of the bargain. Frampton is aging and small at 130, and it was always going to be an uphill climb for him at this weight, but he’s also still tough, determined, and fights with a lot of heart. You can’t totally count him out against anyone except maybe Berchelt, in my view.
Upcoming Fights: (3) Jamel Herring vs Jonathan Oquendo, Sept. 5 ... (2) Leo Santa Cruz vs Gervonta Davis, Oct. 24
Upcoming Fights: (5) Tugstsogt Nyambayar vs Eduardo Ramirez, Sept. 19 ... (6) Emanuel Navarrete vs (7) Jessie Magdaleno, Oct. 17 ... (9) Ryan Walsh vs Jazza Dickens, TBA
Upcoming Fights: (3) Daniel Roman vs Juan Carlos Payano, Sept. 26 ... (6) Brandon Figueroa vs Damien Vasquez, Sept. 26 ... (10) Carlos Castro vs Christopher Diaz, Oct. 24
Upcoming Fights: (2) Luis Nery vs Aaron Alameda [junior featherweight], Sept. 26 ... (3) Nordine Oubaali vs (4) Nonito Donaire, Dec. 12
Upcoming Fights: (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs TBA, Oct. 17 ... (7) Joshua Franco vs Andrew Moloney, TBA
Upcoming Fights: (7) Cristofer Rosales vs Jeno Tonte, Aug. 29
Upcoming Fights: TBA
Upcoming Fights: TBA