RANKINGS: Garcia can’t be ranked, but Haney can’t be No. 1, who’s top at 140? Plus more!

Next update will come Monday, May 6, later in the day to give time for Inoue vs Nery (and a stacked undercard) to finish that morning.

Ranked fights this period:

Super Middleweight: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs (2) Jaime Munguia, May 4
Super Welterweight: (7) Yoenis Tellez vs Joseph Jackson, Apr. 26
Welterweight: (3) Mario Barrios vs Fabian Maidana, May 4
Featherweight: (3) Brandon Figueroa vs Jessie Magdaleno, May 4
Super Bantamweight: (1) Naoya Inoue vs (2) Luis Nery, May 6
Bantamweight: (3) Emmanuel Rodriguez vs (9) Ryosuke Nishida, May 4
Bantamweight: (2) Takuma Inoue vs Sho Ishida, May 6
Bantamweight: (4) Jason Moloney vs Yoshiki Takei, May 6
Flyweight: (3) Seigo Yuri Akui vs (9) Taku Kuwahara, May 6

Notes: Jared Anderson holds at No. 8 after a dull but clear win over Ryad Merhy. If we started penalizing people for being boring in victory, a lot of things would be different, and it’d be hard to fill out top 10s.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Oleksandry Usyk vs (2) Tyson Fury, May 18 … (7) Frank Sanchez vs (10) Agit Kabayel, May 18 … (6) Zhilei Zhang vs (9) Deontay Wilder, June 1 … (5) Filip Hrgovic vs Daniel Dubois, June 1

Upcoming Fights: (1) Jai Opetaia vs Mairis Briedis, May 18 … (2) Chris Billam-Smith vs (3) Richard Riakporhe, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Dmitry Bivol vs (2) Artur Beterbiev, June 1 … (7) Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs David Benavidez, June 15

Notes: One thing I’ve taken to these days is not leaving guys sitting around in the rankings of a division they will not be competing in going forward. The two Davids, Benavidez and Morrell, are both headed to 175. They will give that division a big lift. Both are moving up because there’s really nothing interesting for them to do at 168; I mean, they could have fought one another, but PBC don’t seem particularly interested in doing that, so add that onto “not gonna get Canelo,” and there’s nothing interesting that’s really possible for them.

In a sense, you could say Canelo has truly cleaned out 168 by virtue of not fighting Benavidez or Morrell. They’re gone! It also means Canelo vs Munguia is, in my estimation, a 1 vs 2 matchup. So when you really break it down, Canelo is taking the best possible fight at 168! Slippery Saul has done it again!

So we’ve got two guys out and a refresh of these rankings. This is how I think of the division right now, without two top guys who are moving on. I know it seems weird to rank Andrade coming off of a brave-but-brutal loss, but it was to Benavidez, who none of these other guys save perhaps Canelo would likely do any better against, and I mean, look at this group. Andrade can’t compete with these guys? Of course he can.

Carlos Gongora also falls out, because while I like Gongora, ranking him comes on the strength of what, a 12th round semi-miracle win over Ali Akhmedov in late 2020? It’s mid-2024, lads. He’s gone 3-2 since, with losses to Lerrone Richards and Mbilli and his best win is Chris Pearson. Just part of the reshuffle. He might beat Berlanga. He might not.

Diego Pacheco won a few weeks ago. Wasn’t his best showing, but it’s entirely possible he’s growing out of this weight at 23 — the man is 6’4” — or maybe he’s just a little bored with fighting guys at the level he has been. Or maybe he just had a bad night! Lots of things are possible, really.

The incoming Bektemir Melikuziev won this past weekend, it was also not very memorable, other than the nasty cut he suffered on his eyelid in the technical decision W.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs (2) Jaime Munguia, May 4 … (3) Christian Mbilli vs Mark Heffron, May 25

Upcoming Fights: (7) Hamzah Sheeraz vs (9) Austin Williams, June 1

Upcoming Fights: (7) Yoenis Tellez vs Joseph Jackson, Apr. 26

Notes: Terence Crawford’s leaving the division, reportedly to fight Israil Madrimov at 154 in August. Again, no reason to have someone take up a spot.

Come on down, “Boots,” you’re the default No. 1 welterweight in the world! Ennis just signed with Matchroom so he should actually get a fight soon, too.

This is just terrible right now. This is the weakest and worst this division has been in decades. I’m leaving the 10th spot vacant because at next update, Eimantas Stanionis should be back in because he finally gets to fight on May 4. And if Gabriel Maestre upsets Stanionis, then it’ll be Maestra. Or who knows what Fabian Maidana might do against Barrios! Wow. It’s coming back already.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Mario Barrios vs Fabian Maidana, May 4 … (2) Giovani Santillan vs Brian Norman Jr, May 18

Notes: Well. LOL.

Devin Haney lost to Ryan Garcia, and though I think it was close, like, by the final score I tallied, it wasn’t really that close. Garcia kicked Haney’s hindquarters around the ring in the second half of that fight, even fighting in bursts and spots.

But what do you do here? Haney made weight, Garcia did not. I can’t keep Haney at No. 1 off of that — and Matias looks like a horrifying matchup for him now — but how far can he fall? Who has looked truly impressive lately?

So we’ve got another goofy mess that will work itself out, one way or another, soon enough. Let’s just bullet point this:

Ryan Garcia’s out, he didn’t make 140 and isn’t even going to try again, he’s going to 147. Or 154. Or whatever. But it ain’t gonna be 140.
Paro’s in because he’s been solid and done the jobs asked of him. Martin’s in because he maybe should have a W over Teofimo, but he also basically refuses to do anything interesting between crafty showings in bigger fights. Taylor’s in because, like, I’m thinking of Taylor and Regis Prograis, who is also out. Taylor hasn’t looked too good in his last couple, no question, but neither has Prograis. Taylor did better against Teofimo than Prograis did against Haney. I don’t know, man. Taylor has an official win over Prograis even if it was nearly five years ago. That’s the level we’re getting down to right now.
It kinda chaps my hide to leave Prograis out while Gary Antuanne Russell sits here doing nothing besides Having Potential.

Upcoming Fights: (4) Jack Catterall vs (10) Josh Taylor, May 25 … (2) Subriel Matias vs Liam Paro, June 15 … (3) Teofimo Lopez vs Steve Claggett, June 29

Upcoming Fights: (1) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs (9) George Kambosos Jr, May 11 … (2) Gervonta “Tank” Davis vs (5) Frank Martin, June 15 … (3) Shakur Stevenson vs Artem Harutyunan, July 6

Upcoming Fights: (1) Joe Cordina vs Anthony Cacace, May 18

Upcoming Fights: (3) Brandon Figueroa vs Jessie Magdaleno, May 4 … (4) Nick Ball vs (7) Raymond Ford, June 1

Upcoming Fights: (1) Naoya Inoue vs (2) Luis Nery, May 6 … (3) Marlon Tapales vs Nattapong Jankaew, May 10

Upcoming Fights: (3) Emmanuel Rodriguez vs (9) Ryosuke Nishida, May 4 … (2) Takuma Inoue vs Sho Ishida, May 6 … (4) Jason Moloney vs Yoshiki Takei, May 6 … (7) Paul Butler vs Norbelto Jimenez, May 11

Notes: David Jimenez moves into the top 10 after coming up from flyweight and beating John “Scrappy” Ramirez, who moves out of the top 10 after losing to Jimenez.

Upcoming Fights: (6) Andrew Moloney vs Pedro Guevara, May 11 … (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (3) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, June 29 … (2) Kazuto Ioka vs (4) Fernando Martinez, July 7