Boxing Rankings (Sept. 19): Canelo’s reign continues, GGG, more

Rankings go up on Mondays.

Ranked Matches This Week:

Heavyweight: (5) Joe Joyce vs. (7) Joseph Parker, Sept. 24 Lightweight: (10) Maxi Hughes vs. Kid Galahad, Sept. 24 Junior Lightweight: (1) Shakur Stevenson vs. (5) Robson Conceicao, 23 of September

Notes: There will be some adjustments next week after Joyce vs. Parker. As for Tyson Fury, we’ll put him back (and at No. 1) if/when the Anthony Joshua fight becomes official.

Upcoming fights: (5) Joe Joyce vs. (7) Joseph Parker, Sept. 24… (2) Deontay Wilder vs. Robert Helenius, Oct. 15… (9) Frank Sanchez vs. Carlos Negron, Oct. 15

Upcoming fights: TBA

Upcoming fights: (1) Dmitry Bivol vs. Zurdo Ramirez, Nov. 5… (2) Artur Beterbiev vs. (9) Anthony Yarde, TBA… (4) Joshua Buatsi vs. (10) Jean Pascal, TBA

Notes: Canelo remains at No. 1, cleanly and clearly, if not excitingly, beating Gennadiy Golovkin. I think his annoyance with a (good) question about David Benavidez in the post-fight press conference was telling. We’ll talk more on Tuesday’s podcast.

Billy Joe Saunders is out due to inactivity. He had indicated before his loss to Canelo in May 2021 that it could be his last fight, and other than a brief rumor that he might fight again in late 2022 a while back, there has been nothing. It’s not even so much about the time itself but about the indication of whether there are plans to fight or not. Either way, 16 months is enough. He can come back if he comes back.

Upcoming fights: (3) Caleb Plant vs. Anthony Dirrell, Oct. 15… (8) Zach Parker vs. Demetrius Andrade, TBA

Notes: Gennadiy Golovkin doesn’t lose ground at 160 for losing a fight against the best at 168. For one thing, different weight class. On the other hand, and even more importantly, since these ratings are not “official” and I don’t have any kind of code that I think should be followed, no one else in this division has made anything like an argument convincing enough that they should be considered the top middleweight.

Would Charlo or Alimkhanuly beat today’s GGG? Yes, quite possibly, I think. But Charlo’s title reign has been truly uninspiring and Janibek is just getting started, he hasn’t had a chance to make a serious dent yet. Given the current “political” affiliations, it is likely that none of them will fight each other.

(If you’re wondering about inactivity eliminations (more on that later) and why Jermall Charlo isn’t out, it’s because he had a fight planned that was postponed. Any further inactivity will probably be considered around the end of the year, see what is doing by then.)

Upcoming fights: (4) Chris Eubank Jr vs. Conor Benn, Oct. 8… (6) Carlos Adames vs. Juan Macias Montiel, Oct. 8

Upcoming Fights: (3) Sebastian Fundora vs. Carlos Ocampo, Oct. 8 … (1) Jermell Charlo vs. (4) Tim Tszyu, Jan. 28

Upcoming Fights: (7) Conor Benn vs. Chris Eubank Jr [middleweight]Oct. 8…(1) Errol Spence Jr vs. (2) Terence Crawford, Nov. 19

Upcoming Fights: (8) Teofimo Lopez vs. (10) Jose Pedraza, Dec. 10… (3) Regis Prograis vs. (5) Jose Zepeda, TBA… (6) Subriel Matias vs. Jeremias Ponce, TBA

Notes: Zaur Abdullaev scored a victory on 9/11 in Russia, stopping Jovanni Straffon. It’s not the biggest win or anything, but Abdullaev is a good fighter. That’s an underrated win on Devin Haney’s record.

Upcoming fights: (10) Maxi Hughes vs. Kid Galahad, Sept. 24… (1) Devin Haney vs. (3) George Kambosos Jr, Oct. 15… (2) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Jamaine Ortiz, Oct. 29. .. (6) JoJo Diaz vs. William Zepeda, October 29 … (9) Masayoshi Nakatani vs. Shuichiro Yoshino, November 1

Upcoming fights: (1) Shakur Stevenson vs. (5) Robson Conceicao, Sept. 23… (3) Joe Cordina vs. (4) Shavkat Rakhimov, Nov. 5

Upcoming fights: (2) Maurico Lara vs. (4) Leigh Wood, TBA… (3) Rey Vargas vs. (8) Leo Santa Cruz, TBA

Notes: Angelo Leo out due to inactivity. This division is in dire need of some fresh blood and emerging contenders of serious consequence.

Upcoming fights: TBA

Notes: Nordine Oubaali out due to inactivity.

Upcoming fights: (5) Emmanuel Rodriguez vs. (8) Gary Antonio Russell, Oct. 15… (1) Naoya Inoue vs. (8) Paul Butler, Dec. 13

Notes: I was not surprised that Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez didn’t shine in his win over Israel Gonzalez. Gonzalez is a good tough fighter, first of all I think he is as good and relevant to the division as Carlos Cuadras has been for quite some time.

And as much if not more than that, that was Bam’s third fight in seven months, and his third training camp. Crushing too many fights and camps together takes its toll, I don’t care how old you are, and it’s also a sliding scale for the level you’re fighting at, but it will always happen that you go out and look a bit more fatigued than usual.

Take for example Skye Nicolson, who fought on Matchroom shows on March 5, March 26, April 30 and June 4. In that last fight, she wasn’t at her best, she admitted as much as promoter Eddie Hearn, both of them acknowledging that maybe that was too much in that time frame. They weren’t championship-level fights, but they were fights, they were a lot of training, he catches up.

For Rodriguez to have three serious fights on Feb. 5, June 25 and Sept. 17 is a lot, and unless you put it very lightly, I wouldn’t bring him back on Dec. 3. I don’t think that show (Estrada vs Chocolatito 3) is actually big enough to make a support slot worthwhile. All who care are fully aware that Bam is a threat to anyone else at 115 and a major name in the mix, whatever “exposure” you get from fighting on that card is not enough to risk him it’s not completely 100 percent again.

Upcoming Fights: (6) Fernando Martinez vs. (9) Jerwin Ancajas, Oct. 8 … (8) Francisco Rodriguez Jr. vs. Junto Nakatani, Nov. 1 … (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs. (3) Chocolatito Gonzalez, Dec. 3

Notes: Moruti Mthalane out due to inactivity. He’s 39 years old and had a long run as a top 10, even top five in the division, he held titles. I don’t think he officially hung it, but he may. He has had a quietly excellent professional career overall.

It is worth noting that Junto Nakatani will move up to 115 pounds to face Francisco Rodríguez Jr on November 1 in Japan. It’s a 10-round fight, no title on the line, and Nakatani has yet to vacate his WBO belt at 112. He may be testing those waters, but it’s also a serious water-testing matchup, Rodriguez is no opponent. silly at all. We’ll see what he does after that.

Upcoming Fights: (9) Giemel Magramo vs. Taku Kuwahara, Oct. 25… (2) Junto Nakatani vs. Francisco Rodriguez Jr [junior bantamweight]November 1st

Notes: Masamichi Yabuki stopped Thanongsak Simsri in the seventh round on September 10 in Japan. Simsri had a very “Thai-style” 24-0 record, but it’s a win for Yabuki nonetheless.

Upcoming fights: (1) Hiroto Kyoguchi vs. (2) Kenshiro Teraji, Nov. 1…(3) Jonathan Gonzalez vs. Shokichi Iwata, Nov. 1

Upcoming fights: TBA

Notes: Obviously we didn’t get the Shields vs. Marshall and Mayer vs. Baumgardner fights on September 10 as planned. Thank you, “The Queen”. Anyway, the idea is October 15, but it’s not official yet, and it’s September 18. I know that Boxxer already had that date booked in Leeds, and there could still be a lot of issues to work out. I’m just saying don’t write off someone who just says, nah, I guess that’s not happening, and move on for now.

Top Rank will reportedly have Seniesa Estrada back in a co-main event on ESPN on November 12, her debut with the company after jumping from Golden Boy. If Boxxer can’t put together the October 15 date, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Top Rank pick Mayer vs. Baumgardner, since Mayer is their fighter, and run it in November, with Seniesa co-feature. I’m not saying that will happen, and I hope we get those two fights in the UK like the original idea was, but it’s something to keep in mind.

Upcoming fights: (3) Amanda Serrano vs. Sarah Mahfoud, Sept. 24… (1) Katie Taylor vs. TBA, Oct. 29… (7) Jessica McCaskill vs. (9) Chantelle Cameron, Nov. 5… (4) Seniesa Estrada vs. TBA, Nov. 12… (2) Claressa Shields vs. (8) Savannah Marshall, TBA… (5) Mikaela Mayer vs. (10) Alycia Baumgardner, TBA