Rankings (June 20): Beterbiev makes another statement, more

Rankings go up on Mondays.

Ranked fights this week:

• Junior Featherweight: (2) Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs (8) Ronny Rios, June 25
• Junior Bantamweight: (3) Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs (6) Jesse Rodriguez, June 25
• Flyweight: (3) Julio Cesar Martinez vs (7) McWilliams Arroyo, June 25
• Junior Flyweight: (3) Jonathan Gonzalez vs Mark Anthony Barriga, June 24
• Junior Flyweight: (4) Elwin Soto vs (9) Hekkie Budler, June 25
• Women’s P4P: (7) Jessica McCaskill vs Alma Ibarra, June 25

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

Notes: Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr promised action. We got action. Unfortunately for Joe Smith, it was one-way action. Beterbiev was just levels above him.

I have long beaten the drum that Beterbiev is more than just a mauler or brawler; he is an outstandingly skilled technician on offense. He’s not slick defensively and isn’t going to become so, which I think is a lot of what holds people back from seeing how skilled he really is, because he doesn’t fit the American stereotype of “skilled.” That’s usually a marketing term for fighters who aren’t all that fun to watch.

Beterbiev could be No. 1, and I’m as big a Beterbiev fan as there is. But I think Bivol still just edges the spot at this point. That’s my opinion. Yours may differ, and I get it, because I spent about a solid 30 minutes really thinking about it.

The most likely next fight for those guys is not one another. It could happen, we could get a pleasant curveball, but most likely we’re getting Beterbiev vs Anthony Yarde and Bivol against maybe Joshua Buatsi, both in September or October. And then Bivol probably will fight Canelo again next May.

Upcoming Fights: 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

Notes: Took Richard Commey out because he’s officially moving up to 140. Nakatani edged out some other guys, like Javier Fortuna and Shuichiro Yoshino, etc.

Upcoming Fights: (5) Ryan Garcia vs Javier Fortuna, July 16

Upcoming Fights: (7) Hector Garcia vs (9) Roger Gutierrez, July 10

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

Upcoming Fights: (2) Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs (8) Ronny Rios, June 25

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Upcoming Fights: (3) Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs (6) Jesse Rodriguez, June 25 … (10) Kosei Tanaka vs Masayoshi Hashizume, June 29 … (2) Kazuto Ioka vs Donnie Nietes, July 13 … (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (5) Joshua Franco, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (3) Julio Cesar Martinez vs (7) McWilliams Arroyo, June 25 … (9) Giemel Magramo vs Jerry Tomogdan, July 8

Upcoming Fights: (3) Jonathan Gonzalez vs Mark Anthony Barriga, June 24 … (4) Elwin Soto vs (9) Hekkie Budler, June 25 … (5) Daniel Matellon vs Ivan Garcia, July 16 … (7) Masamichi Yabuki vs Thanongsak Simsri, Aug. 11

Upcoming Fights: (5) Ginjiro Shigeoka vs Naoya Haruguchi, July 6 … (7) Erick Rosa vs Carlos Ortega, July 15

Notes: Artur Beterbiev is the pound-for-pound king of the week. He could be here. Other people are here. We’re talking about a bunch of top tier fighters.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua, Aug. 20

Upcoming Fights: (7) Jessica McCaskill vs Alma Ibarra, June 25 … (2) Claressa Shields vs (8) Savannah Marshall, TBA … (5) Mikaela Mayer vs (10) Alycia Baumgardner, TBA