Boxing Rankings (Oct. 10, 2022): Sebastian Fundora, Fernando Martinez, more

Rankings go up on Mondays.

Ranked fights this week:

• Heavyweight: (2) Deontay Wilder vs Robert Helenius, Oct. 15
• Heavyweight: (9) Frank Sanchez vs Carlos Negron, Oct. 15
• Super Middleweight: (3) Caleb Plant vs Anthony Dirrell, Oct. 15
• Lightweight: (1) Devin Haney vs (3) George Kambosos Jr, Oct. 15*
• Bantamweight: (5) Emmanuel Rodriguez vs (8) Gary Antonio Russell, Oct. 15
• Bantamweight: (6) Jason Moloney vs Nawaphon Kaikanha, Oct. 15*
• Women’s P4P: (2) Claressa Shields vs (8) Savannah Marshall, Oct. 15
• Women’s P4P: (5) Mikaela Mayer vs (10) Alycia Baumgardner, Oct. 15

* Fights are actually taking place Oct. 16 local time in Australia, but we’re listing Oct. 15 because most of our readers are American, they’re airing on Oct. 15 American time, and we’re trying to not be confusing here.

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Upcoming Fights: (2) Deontay Wilder vs Robert Helenius, Oct. 15 ... (9) Frank Sanchez vs Carlos Negron, Oct. 15

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Upcoming Fights: (10) Aleksei Papin vs Damir Beljo, Oct. 29

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Dmitry Bivol vs Zurdo Ramirez, Nov. 5 ... (8) Anthony Yarde vs TBA, Nov. 19

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Upcoming Fights: (3) Caleb Plant vs Anthony Dirrell, Oct. 15

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Notes: We were supposed to have three ranked fighters in action last week, albeit one in a weird catchweight money-grab, but ultimately we got one. Felix Cash also lost a fight date thanks to Conor Benn.

Carlos Adames fought, though, and took care of Juan Macias-Montiel inside of three rounds. Macias-Montiel is no stud, but the way Adames handled him was still pretty impressive. He felt him out for a round, then went to work, and when he got him hurt, he wasn’t playing around any further. Adames really should get the order to fight Jermall Charlo next. It’s a good fight, it makes sense by the way the WBC have laid things out, and it should be easy to make with both under the PBC banner. It would even do Charlo the favor of having satisfied a mandatory order. It’s a win for everyone.

Upcoming Fights: (4) Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn, Oct. 8 ... (6) Carlos Adames vs Juan Macias Montiel, Oct. 8 ... (10) Felix Cash vs Connor Coyle, Oct. 8 ... (3) Janibek Alimkhanuly vs Denzel Bentley, Nov. 12

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Notes: Fundora did his job with Carlos Ocampo, who was game and came to fight and had a nice plan, but all the same had to battle a 6’5” junior middleweight who can fight. I think Fundora’s as ready as he’s likely to get for a real big-time shot; whether he succeeds in that shot is another matter, but he’ll have probably nine months at the least to wait regardless, because Jermell Charlo and Tim Tszyu will go next, and that’s not happening until early 2023.

I don’t know what you do with Fundora in the meantime. There’s an obvious idea, but — and this is a shitty way to look at things, but it’s the way boxing works 93 to 97 percent of the time — Brian Castano would be too big a risk with Fundora locked into an all-but-guaranteed position. So, like, what then? Tony Harrison? Not without risk, Harrison is a terrific boxer. It gets tricky when you consider that you also don’t want Fundora to totally stagnate for maybe up to a year, either. Not if you’re Fundora’s team. If boxing were more about making the best matchups than making the most money with the least risk, I would have a different conversation, but it’s not, and I’ve long since lost the desire to drive myself crazy acting like it is or might soon be.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Jermell Charlo vs (4) Tim Tszyu, TBA

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Notes: I thought about taking Conor Benn out, but I’ll give it the due process time to see what ultimately happens there.

Upcoming Fights: (10) David Avanesyan vs Jon Miguez, Nov. 19

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Upcoming Fights: (3) Regis Prograis vs (5) Jose Zepeda, Nov. 26 ... (8) Teofimo Lopez vs (10) Jose Pedraza, Dec. 10

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Devin Haney vs (3) George Kambosos Jr, Oct. 15 ... (2) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs Jamaine Ortiz, Oct. 29 ... (6) JoJo Diaz vs William Zepeda, Oct. 29 ... (9) Masayoshi Nakatani vs Shuichiro Yoshino, Nov. 1

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Upcoming Fights: (8) O’Shaquie Foster vs Rey Vargas, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (7) Josh Warrington vs Luis Alberto Lopez, Dec. 10 ... (3) Rey Vargas vs O’Shaquie Foster [junior lightweight], TBA

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Notes: Nery won a stay-busy at 130 on Oct. 1 in Mexico. We almost surely won’t be getting undisputed between Fulton and Akhmadaliev soon, which isn’t really a surprise, but a disappointment. The IBF have ordered Akhmadaliev to face Marlon Tapales, and if he gave up the belt instead, then Fulton vs Akhmadaliev is no longer undisputed, and thus not “worth” the amount of effort it would likely require to get it done.

Upcoming Fights: (4) Luis Nery vs Jesus Ruiz Garcia, Oct. 1

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Notes: In a division as stagnant as this one is sitting at the moment, there’s a lot riding on the Russell-Rodriguez matchup this weekend. The winner there, if impressive, may jump to No. 4, maybe even No. 3. If your “inactivity” standards are 12 months, which mine are not, then Casimero is two months past that, and the clock is loudly ticking for him with my rankings, too. On that note, we may do some housecleaning here next week.

Upcoming Fights: (5) Emmanuel Rodriguez vs (8) Gary Antonio Russell, Oct. 15 ... (6) Jason Moloney vs Nawaphon Kaikanha, Oct. 15 ... (1) Naoya Inoue vs (8) Paul Butler, Dec. 13

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Notes: Fernando Martinez beat Jerwin Ancajas again, no complaints from Ancajas about making weight this time, no fluke. Martinez bumps up to No. 5, Ancajas down a spot to No. 10. I think Martinez is probably a step below the top four guys, but he’s also an aggressive, fearless fighter who takes a good shot, and I’d be happy to watch him fight anyone.

Upcoming Fights: (8) Francisco Rodriguez Jr vs Junto Nakatani, Nov. 1 ... (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (3) Chocolatito Gonzalez, Dec. 3

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Upcoming Fights: (9) Giemel Magramo vs Taku Kuwahara, Oct. 25 ... (2) Junto Nakatani vs Francisco Rodriguez Jr [junior bantamweight], Nov. 1 ... (1) Sunny Edwards vs Felix Alvarado, Nov. 11 ... (3) Julio Cesar Martinez vs (5) McWilliams Arroyo, Dec. 3

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Hiroto Kyoguchi vs (2) Kenshiro Teraji, Nov. 1 ... (3) Jonathan Gonzalez vs Shokichi Iwata, Nov. 1

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Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (2) Claressa Shields vs (8) Savannah Marshall, Oct. 15 ... (5) Mikaela Mayer vs (10) Alycia Baumgardner, Oct. 15 ... (1) Katie Taylor vs Karen Elizabeth Carabajal, Oct. 29 ... (7) Jessica McCaskill vs (9) Chantelle Cameron, Nov. 5 ... (4) Seniesa Estrada vs Jazmin Gala Villarino, Nov. 12