Boxing Rankings (June 27): Bam Rodriguez, Akhmadaliev, McCaskill, extra

Rankings go up on Mondays. There might be no rankings replace subsequent week; the approaching week by itself is basically gentle, and likewise subsequent Monday is Independence Day within the U.S., however this does imply a fairly large replace on July 11 after we return.

Ranked fights the following two weeks:

Heavyweight: (6) Joe Joyce vs Christian Hammer, July 2
Cruiserweight: (1) Mairis Briedis vs Jai Opetaia, July 2
Junior Middleweight: (7) Israil Madrimov vs (8) Michel Soro, July 9
Junior Middleweight: (9) Magomed Kurbanov vs Patrick Teixeira, July 9
Featherweight: (2) Mark Magsayo vs (7) Rey Vargas, July 9
Junior Bantamweight: (10) Kosei Tanaka vs Masayoshi Hashizume, June 29
Flyweight: (9) Giemel Magramo vs Jerry Tomogdan, July 8
Minimumweight: (5) Ginjiro Shigeoka vs Naoya Haruguchi, July 6
Minimumweight: (8) Rene Mark Cuarto vs Daniel Valladares, July 1

Upcoming Fights: (6) Joe Joyce vs Christian Hammer, July 2 … (2) Oleksandr Usyk vs (4) Anthony Joshua, Aug. 20 … (5) Andy Ruiz Jr vs (9) Luis Ortiz, Sept. 4

Upcoming Fights: (1) Mairis Briedis vs Jai Opetaia, July 2

Upcoming Fights: (2) Artur Beterbiev vs (9) Anthony Yarde, TBA

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

Upcoming Fights: (1) Gennadiy Golovkin vs Canelo Alvarez [super middleweight], Sept. 17

Upcoming Fights: (7) Israil Madrimov vs (8) Michel Soro, July 9 … (9) Magomed Kurbanov vs Patrick Teixeira, July 9

Upcoming Fights: (6) Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Michael McKinson, Aug. 6

Upcoming Fights: (9) Jose Pedraza vs Richard Commey, Aug. 27 … (8) Subriel Matias vs Jeremias Ponce, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (5) Ryan Garcia vs Javier Fortuna, July 16 … (8) Isaac Cruz vs Eduardo Ramirez, Sept. 4 … (1) Devin Haney vs (3) George Kambosos Jr, TBA

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

Upcoming Fights: (2) Mark Magsayo vs (7) Rey Vargas, July 9 … (9) Joet Gonzalez vs Isaac Dogboe, July 23

Notes: Takuma Inoue is available in at No. 10, the place he’s changing Brandon Figueroa within the rankings, as Figueroa is formally and absolutely going as much as 126 for his subsequent combat, a WBC eliminator towards Carlos Castro, two guys coming off of losses at 122. Is smart. WBC is sweet. Ensure you pay attention to each new replace they’ve on what a franchise title means.

I’m not dropping Ronny Rios any for shedding to Murodjon Akhmadaliev, and I’ve had issues like that earlier than, however on this particular case it’s two-fold:

Everybody thought Akhmadaliev would beat Rios. It’s what was speculated to occur, and Rios didn’t combat poorly, he was simply the second-best man within the combat.
This division has been successfully cleaned out by Fulton and Akhmadaliev and it lacks high quality depth proper now. I truthfully don’t suppose anybody on this division is a authentic menace to Fulton or Akhmadaliev aside from Fulton or Akhmadaliev.

On that second level, there’s a main want for recent faces and contenders. What am I going to do, drop Rios out for Ionut Baluta or TJ Doheny? They’re all about the identical stage. I’m assured Rios or Ryosuke Iwasa would nonetheless beat the blokes they’ve been beating. Now, if somebody desires to e book a Rios-Doheny or Rios-Baluta combat to ensure both means, I’d be up for that. Each sound like strong fights to me.

That mentioned, I weighed out Baluta and Takuma for that final spot and simply barely edged to Takuma. Iwasa goes formally inactive in October if he doesn’t schedule a combat by then. We’ll see what occurs. This might all shake up a little bit.

The massive factor is we hopefully will get Fulton vs Akhmadaliev. It’s the one combat to make. That’s not actually true, after all, PBC may simply do Fulton vs Luis Nery and Matchroom may do Akhmadaliev vs Hovhannisyan (which might be a blast however ain’t The Battle), and many others. However you recognize what I imply.

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Notes: Jesse Rodriguez is an issue. His domination of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai was one other eye-opener, not nearly his expertise, however about how massive he actually is at 115, how recent and expert, and — let’s be actual — how primed this division simply could be to be taken over by him, contemplating the ages of the remaining high stars he hasn’t already overwhelmed down this yr.

Juan Francisco Estrada is 32, Kazuto Ioka is 33, Chocolatito Gonzalez is 35. They’d all be important assessments for him, that’s not my level, however Rodriguez is an especially promising younger expertise, may actually be a pound-for-pound kind man within the making.

Now that mentioned, the phrase proper now’s he’ll seemingly vacate the WBC at 115 and transfer again right down to 112, which is coach Robert Garcia’s thought. That’s not set in stone; Eddie Hearn may are available with a giant combat and large cash provide that’s too good to move up at 115, and there’s no combat at 112 that may be as massive as combating Estrada or Chocolatito particularly.

However there are potential nice fights at 112. Bam Rodriguez towards Junto Nakatani? Signal me up. Like, instantly signal me up. Bam Rodriguez towards Sunny Edwards? I do know a number of you’ll decide Bam to destroy him as a result of Sunny’s not a puncher, however I’m not sleeping on Sunny, who’s artful, slippery, annoying to combat, and hard on high of all that. Bam towards Julio Cesar Martinez? Man, think about if Martinez truly confirmed up!

Rungvisai drops to No. 7. It was a “good loss” in that he fought an excellent opponent, however it was a transparent loss and this stays a really aggressive division. If Srisaket goes to get again into the combination, he has work to do.

Upcoming Fights: (10) Kosei Tanaka vs Masayoshi Hashizume, June 29 … (2) Kazuto Ioka vs Donnie Nietes, July 13 … (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (5) Joshua Franco, Aug. 20

Upcoming Fights: (9) Giemel Magramo vs Jerry Tomogdan, July 8 … (6) Ricardo Sandoval vs David Jimenez, July 16

Notes: Two notable fights this week, with Jonathan Gonzalez retaining his WBO title towards Mark Anthony Barriga in an excellent combat, and Hekkie Budler upsetting Elwin Soto on the street in Mexicali.

Gonzalez, when he doesn’t make massive errors, is a extremely good fighter, and he confirmed that once more. Barriga was capable of field with him for many of the combat, however “Bomba” took over down the stretch and solidified his titleholder standing with a profitable protection. I’d be up for seeing him combat anybody at this weight.

Budler is firmly again within the combine for actual now. That combat being determined by a twelfth spherical knockdown of Soto is homer scoring; Budler gained eight or 9 rounds in that combat for me. He flustered Soto terribly within the second half particularly. Soto is a strong fighter, however he might be out-boxed, and it’s a must to surprise — despite the fact that he’s solely 25 — if we haven’t seen the e book written on him or even when he’s seen his peak come and go. However there are many good fights for Soto on the market. He’s enjoyable to observe. I wouldn’t in any respect object to seeing him transfer to 112 and rematch Tito Acosta, however I’d additionally wish to see him combat Esteban Bermudez or Carlos Canizales or any variety of different guys at 108/112.

Upcoming Fights: (5) Daniel Matellon vs Ivan Garcia, July 16 … (7) Masamichi Yabuki vs Thanongsak Simsri, Aug. 11

Upcoming Fights: (8) Rene Mark Cuarto vs Daniel Valladares, July 1 … (5) Ginjiro Shigeoka vs Naoya Haruguchi, July 6 … (7) Erick Rosa vs Carlos Ortega, July 15

Upcoming Fights: (1) Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua, Aug. 20 … (6) Canelo Alvarez vs Gennadiy Golovkin, Sept. 17 … (9) Shakur Stevenson vs Robson Conceicao, Sept. 23

Notes: Jessica McCaskill bulldozed previous Alma Ibarra, who didn’t wish to be there after just a few rounds — if in any respect — and stop on the combat. I’ve little extra so as to add about that as a result of I don’t suppose there’s way more that’s helpful to say.

McCaskill is true to be disinterested in persevering with at welterweight regardless of being a very powerful doable factor on the earth, a contemporary “undisputed champion,” unifying 4 belts that exist primarily so there might be “a world title combat” each week as a result of it helps boxing promoters not have to really promote anybody. Simply stick a belt on ‘em and name ‘em “the champ.” However if you happen to put all of them TOGETHER, see…

Anyway, there’s nothing else of any curiosity for McCaskill to do at 147. She will be able to make 140. There are at the very least two good fights at 140 in titleholders Chantelle Cameron and Kali Reis. These two had been speculated to combat one another however clearly aren’t gonna, so Cameron vs McCaskill sounds nice.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Amanda Serrano vs Brenda Carabajal, Aug. 6 … (4) Seniesa Estrada vs Anabel Ortiz, Aug. 6 … (2) Claressa Shields vs (8) Savannah Marshall, Sept. 10 … (5) Mikaela Mayer vs (10) Alycia Baumgardner, TBA