Boxing Rankings (Nov. 20, 2023): Shakur’s stinker, Navarrete’s draw, new champs, more!

Next update comes on Monday, Nov. 27.

Ranked fights this week:

• Super Middleweight: (2) David Benavidez vs Demetrius Andrade, Nov. 25
• Junior Welterweight: (5) Subriel Matias vs Shohjahon Ergashev, Nov. 25
• Junior Lightweight: (7) Hector Luis Garcia vs Lamont Roach Jr, Nov. 25
• Women’s P4P: (2) Chantelle Cameron vs (3) Katie Taylor, Nov. 25

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Notes: No change this week, but we’re getting very close to Andy Ruiz Jr hitting our 15-month inactive line with nothing scheduled or rumored. That would come on Dec. 4.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Deontay Wilder vs (9) Joseph Parker, Dec. 23 ... (5) Anthony Joshua vs Otto Wallin, Dec. 23 ... (7) Filip Hrgovic vs Mark De Mori, Dec. 23 ... (10) Frank Sanchez vs Junior Fa, Dec. 23 ... (1) Tyson Fury vs (2) Oleksandr Usyk, Feb. 17

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Notes: Noel Mikaelyan jumps in high, winning the vacant WBC belt against Ilunga Junior Makabu, who falls out of the top 10. Mikaelyan is a good fighter, just hadn’t been active. He’s only fought twice since 2020 and only three times this decade. So among cruiserweight titleholders he’ll fit right in with Arsen Goulamirian if he can keep up that pace.

Richard Riakporhe fairly predictably smashed Dylan Bregeon this past weekend.

Upcoming Fights: (2) Chris Billam-Smith vs Mateusz Masternak, Dec. 10 ... (1) Jai Opetaia vs Ellis Zorro, Dec 23

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Dmitry Bivol vs (7) Lyndon Arthur, Dec. 23 ... (2) Artur Beterbiev vs (3) Callum Smith, Jan. 13 ... (5) Joshua Buatsi vs (6) Dan Azeez, Feb. 3

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Notes: I don’t think Diego Pacheco has quite earned a top 10 spot just yet, but you could argue one for him. He’s on the way, at any rate.

Upcoming Fights: (2) David Benavidez vs Demetrius Andrade, Nov. 25 ... (3) David Morrell Jr vs Sena Agbeko, Dec. 16 ... (5) Christian Mbilli vs Rohan Murdock, Jan. 13

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Notes: Nathan Heaney: Top 10 Middleweight. But this isn’t another of my bemoaning the state of the division things; it could be, sure, but I think it’s hard to watch his win over Denzel Bentley and his post-fight interview and not just feel good for the guy, who is 34 and was never really supposed to even be a British champion, let alone be in the potential hunt for a world title fight in 2024. It’s one of the stories that makes boxing great in spite of itself.

Two quick things: Jermall Charlo’s return will be fought north of 160, and we’ll see what he intends to do after Saturday, if he wins against Jose Benavidez Jr. Gennadiy Golovkin has about a month left before he goes Officially Inactive; I don’t expect he will announce or really be connected to anything at all. He may not be fully retired, but at the very least he is not close to coming back.

Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (10) Josh Kelly vs Roarke Knapp, Dec. 16

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Notes: When an entire division is pretty well controlled by a single promoter/Adviser Group and that entity does not have a television deal anymore — well, it could be a bit before we see the welterweights of note doing anything.

Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (5) Subriel Matias vs Shohjahon Ergashev, Nov. 25 ... (7) Ryan Garcia vs Oscar Duarte, Dec. 2 ... (1) Regis Prograis vs Devin Haney, Dec. 9 ... (8) Sandor Martin vs Mohamed El Marcouchi, Dec. 16

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Notes: Shakur Stevenson and Edwin De Los Santos put on a fight for the ages last Thursday, as the two got in there for 12 rounds and set CompuBox records en route to Stevenson picking up the vacant WBC belt. Granted, it was memorable for all the wrong reasons, but it was memorable, huh? HUH?

I’ve been doing this since 2006. Stevenson vs De Los Santos was one of the five worst fights I’ve covered off the top of my head, joining Klitschko vs Povetkin, Klitschko vs Fury, Barthelemy vs Easter, and Rigondeaux vs Casimero. But the first one was at least memorably ugly, the second one had a world-shifting outcome, the third one had the dignity to refuse having a winner, and the fourth one featured Rigondeaux’s all-time funniest performance.

This was just dreadfully boring.

Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Notes: I still like Navarrete and love to watch him fight, but can’t look at the draw with Robson Conceicao last Thursday as anything other than a letdown and something that has to knock him out of the top spot. Styles make fights and all that, it happens, but Cordina and Foster just picked up decent wins in matchups thought to be about the same on paper, and a win trumps a draw.

We also have now seen Foster jump over to Top Rank, who might be looking to do a Navarrete vs Foster unification, and it definitely means that we won’t get Matchroom’s hoped-for Cordina vs Foster unification.

Really, I think Navarrete probably should rematch Conceicao. He seemed open to it, though he said it “may not be up to him,” but unless the WBO order him to fight someone else then it really is up to him, basically.

Upcoming Fights: (7) Hector Luis Garcia vs Lamont Roach Jr, Nov. 25

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Notes: Nick Ball jumps in at the No. 9 spot, taking it directly from Isaac Dogboe. It was a WBC eliminator, so Ball will either get an order, at some point, to fight Rey Vargas — which will be quite the physical spectacle — or Brandon Figueroa, if Vargas vacates or gets stripped or gets to “in recess” or something. Both would be big asks of Ball, but he’s a tough little fireplug fighter and has done what he was asked to do.

Upcoming Fights: (2) Robeisy Ramirez vs Rafael Espinoza, Dec. 9

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Naoya Inoue vs (3) Marlon Tapales, Dec. 26 ... (5) Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs Kevin Gonzalez, Dec. 16

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Notes: Emmanuel Rodriguez did announce a retirement on social media, but that post is now deleted, and BoxRec still have him listed, so we’re keeping him where he is for the time being. Look, real sanctioning bodies have ranked dead guys and Jake Paul, worse things have happened.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Jason Moloney vs Saul Sanchez, Jan. 13

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Upcoming Fights: (9) Andrew Moloney vs Judy Flores, Dec. 9

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Sunny Edwards vs (2) Jesse Rodriguez, Dec. 16

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Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Notes: Decision CP Freshmart and Wanheng are both out on inactivity, having not fought since fighting each other in July 2022. It is what it is!

Upcoming Fights: (9) Jake Amparo vs Pedro Taduran, Dec. 28

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Upcoming Fights: (2) Chantelle Cameron vs (3) Katie Taylor, Nov. 25