Boxing Rankings (Aug. 15, 2022): Farewell, Tyson Fury, plus Teofimo Lopez, Vergil Ortiz Jr, more

Rankings go up on Mondays. No update next week or the week after. We already did a light update here, and if we do one next week, there’s just nothing.

Ranked fights this week (look at this! look at all this beautiful ranked boxing action!):

• Heavyweight: (1) Oleksandr Usyk vs (3) Anthony Joshua, Aug. 20
• Heavyweight Filip Hrgovic vs Zhilei Zhang, Aug. 20 (fight will likely determine vacant No. 10 ranking)
• Light Heavyweight: (5) Callum Smith vs (8) Mathieu Bauderlique, Aug. 20
• Junior Welterweight: (6) Batyr Akhmedov vs Alberto Puello, Aug. 20
• Junior Lightweight: (7) Hector Garcia vs (9) Roger Gutierrez, Aug. 20
• Featherweight: (1) Emanuel Navarrete vs Eduardo Baez, Aug. 20
• Featherweight: (10) Luis Alberto Lopez vs TBA, Aug. 20
• Bantamweight: (8) Rau’shee Warren vs Francisco Pedroza, Aug. 20

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Notes: OK, if Tyson Fury is so determined to convince people he’s retired, then he’s retired. He’s out. I’m not saying he cares — he definitely does not! — I’m just saying it’s definitely time to stop just assuming he’ll fight again. He will, I think, but that’s not the point.

So Usyk is up to No. 1, and he and Joshua are fighting for that spot on Saturday, basically. I’m also leaving the No. 10 spot vacant until after the Filip Hrgovic vs Zhilei Zhang fight on the same card; the winner will get it. If there’s no winner, someone else probably. There’s a bunch of guys who could take the spot and I have no strong feelings on it right now, so Hrgovic vs Zhang settles it. Why not? These are fake rankings. It’s like Outback Steakhouse here: No rules, just right, and my work gives some of you diarrhea.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Oleksandr Usyk vs (3) Anthony Joshua, Aug. 20 ... (4) Andy Ruiz Jr vs (8) Luis Ortiz, Sept. 4 ... (5) Joe Joyce vs (7) Joseph Parker, Sept. 24

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Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (5) Callum Smith vs (8) Mathieu Bauderlique, Aug. 20 ... (2) Artur Beterbiev vs (9) Anthony Yarde, TBA

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Notes: Carlos Gongora won a bounce-back fight on a small show in Massachusetts.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs Gennadiy Golovkin, Sept. 17

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Gennadiy Golovkin vs Canelo Alvarez [super middleweight], Sept. 17 (5) Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn, Oct. 8

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Jermell Charlo vs (4) Tim Tszyu, Jan. 28

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Notes: Vergil Ortiz Jr got back in action, beating Michael McKinson as everyone expected he would. McKinson put up a good fight, yada yada, we’ve been over it. It went how it was going to go. Hopefully he gets something a bit more dangerous, maybe by the end of the year, early 2023. There are lots of good fights that could be made, and pretty much all of them will be difficult. So I’d expect Alexis Rocha or Blair Cobbs.

Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Notes: Teofimo Lopez is in. I agree beating Pedro Campa isn’t the biggest thing in the world, but neither is what a lot of people have done so far. Sandor Martin is out; when you get down to it, Martin’s one win of real note is Mikey Garcia, who hadn’t looked very good in a fight in three years, and Martin has done nothing to capitalize on that. Most recently, he turned down a WBA eliminator with Ohara Davies. So far, it reminds me of when Yvan Mendy upset Luke Campbell and did nothing with the momentum.

But we’re splitting hairs at the back here, anyway. We’ll see how Akhmedov looks on Saturday against Puello, and how Puello looks, too, and we’ll reevaluate next week, and then there will be Pedraza vs Commey on Aug. 27, too. This is a division that’s ready to be shaken up. If Josh Taylor does stick for the Catterall rematch, he probably won’t stay at 140 beyond that, win or lose. We’ve got Zepeda-Prograis likely in October, Ryan Garcia will do something or other by the end of the year, Teofimo will maybe make a bigger statement, etc. There is a ton of good talent at 140 right now.

Upcoming Fights: (6) Batyr Akhmedov vs Alberto Puello, Aug. 20 ... (10) Jose Pedraza vs Richard Commey, Aug. 27 ... (9) Teofimo Lopez vs TBA, Dec. 10 ... (3) Regis Prograis vs (5) Jose Zepeda, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (7) Isaac Cruz vs Eduardo Ramirez, Sept. 4 ... (1) Devin Haney vs (3) George Kambosos Jr, Oct. 15 ... (5) JoJo Diaz vs William Zepeda, Nov. 5

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Upcoming Fights: (7) Hector Garcia vs (9) Roger Gutierrez, Aug. 20 ... (1) Shakur Stevenson vs (6) Robson Conceicao, Sept. 23

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Emanuel Navarrete vs Eduardo Baez, Aug. 20 ... (10) Luis Alberto Lopez vs TBA, Aug. 20

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Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (8) Rau’shee Warren vs Francisco Pedroza, Aug. 20

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs Jonathan Rodriguez, Aug. 27 ... (4) Jesse Rodriguez vs Israel Gonzalez, Sept. 17 ... (6) Fernando Martinez vs (9) Jerwin Ancajas, Oct. 8

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Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (7) Masamichi Yabuki vs Thanongsak Simsri, Sept. 10

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Petchmanee CP Freshmart vs Tsubasa Koura, Aug. 30

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Notes: Minor changes. Fury out. I put Beterbiev up at No. 7. Sitting and thinking about his case again, I just think that’s about where he belongs. Shakur and Jermell bump up a bit, Lomachenko goes down to No. 10. Obviously you could have Devin Haney here, you could have a few other people.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua, Aug. 20 ... (6) Canelo Alvarez vs Gennadiy Golovkin, Sept. 17 ... (8) Shakur Stevenson vs Robson Conceicao, Sept. 23

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Upcoming Fights: (2) Claressa Shields vs (8) Savannah Marshall, Sept. 10 ... (5) Mikaela Mayer vs (10) Alycia Baumgardner, Sept. 10