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RING Ratings Update: Junior fly shuffle

Photo by: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
Fighters Network
22
May

The past weekend featured a number of high-quality fighters who turned in outstanding performances but the best of them remained in place in the RING Ratings.

Junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford (No. 5 P4P last week) was the star of the worldwide show, easily dismantling Felix Diaz on Saturday in New York City, but he didn’t budge. There was talk of moving him past Roman Gonzalez into the No. 4 position on the pound-for-pound list but, given Diaz’s limitations, we decided to wait.

Gary Russell Jr. (No. 2 featherweight last week) held his position behind No. 1 Leo Santa Cruz after dominating Oscar Escandon (unrated) on Saturday in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

Naoya Inoue (No. 1 junior bantamweight) stayed put after stopping Ricardo Rodriguez (unrated last week) in three rounds Sunday in Tokyo.



And Gervonta Davis (No. 6 junior lightweight) remained where he was after knocking out Liam Walsh in three rounds Saturday in London. The Editorial Board considered moving Davis past No. 5 Takashi Miura but, again, we decided to wait until Davis beats a next-level opponent or Miura loses.

There was some movement, though. Have a look:

CRUISERWEIGHT

Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (unrated last week) reentered the ratings at No. 10 after outpointing Noel Gevor (unrated last week) on Saturday in Poland. Yunier Dorticos (No. 10 last week) drops out.

SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT

Twenty-year-old David Benavidez (unrated last week) enters the ratings at No. 10 after his sensational eighth-round knockout of Rogelio Medina (unrated last week) on Saturday in Laredo, Texas. Jesse Hart (No. 10 last week) drops out.

Also, the crazy fight between Andre Dirrell (No. 4 last week) and Jose Uzcategui (unrated last week) resulted in no changes. The Venezuelan was winning but was DQ’d for knocking out Dirrell after the end to end Round 8, which preceded a punch to Uzcategui’s jaw by Dirrell’s uncle Leon Lawson Jr. We thought the result was too inconclusive to demote Dirrell or have Uzcategui enter the Top 10.

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Hassan N’Dam (No. 8 last week) was given a gift decision over Ryota Murata (No. 9 last week), many believe, on Saturday in Tokyo. Thus we’re largely ignoring the result and leaving the fighters where they were.

JUNIOR WELTERWEIGHT

Rances Barthelemy (unrated last week) defeated Kiryl Relikh (unrated last week) by a unanimous decision on the Russell-Escandon card. The Cuban wasn’t particularly impressive but, given his victory and accomplishments at lower weights, we decided to have him enter at No. 10. That pushes out Ricky Burns (No. 10 last week).

LIGHTWEIGHT

Raymundo Beltran (No. 10 last week) jumps to No. 8 after his chilling one-punch KO of Jonathan Maicelo (unrated last week) on the Crawford-Diaz card. Beltran leaped over Anthony Crolla and Dejan Zlaticanin (Nos. 8 and 9 last week), who are coming off bad losses.

FEATHERWEIGHT

Jorge Lara (No. 10 last week) held his position after stopping Mario Briones (unrated last week) in three rounds on the Benavidez-Medina card.

JUNIOR FEATHERWEIGHT

Diego De La Hoya (No. 6 last week) stays put after easily outpointing Erik Ruiz (unrated last week) on Thursday in Tucson, Arizona.

FLYWEIGHT

Daigo Higa (No. 7 last week) climbs to No. 3 on the strength of his sixth-round knockout of Juan Hernandez (No. 9 last week) in Tokyo. Hernandez drops out. He is replaced by Takuya Kogawa, who comes at No. 10.

JUNIOR FLYWEIGHT

Five of the 10 rated fighters were in action on Saturday. Milan Melindo (No. 8 last week) stunned veteran Akira Yaegashi (No. 2 last week), scoring a first-round KO. Ken Shiro (No. 10 last week) took a title from Ganigan Lopez (No. 3 last week), winning a decision. And Kosei Tanaka (No. 4 last week) easily outpointed Angel Acosta (unrated last week).

This is the new Top 10:

1. Pedro Guevara
2. Kosei Tanaka
3. Ryoichi Taguchi
4. Milan Melindo
5. Carlos Canizales
6. Ken Shiro
7. Ganigan Lopez
8. Randy Petalcorin
9. Hekkie Budler
10. Akira Yaegashi

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