Chris Trotman - Getty Images
Nonito Donaire is in at 122 pounds, but he's not the No. 1 man just yet. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
Some healthy movement in this week's boxing rankings update, marking the first weekend with a bunch of shifts this year, as this was the first big weekend in boxing in 2012. Let's run through the changes and non-changes.
Click here for the full rankings!
Super Bantamweight
Nonito Donaire (28-1, 18 KO) moves in at No. 2 in his new weight class following Saturday's win over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr (21-2-1, 18 KO) in San Antonio. Donaire injured his left hand in the bout, which may have contributed greatly to what was a very good but not thrilling victory against a strong opponent.
As good as Donaire is, I just couldn't see bringing him from No. 1 at bantamweight to No. 1 in the new division, but I do feel as though he absolutely belongs ahead of Guillermo Rigondeaux, who drops a spot to No. 3. Donaire won a title belt, so he's done just about as much at 122 as Rigondeaux has, and Donaire also beat a better fighter in Vazquez than Rigondeaux has beaten to date, and comparing Vazquez to Rico Ramos is in my opinion a no-contest in Vazquez's favor.
Vazquez doesn't move much himself, just dropping from No. 6 to No. 7 with Donaire moving in. He made a fine showing for himself overall. He could have done more early in the fight, but overall he proved his value as a good fighter.
Scott Quigg drops out with Donaire coming in, but would have maybe dropped out anyway, with his rocky win over Jamie Arthur on Saturday. I'm still confident Quigg will be back sooner than later.
Cruiserweight
There's a new Ring champion in town, but he's still not the No. 1-ranked fighter in the division here. He would be, except unlike The Ring, I'm not dropping Marco Huck from the cruiserweight rankings until he's actually fought Alexander Povetkin on February 25.
Yoan Pablo Hernandez (26-1, 13 KO) is the new cruiserweight champion of the world, and moves up from No. 5 to No. 2 after his hard-fought win against Steve Cunningham on Saturday in Germany. The decision to make was whether or not to drop Denis Lebedev down from No. 2, and I chose to do so. The Ring belt does carry some weight with me, and more importantly, Lebedev would have a stronger argument to have kept the spot if his last two wins weren't over pathetically washed-up versions of Roy Jones Jr and James Toney.
Cunningham (24-4, 12 KO) drops from No. 3 to No. 4, as he was very competitive in the fight and still had the look of a good fighter, though certainly one who has seen better days.
Also making a move up this week was Alexander Alekseev (23-2, 20 KO), who claimed the vacant European cruiserweight title with a dominant win over Enad Licina, also in Frankfurt. Alekseev moves up from No. 9 to No. 6, leapfrogging Guillermo Jones, Ola Afolabi, and Antonio Tarver.
Middleweight
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (45-0-1, 31 KO) still does not crack the top ten, but he's at No. 11 now and could be in without much argument over anyone from No. 6 on down.
Junior Middleweight
Vanes Martirosyan (32-0, 20 KO) stays put at No. 10 following his embarrassing mismatch win over Troy Lowry on Saturday night. His recent opposition has been so bad that I considered dropping him, but an honest analysis of the unranked fighters in the division revealed only guys with arguments, none of them compelling enough that I felt it necessary to yet expel Martirosyan from the rankings.
Bantamweight
With Donaire gone, a new man was needed at the No. 10 spot. I went with Mexican prospect Leo Santa Cruz (19-0-1, 11 KO), a very impressive young fighter whose best wins are on par, at least, with anyone else in the running for the spot. Also considered were Rolly Matsushita, Jamie McDonnell, Hugo Ruiz, AJ Banal, and Eric Morel.
Abner Mares, of course, is the new No. 1 man in the division.
Heavyweight
I went ahead and dropped Eddie Chambers out a week early, in part so I didn't forget to do it next week. Chambers (36-2, 18 KO) hasn't fought since February 11, 2011, when he beat Derric Rossy, and has dropped out of two straight scheduled fights against Tony Thompson and Sergei Liakhovich.
Kubrat Pulev (15-0, 7 KO) comes in at No. 10, with Thompson, Tyson Fury, Dereck Chisora, and Alexander Dimitrenko all moving up a spot in Nos. 6 through 9.
This Week's Ranked Fighters in Action
Junior Welterweight: No. 5 Lucas Matthysse (29-2, 27 KO) vs Ivan Valle (29-11-3, 25 KO)
Lightweight: No. 7 Kevin Mitchell (32-1, 24 KO) vs Felix Lora (14-8-5, 8 KO)
Super Flyweight: No. 8 Rodrigo Guerrero (16-3-1, 10 KO) vs Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr (12-1-1, 7 KO)
Junior Flyweight: No. 8 Luis Lazarte (49-10-2, 18 KO) vs Johnriel Casimero (15-2, 9 KO)
0 recs | 11 comments
I think Ramos’ win over Shimoda was more impressive than anything Vazquez Jr. has done to date, and consequently believe Rigondeaux still belongs above Donaire.
bachwards - February 7, 2012
I don’t really think Ramos’ win over Shimoda was actually impressive at all looking back on it. He was losing terribly and knocked him out. It just happened that way, but re-watching that fight, Ramos was not very good. The result looks impressive, and the knockout itself was great, but to say he fought well is a stretch.
Scott Christ - February 7, 2012
It’s fine if you want to regard as a flukey KO, but I still have a hard time seeing Vazquez as a clearly superior victory to Ramos given his own limited resume, nor do I think that single victory alone means Donaire should absolutely be ahead of Rigondeaux in this division. I don’t even think an Arce win should move Donaire ahead of Rigondeaux either though.
bachwards - February 8, 2012
I’m not as thoroughly impressed with Rigondeaux as you are, I believe. That seems to be our greatest difference here. Perhaps I’m wrong.
I just didn’t get a whole lot out of him beating Ramos. I know Rigondeaux is extremely talented, an incredibly schooled boxer, and very good. I even think he’s a miserable matchup for Donaire and could be absolute hell for him. But I think I’d have that fight 50-50, and to me, Donaire just has the better overall resume. Rigondeaux’s only other good win is Ricardo Cordoba, and that one definitely wasn’t impressive other than the fact that he won and Cordoba’s an OK fighter.
Scott Christ - February 8, 2012
You know, I don’t have a real strong opinion re Donaire relative to Rigondeaux, but what I’ve noticed for years about Donaire was how much bigger he was against virtually everyone he ever fought. So I don’t put too much weight on his resume. He has consistently been KOing smaller guys. He always looked 9 miles long next to all of them. Since he went up, he’s still winning, but not as impressively. So I’d give Rigondeaux the better chance against him, just by a hair. GR doesn’t have a big resume, but he looks amazing when he fights to me, and his wins weren’t against relative midgets.
BoxAnne - February 8, 2012
I just find it hard to go beyond 50-50 against Nonito Donaire for a guy who struggled with Ricardo Cordoba and is hanging his hat on a win over a guy who won’t let his hands go and landed 15 punches in 6 rounds.
Scott Christ - February 8, 2012
hope they fight so we can see.
BoxAnne - February 8, 2012
Karo Murat on 8?
Karo Murat on 8?
You know that he did awfully against Cleverly and also should have lost against Campillo?
Sauerland rescued him from losing against Campillo, but with fair judges, he would have lost.
Murat should not be in the ranking at all. Remove him, fill the gap with fighters ranked behind Murat and put Ismayl Sillakh on 10.
Rudi.ru - February 8, 2012
Yes.
I saw those fights, yes! Cleverly-Murat recap! Murat-Campillo recap! Note that they are both ranked above Murat!
I obviously do not feel this way.
Thank you for your instruction, but my answer will have to be no. I will say it’s peculiar that you’re obsessed with Murat here but not concerned about Adrian Diaconu or Zsolt Erdei, two fighters with no better recent resume than Murat, and while I agree that Sillakh is very talented, he has beaten no one of much substance, and his last two fights have been exceptionally weak.
When he’s got someone better than Yordanis Despaigne on his resume, I’ll be happy to rank him. I have personally learned my lesson (mostly) the hard way about ranking hot shot prospects based on largely easy fights. Example: David Lemieux.
Scott Christ - February 8, 2012
Not native speaker
I didn’t mean it as instruction. I am not a native speaker. I meant it as suggestion or “if I were you, i would do etc…..”
Rudi.ru - February 8, 2012
I’m really just joking anyway — sorry it came off the way it did.
Scott Christ - February 8, 2012
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