Ring Ratings Analysis Through fights of December 21, 2024 • By Brian Harty
representing the Russian Olympic Committee at the 2020 games, floored the previously unbeaten Cuban in the first round and forced the stoppage in the third. SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT: No. 1-rated Jaime Munguia looked like he was back to his old ways in the second fight of his post- Canelo comeback, walking through punches from unheralded Frenchman Bruno Surace to deliver a methodical stoppage. But then Surace stepped back, took a look, loaded up his right hand and knocked Munguia out with a single punch. The shocking upset tumbled Munguia down to No. 8 on the list, just below his new French neighbor. Lester Martinez (No. 10) was pushed out. MIDDLEWEIGHT: Meiirim Nursultanov (No. 6) was removed due to a year of inactivity, creating a vacancy for European champion Denzel Bentley to enter at No. 10. JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT: Charles Conwell was promoted from No. 9 to No. 8 after his characteristically languid style of power boxing finally caught up to Gerardo Vergara (unrated) in Round 8. JUNIOR WELTERWEIGHT: No. 3-rated Jose Ramirez lost a unanimous decision to undefeated contender Arnold Barboza (unrated at the time), and Ramirez looked bad enough that the panel decided to drop him from the list entirely. Barboza didn’t blow anyone away either, but the win was good enough for him to re-enter at No. 9. In his first defense of the IBF belt he took from Subriel Matias in June, Liam Paro passed it to Richardson Hitchins after losing a split decision (although the one card in the Australian’s favor was bizarre). Hitchins rose from No. 8 to No. 4 while Paro slipped from No. 3 to No. 5. LIGHTWEIGHT: Continuing to gain ground with every fight, Keyshawn Davis advanced from No. 7 to No. 5 after a second-round knockout of Gustavo Lemos (unrated), who
where he looked good in a decision win over Orlando Gonzalez. With Ford’s departure, undefeated Californian Omar Trinidad, who is scheduled to face Mike Plania next, entered at No. 10 (Stephen Fulton was a close runner-up). Rafael Espinoza, who took the WBO title from Robeisy Ramirez in December 2023 by majority decision, won the rematch after Ramirez surrendered in the sixth round, saying that damage to his right eye was causing double vision. Ramirez rose from No. 5 to No. 2 and Ramirez fell to No. 9 from No. 7. JUNIOR FEATHERWEIGHT: Unrated Shabaz Masoud scored an upset split decision over Liam Davies (No. 5), but it was the kind of performance to make you wonder why he was ever the underdog. Masoud’s quickness and sharpness, both in stab-and-slip attacks and choppy inside fighting, was a level above the more linear approach of his opponent. As a result, Davies fell out of the ratings and Masoud broke in at No. 6. Dennis McCann had a spot reserved on the Usyk-Fury 2 card but failed a drug test, so he was kicked off the list and undefeated Mexican Sebastian Hernandez took his place at No. 10. BANTAMWEIGHT: Alexandro Santiago’s attempt to rebound from a very rough night against Junto Nakatani in February 2024 ended with a majority decision loss to inexperienced 21-year-old Jose Calderon Cervantes. Santiago (No. 8 going in) was ejected from the list and Jeyvier Cintron entered at No. 10. JUNIOR BANTAMWEIGHT: There was a suggestion on the panel to completely remove Pedro Guevara, who was rated No. 7 as he walked to the slaughterhouse to face division champ Bam Rodriguez, but the former 108-pound titleholder kept his foot in the door with a drop to No. 10. As a bonus stat, Rodriguez is currently the leader on CompuBox’s “Power Connect Percentage” list at a blistering rate of 48.9, just above Gervonta Davis. He also leads the overall connect rate at 39.5%. FLYWEIGHT: No. 1-rated Sunny Edwards seemed ready to give up in the corner after getting ragdolled in the opening round by Galal Yafai (No. 9), and it was weird because
was completely out-everythinged and went down three times due to the 2020 Olympian’s surgical punching skills. Davis says he has his eyes on Denys Berinchyk’s WBO title next. William Zepeda (No. 3 last month) threw almost 800 punches in his 10-round fight against Tevin Farmer in mid-November, and that’s pretty far below his average, believe it or not. Perhaps that explains how Farmer was able to find a brief opening for a left cross that floored Zepeda in the fourth round (though nothing can explain why Farmer’s trunks were covered with pockets). Zepeda quickly got up and would go on to win by the closest of split decisions, and the panel made adjustments to reflect the competitiveness of the fight: Farmer entered at No. 10, replacing Sam Noakes, and Zepeda was lowered a notch to No. 4. JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHT: O’Shaquie Foster was at No. 2 and Robson Conceicao was No. 8 going into their first fight back in July, and that’s where they remained after Conceicao was gifted a split decision win and the Ratings Panel branded it a robbery. In the hastily ordered rematch four months later, Foster regained his WBC title by SD in a fight that was legitimately close. He rose to No. 1 and the Brazilian got a promotion to No. 7 for his efforts. Oscar Valdez went down three times at the hands of WBO titleholder Emanuel Navarrete and was knocked out by a left hook to the liver in Round 6. The fight was a rematch mostly made for the fans after the first encounter in 2023 saw Navarrete win a wide decision even while fighting with an injured hand. The healthy version had no problem bossing Valdez around the ring with
The 24-year-old “Bam” continues to climb the P4P rankings.
POUND FOR POUND: Calm and deliberate, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez just oozes the confidence of a fighter who knows exactly who he is. The punch selection is always appropriate, nothing is wasted and he’s always on a solid foundation, planted for power. If you try to take the side door to escape the pressure, he’s already there to meet you. This was the narrative as the Ring/WBC junior bantamweight champion forcefully dissected Pedro Guevara over the course of three rounds, flooring him once with a straight one-two and then again with a right uppercut for the stoppage. The finishing punch was a triumph in itself, as Rodriguez, a southpaw, stood squarely in front of Guevara and waited for him to signal a left hook, then in one fluid move slipped past the Mexican’s front foot, closed the distance and turned so that the punch had all the rotation of an orthodox power uppercut. It wasn’t a shocking end result, given that Bam was a huge favorite
to win, but it is another page in the now- voluminous case for Rodriguez’s unfolding greatness. The Ratings Panel voted to promote him to No. 6 on the list, putting him above Canelo Alvarez. Oleksandr Usyk remained on the throne at No. 1 after his repeat victory over Tyson Fury. CRUISERWEIGHT: Even though it sometimes looked like the fight was in slow motion and they should be standing in a Tokyo cityscape, knocking over buildings, the energy expended by Gilberto Ramirez and Chris Billam-Smith in their unification bout was incredible. Both men were limp with exhaustion at the end of the mutual pummeling, which WBA titleholder “Zurdo” won by unanimous decision to collect Billam- Smith’s WBO belt. As a result, Ramirez (No. 3 going into the fight) took the No. 1 spot from the tough-as-hell Billam-Smith, who dropped to No. 2.
The aforementioned fight moved Noel Gevor Mikaelyan into the No. 3 position, but he was removed a week later for inactivity. Brandon “Bulletproof” Glanton came in at No. 10 when everyone moved up. Cheavon Clarke (No. 9) dropped out after taking the first loss of his career against undefeated Dominican Leonard Mosquea, who seized the European title by split decision and entered the list at No. 10 after Glanton gained a rank. LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: The threat of Imam Khataev being the next big thing at 175 is now a bit more visible, as he replaced Ali Izmailov at No. 10 after a TKO of Yunior Menendez. The 9-0 (9 KOs) Khataev, who won bronze
rangy jabs and heavy, long- armed hooks and uppercuts, and with the win he took back the No. 1 spot from Foster. Valdez dropped out of the list from No. 3 and Mexico’s Eduardo Hernandez came in at No. 10. Hector Luis Garcia was last seen
in a split-decision loss to Lamont Roach in November 2023, so he was removed from his No. 7 slot and Albert Bell returned to the list for probably the seventh time. FEATHERWEIGHT: Hoping to leave his loss to Nick Ball last June behind, No. 7-rated Raymond Ford moved up to 130 pounds,
19
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker