Rankings (May 31, 2021): Donaire does it again, Haney mixed reviews, more

Rankings go up on Mondays at 10 am ET.

Ranked fights this week:

• Light Heavyweight: (7) Badou Jack vs TBA, June 6
• Super Middleweight: (10) David Lemieux vs David Zegarra, June 4
• Junior Middleweight: (5) Jarrett Hurd vs Luis Arias, June 6 [middleweight]

Upcoming Fights: (9) Michael Hunter vs Mike Wilson, June 19 … (1) Tyson Fury vs (3) Deontay Wilder, July 24 … (2) Anthony Joshua vs (6) Oleksandr Usyk, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (6) Kevin Lerena vs Ryad Merhy, July 17

Notes: For the moment, not doing anything with Jean Pascal, who failed a drug test for three different steroids, scrapping his rematch with Badou Jack. Pascal denies knowing anything about how it happened, which of course he would. But it’s just a list on a boxing site; he might as well be given the chance to more formally address it, even if the end result seems predictable.

If Pascal winds up suspended by a commission, I’ll likely drop him from the top 10. Commissions tend to respect the suspensions of another one (in most cases, not all). It’s already been a long time since he last fought, and even being more lenient on rankings inactivity with 2020 getting screwed up, a suspension for Pascal would probably keep him out of the ring at least the rest of 2021.

Upcoming Fights: (7) Badou Jack vs TBA, June 6 … (8) Gilberto Ramirez vs Sullivan Barrera, July 9 … (1) Artur Beterbiev vs (4) Joe Smith Jr, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (10) David Lemieux vs David Zegarra, June 4 … (3) David Benavidez vs Jose Uzcategui, Aug. 28 … (1) Canelo Alvarez vs TBA, Sept. 18

Upcoming Fights: (2) Jermall Charlo vs Juan Macias Montiel, June 19 … (8) Jaime Munguia vs Maciej Sulecki, June 19 … (6) Rob Brant vs Janibek Alimkhanuly, June 26

Upcoming Fights: (5) Jarrett Hurd vs Luis Arias, June 6 [middleweight] … (3) Jeison Rosario vs (8) Erickson Lubin, June 26 … (4) Julian Williams vs Brian Mendoza, June 26 … (7) Tim Tszyu vs Michael Zerafa, July 7 … (1) Jermell Charlo vs (2) Brian Castano, July 17 … (8) Sebastian Fundora vs Sergio Garcia, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Errol Spence Jr vs (3) Manny Pacquiao, Aug. 21

Upcoming Fights: (10) Jose Pedraza vs Julian Rodriguez, June 12 … (7) Mario Barrios vs Gervonta Davis, June 26

Notes: No big changes, if Devin Haney had really dominated Jorge Linares, there was a chance he could have made his case for the No. 2 spot. He didn’t, though, as he had hold and survive late to keep the W intact, getting rocked pretty hard no matter how much he insists he wasn’t hurt.

But he did get the win, and a good one. Linares is still a good fighter, and I’m not dropping him much for losing a good matchup. I think it’s a mistake to overly penalize someone for bothering to take a good fight, someone has to lose unless it’s a draw. In turn, that often “rewards” people — as much as they can be rewarded in meaningless internet rankings — for not having fought good opponents. So Linares goes from No. 6 to No. 7, he’s still a quality fighter at 35.

I’m a defender of Haney’s ability. At 22, he can still get better, still shore up some mistakes, still become an even more effective fighter, and he’s already quite good. The talent is obviously there. How will he do against better competition and bigger punchers? Remains to be seen.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Teofimo Lopez vs (9) George Kambosos Jr, June 19 … (2) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs (10) Masayoshi Nakatani, June 26 … (6) Javier Fortuna vs Joseph Diaz Jr, July 9

Notes: Tevin Farmer has indicated he’ll likely be moving up to 135 when he returns, but until that’s official (boxers change their minds pretty often and he might wind up getting an offer at 130 he can’t turn down), he’s staying put here.

Upcoming Fights: (6) Shakur Stevenson vs Jeremiah Nakathila, June 12 … (2) Gervonta Davis vs Mario Barrios [junior welterweight], June 26 … (10) Chris Colbert vs Yuriorkis Gamboa, July 3 … (5) Joseph Diaz Jr vs Javier Fortuna [lightweight], July 9 … (8) Shavkat Rakhimov vs Kenichi Ogawa, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Gary Russell Jr vs Rey Vargas, TBA … (2) Kid Galahad vs Jazza Dickens, TBA … (5) Mauricio Lara vs (6) Josh Warrington, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (7) Azat Hovhannisyan vs TBA, July 9 … (2) Stephen Fulton Jr vs (3) Brandon Figueroa, Sept. 11 … (1) Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs (8) Ronny Rios, TBA

Notes: What more can we say about Nonito Donaire? At 38, he became the oldest bantamweight world champion ever, beating his friend Gerry Penalosa’s record by three years when he took the WBC title from Nordine Oubaali on Saturday.

And it’s not like he squeaked past Oubaali or had to go into the deep rounds, either. He stopped him in four. Donaire wants the rematch with Naoya Inoue, and I think that’s the fight to make if everyone can just get on the same page and do it by the end of the year.

Oubaali drops down to No. 5, he’s right on par with the group after Donaire still. He’s a good fighter, which is what makes Donaire’s latest big win so impressive.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Naoya Inoue vs Michael Dasmarinas, June 19 … (3) John Riel Casimero vs (4) Guillermo Rigondeaux, Aug. 14

Upcoming Fights: (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (4) Chocolatito Gonzalez, TBA … (3) Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs Carlos Cuadras, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Julio Cesar Martinez vs TBA, June 26 … (3) Junto Nakatani vs (6) Angel Acosta, TBA

Notes: A quiet but notable upset took place on Friday, with Esteban Bermudez knocking out Carlos Canizales — previously at No. 4 here — in Mexico. Canizales hadn’t fought in two years, and maybe the ring rust took him out of his game, but Bermudez came at him from the get-go to test that, and it paid off. He put Canizales down twice and finished him in the sixth round. Canizales was given no choice but to engage Bermudez in a firefight, and while he had his moments, it didn’t work out for him.

Bermudez comes in at No. 10 but you could argue someone else into that spot, probably, or you could argue him a couple spots higher based on a big upset victory over a highly-regarded opponent. Maybe it’ll just be Bermudez’s 15 minutes of fame. The 105 and 108 classes can be, as we say a lot, really volatile. Considered several here, with primary focus on veteran Hekkie Budler, who just returned, as well as Katsunari Takayama, Daniel Matellon, and Agustin Mauro Gauto, but decided to go with Bermudez for now. It’s a big, big win for him, and puts the WBA’s secondary “world” title around his waist.

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Upcoming Fights: (9) Ginjiro Shigeoka vs Toshiki Kawamitsu, July 14

Upcoming Fights: (2) Naoya Inoue vs Michael Dasmarinas, June 19 … (5) Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos Jr, June 19 … (7) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs Masayoshi Nakatani, June 26 … (10) Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder, July 24 … (9) Juan Francisco Estrada vs Chocolatito Gonzalez, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (7) Mikaela Mayer vs Erica Farias, June 19 … (9) Seniesa Estrada vs Tenkai Tsunami, July 9