It’s amazing what a dramatic knockout can do to the perception of a fighter.

Two little warriors – Brian Viloria and Malcolm Klassen – gained instant recognition as top contenders by THE RING after stopping their more-respected opponents over the weekend.

Viloria, not rated last week, knocked out Ulises Solis with one crushing right hand in the 11th round of a scintillating brawl Sunday in the Philippines (Saturday in the U.S.) to enter the junior flyweight ratings at No. 1, the position Solis had held.

Solis, who was making the ninth defense of his 108-pound title, drops to No. 4. All junior flyweights rated No 4 and below last week slide down one slot each, while Munetsugu Kayo is pushed out of the No. 10 position.

“As No. 2 contender Edgar Sosa beat Brian Viloria ,” said Nigel Collins, editor of THE RING magazine, “we considered making him No. 1 and Viloria No. 2, but decided against it for two reasons: One, Sosa’s win over Viloria was a majority decision, and two, it was in 2007. Therefore, we gave greater weight to Viloria’s more recent and more convincing victory over Ulises Solis.”

Klassen jumps from No. 10 last week to No. 2 among junior lightweights after stopping Cassius Baloyi in the seventh round Saturday in South Africa. Baloyi, who had never been stopped, drops from No. 2 to No. 5.

Baloyi’s demotion pushes down Jorge Barrios (No. 5 last week), Urbano Antillon (No. 6 last week), Jorge Linares (No. 7 last week), Nicky Cook (No. 8 last week), and Robert Guerrero (No. 9 last week) one spot each.

In the flyweight division, Jose Lopez (No. 7 last week) and Viloria (No. 10 last week) are gone because they are now campaigning in different weight classes.

Their exits allowed Koki Kameda (No. 8 last week) and Moruti Mthalane (No. 9 last week) to climb one rung each. Filling the two vacancies are Julio Cesar Miranda of Mexico at No. 9 and Bernard Inom of France at No. 10.

“We considered ranking Jose Lopez at junior bantamweight, where he is now fighting, but did not because his victory over Pramuansak Posuwan last month, while significant, was not enough to dislodge Hugo Cazares from the No. 10 spot at 115 pounds,” Collins said. “Cazares earned that position by beating Roberto Vazquez, a far superior fighter than Posuwan, whose four previous opponents had a combined record of 40-26-12.”