Above: Artur Beterbiev (Photo by James Chance/Getty Images)

Covering fight results to Feb. 10, 2024 

POUND FOR POUND: After Artur Beterbiev’s dream-shattering beatdown of Callum Smith on January 13, the year kicked off with a lengthy P4P debate on the ratings panel. “Ruthless … sensational … We HAVE to have him back in the top 10,” said one panelist (Beterbiev was ousted from the No. 10 position by Gervonta Davis in April of last year). The suggested rank for the Russian-Canadian was No. 7, which sat well with the other voters. 

But a complication arose with the recommendations that were simultaneously made in Beterbiev’s weight class, light heavyweight. At 175, the majority agreed that Beterbiev, who was No. 2 going into the fight, should go to No. 1 over Dmitry Bivol. The problem was that it would put Beterbiev above Bivol on one set of rankings and below him on the other, as Bivol was currently sitting at No. 5 on the List of Imagination. Something like that makes sense with, say, Errol Spence, who was above Terence Crawford at welterweight and below him in the pound-for-pound list for a long time because Crawford was a multi-division champion who’d been climbing the P4P list before he even fought as a welterweight – long before Spence himself got into the mythical top 10. (After Crawford disassembled Spence in 2023’s Performance of the Year, that disparity was no longer something we had to worry about, thankfully.) Both Bivol and Beterbiev have always been one-division fighters, however, so it’s a lot harder to justify saying one is the better light heavyweight but not better pound-for-pound. Bivol’s victory over Canelo in May 2022 was beyond impressive, but Canelo was clearly seven pounds north of his comfort zone.

At least one panelist thought Bivol should remain No. 1 at 175, and exactly one suggested that neither Bivol nor Beterbiev should be ranked on the P4P list at all. Either of those situations would have solved the problem – they just didn’t work for the majority. 

Beterbiev actually got a bump because of the debate. He was installed at No. 5, pushing Bivol to No. 6, and the unfortunate victim was Jesse Rodriguez, who got knocked out of the No. 10 slot. “Bam” wouldn’t be away for long, though.

The pound-for-pound exile was brief for Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, seen here punching up Sunny Edwards to unify a pair of flyweight titles. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Teofimo Lopez, who had become the new No. 10 after Beterbiev’s return, came away from his February 8 rendezvous with Jamaine Ortiz as the winner by unanimous decision, but the bout was such a stinker that nobody on the panel could stomach having “The Takeover” on the list anymore, perhaps especially because he was defending his junior welterweight Ring belt and it just wasn’t a champion-level performance. And so just like that, “Welcome back, Jesse.”

CRUISERWEIGHT: Yuniel Dorticos (No. 2) last fought in December 2022 and has nothing currently scheduled, so he was removed and replaced by Canada’s Ryan Rozicki (20-1, 19 KOs), who was last seen in December 2023 stopping Olanrewaju Durodola in the first round. That win made Rozicki the mandatory challenger for WBC titleholder Noel Gevor Mikaelyan (No. 4).

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: As mentioned above, the majority of the panel wanted to see Beterbiev at No. 1, so he was promoted to the top spot. Callum Smith, meanwhile, only dropped from No. 3 to No. 4, which in itself is a testament to the distance between him and Beterbiev – Smith is still a top 5 light heavyweight, but he got destroyed.

At the bottom of the list sat Albert Ramirez, but the undefeated Venezuelan (18-0, 15 KOs) got a one-spot promotion to No. 9 after a wide unanimous decision over Artur Ziyatdinov in Montreal.

On February 2 in London, Joshua Buatsi emerged with his undefeated record intact (18-0, 13 KOs) after an assertive, two-knockdown decision victory over crosstown rival Dan Azeez, whose first pro loss dropped him to 20-1 (13 KOs). Buatsi rose from No. 5 on the list to No. 3 and said he wants to expand his U.K. conquest by beating No. 4-rated Anthony Yarde next. Azeez stayed put at No. 6. 

SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT: Jaime Munguia has been all over the map when it comes to making an impression, but his best self definitely showed up against John Ryder on January 27 in Phoenix, Arizona. Don’t ever expect Munguia to not get hit, because that’s just not his way, but he pummeled the respected Englishman for nine rounds, putting him on the canvas four times, before the merciful stoppage – and even that was painful for Ryder, as his corner (and everyone else) tried desperately to get referee Wes Melton to stop the fight earlier. Munguia moved up from No. 9 to take the No. 5 spot from Ryder, who sank to No. 7.

There was a lot of pre- and post-fight speculation that Ryder’s punishing loss to Canelo Alvarez in his previous outing was the kind of experience that permanently diminishes a person’s abilities. True or not, Ryder announced his retirement a little more than a week after the Munguia fight, stamping his record at 32-7 (18 KOs). Undefeated Cuban southpaw Osleys Iglesias stepped in at No. 10.

MIDDLEWEIGHT: Sergiy Derevyanchenko (No. 4) hasn’t fought as a middleweight since mid-2022, so he was removed and Austin Williams took the No. 10 slot. The incumbent No. 10, Hamzah Sheeraz, got an extra boost due to an impressive first-round knockout of former British champion Liam Williams, moving up to No. 7. 

WELTERWEIGHT: Vergil Ortiz (No. 3) hadn’t fought since August 2022 because of health issues, and when he returned with a first-round knockout of Fredrick Lawson on January 6, it was as a junior middleweight. He was removed from the list, everyone at No. 4 and lower got promoted, and debate ensued on the panel over who should occupy the new vacancy at No. 10. The first suggestion was Roiman Villa, based on a victory over Rashidi Ellis and a nice try against rising phenom Jaron Ennis. Egidijus Kavaliauskas was favored by others, and two more under-the-radar names – Brian Norman Jr. and Souleymane Cissokho – also entered the conversation. Kavaliauskas got the reluctant nod, more of an “I guess so” from everyone, and the lack of an exciting candidate led one panelist to remark that “the bigger story is how the welterweight division was oozing with talent and now it’s down to just a handful of fighters.”

LIGHTWEIGHT: Following his odious encounter with Lopez at 140 pounds, Jamaine Ortiz was replaced at No. 10 by undefeated Virginian Keyshawn Davis.

JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHT: Roger Gutierrez (No. 10) stepped up to lightweight and took a UD loss against Zaur Abdullaev in Russia, so he was removed and Albert Bell took his place.

Artem Dalakian’s counterpunch-on-the-fly style gave Seigo Yuri Akui fits but didn’t score points with the official judges. (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

FLYWEIGHT: We don’t usually think of Japan as the land of unfair decisions, but a pair of fights on the same card in Osaka on January 23 challenged that characterization – at least for some. The first was WBA titleholder Artem Dalakian’s unanimous decision loss to Seigo Yuri Akui, which some panelists saw as a robbery while others (including one who was ringside) thought the result was fair, despite some of the judges’ scores being uncomfortably wide in favor of Akui. The winner jumped from No. 10 to take the No. 4 position from Dalakian, who was pushed to No. 5.

JUNIOR FLYWEIGHT: Shokichi Iwata rose from No. 10 to No. 9 after a sixth-round stoppage of former strawweight titleholder Rene Mark Cuarto, who was down four times during the fight.

The second of the “controversial” results from the Osaka card was Ring champion Kenshiro Teraji’s majority decision win over challenger Carlos Canizales. The fight itself was must-see TV, no controversy there – both fighters recovered from early knockdowns and then went back and forth in a battle that was decided by the thinnest of margins. Most panelists said they had it for Canizales, but not by enough to call it a robbery. Still, the Venezuelan was lifted from No. 7 to No. 6 as some measure of recognition for his performance.

Even though the official results of Dalakian-Akui and Teraji-Canizales were reflected in the changes made to the ratings, the situation did produce some passionate opinions from the panel. As former managing editor Tom Gray put it, “The Ring has a level of integrity and professionalism that neither state or governing body appointed judges can ever have. If a fight is scored inaccurately because some 80-year-old fossil has been finessed by a promoter who put them up in a five star hotel, then I will never accept it. That stuff has gone on for years.

“I live in a country (Scotland) renowned for ripping off away fighters when they’ve clearly beat the A-side. It makes me want to throw up.

“If The Ring moves fighters up or down in the ratings based on official results that are reprehensible, then we endorse this type of behavior. Bottom line: we should be going out of our way to stomp it out.”

Jack Catterall’s (left) decision loss to Josh Taylor in 2022 (in Taylor’s home country, Scotland) was almost universally seen as a robbery. (Photo by Steve Welsh/PA Images via Getty Images)

The ensuing debate prompted Editor-in-Chief Doug Fischer to remind everyone that “if the majority of the Panel disagrees with an official decision, we don’t have to recognize it. The Ring rankings are based on merit and the performance of the fighters, not the official judges.” He then pointed to Jack Catterall (who was unranked but entered the ratings at No. 4 after “losing” a fight to Josh Taylor) and Emmanuel Rodriguez vs. Reymart Gaballo (in which Gaballo’s official split decision win was ignored by unanimous vote, thus leaving Rodriguez ranked at No. 4 and Gaballo off the list). 

STRAWWEIGHT: Cuarto was removed from his No. 7 position, with his fight against Iwata being at 108 pounds. The No. 10 spot was given to Hasanboy Dusmatov, who blazed through his competition, including current U.S. prospect Nico Hernandez, to win gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. The fact that Dusmatov is the only 105-pounder from Uzbekistan ranked on BoxRec.com illustrates why he is already something of a road warrior, having fought outside his home country four times – twice in Russia and twice in Mexico – in his 6-0 (5 KOs) career. Most of his fights have been at junior flyweight, and Uzbekistan only has one rated opponent there as well. Perhaps one day we’ll get a rematch of the Rio semifinal, though Hernandez (11-0, 4 KOs) has been taking care of business mostly between 110-115 pounds.

Check out their clash at the Olympics: