RING RATINGS ANALYSIS Through fights of March 8, 2025
Women’s Ring Ratings Analysis Through fights of March 12, 2025 • By Diego Morilla
BANTAMWEIGHTS WEIGHT LIMIT: 118 POUNDS C (VACANT) 1 JUNTO NAKATANI WBC Japan • 30-0-0 (23 KOs) 2 RYOSUKE NISHIDA IBF Japan • 10-0-0 (2 KOs) 3 SEIYA TSUTSUMI WBA Japan • 12-0-3 (8 KOs) 4 YOSHIKI TAKEI WBO Japan • 10-0-0 (8 KOs) 5 TAKUMA INOUE Japan • 20-2-0 (5 KOs) 6 EMMANUEL RODRIGUEZ Japan • 21-3-2 (19 KOs) 8 TENSHIN NASUKAWA Japan • 6-0-0 (2 KOs) 9 JASON MOLONEY Australia • 27-4-0 (19 KOs) 10 JEYVIER CINTRON Puerto Rico • 13-1-0 (6 KOs) 7 DAIGO HIGA
JR. BANTAMWEIGHTS WEIGHT LIMIT: 115 POUNDS C JESSE RODRIGUEZ RING, WBC U.S. • 21-0-0 (14 KOs) 1 FERNANDO MARTINEZ WBA Argentina • 17-0-0 (9 KOs) 2 JUAN FRANCISCO ESTRADA Mexico • 44-4-0 (28 KOs) 3 KAZUTO IOKA Japan • 31-3-1 (16 KOs) 4 PHUMELELE CAFU WBO South Africa • 11-0-3 (8 KOs) 5 KOSEI TANAKA Japan • 20-2-0 (11 KOs) 6 CARLOS CUADRAS Mexico • 43-5-1 (28 KOs) 7 ANDREW MOLONEY Australia • 27-4-0 (17 KOs) 8 DAVID JIMENEZ Costa Rica • 17-1-0 (11 KOs) 9 SRISAKET SOR RUNGVISAI Thailand • 58-6-1 (47 KOs) 10 PEDRO GUEVARA Mexico • 42-5-1 (22 KOs)
FLYWEIGHTS WEIGHT LIMIT: 112 POUNDS C ( VACANT) 1 ANGEL AYALA IBF
JR. FLYWEIGHTS WEIGHT LIMIT: 108 POUNDS
C (VACANT) 1 MASAMICHI YABUKI IBF Japan • 17-4-0 (16 KOs) 2 SHOKICHI IWATA WBO Japan • 14-1-0 (11 KOs) 3 SIVENATHI NONTSHINGA S. Africa • 13-2-0 (10 KOs) 4 CARLOS CANIZALES Venezuela • 27-3-1 (19 KOs) 5 ADRIAN CURIEL Mexico • 25-6-1 (5 KOs) 6 THANONGSAK SIMSRI Thailand • 38-1-0 (34 KOs) 7 CRISTIAN ARANETA Philippines • 25-2-0 (20 KOs) 8 REGIE SUGANOB Philippines • 16-1-0 (6 KOs) 9 ERICK ROSA WBA Dom. Rep. • 8-0-0 (2 KOs) 10 ELWIN SOTO Mexico • 21-3-1 (13 KOs)
Mexico • 18-0-0 (8 KOs) 2 KENSHIRO TERAJI WBC Japan • 24-1-0 (15 KOs) 3 SEIGO YURI AKUI WBA Japan • 21-2-1 (11 KOs) 4 GALAL YAFAI U.K. • 9-0-0 (7 KOs) 5 RICARDO SANDOVAL U.S. • 26-2-0 (18 KOs) 6 FELIX ALVARADO Nicaragua • 42-4-0 (35 KOs) 7 ANTHONY OLASCUAGA WBO U.S. • 8-1-0 (6 KOs) 8 FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ JR. Mexico • 39-6-1 (27 KOs) 9 TOBIAS REYES Argentina • 16-1-1 (15 KOs) 10 YANKIEL RIVERA Puerto Rico • 7-0-0 (3 KOs)
Claressa Shields (left) remains No. 1 in the women’s P4P ratings.
suspensions on the national and international stages. At least two other fighters on that same card tested positive for THC. Shields and others have claimed that they were exposed to marijuana smoke at the stadium. As per The Ring’s rules, a positive test is grounds for stripping a fighter of any titles and placement in our ratings. The situation remains fluid, and new developments could materialize at any moment. But it is the decision of The Ring to give Shields the benefit of the doubt until the matter is properly decided, following similar decisions with other fighters that were allowed the same courtesy. If Shields is forthcoming and trustworthy on this subject, the matter will probably be solved swiftly, and it will soon be part of the past.
Puerto Rico • 22-3-0 (13 KOs)
STRAWWEIGHTS WEIGHT LIMIT: 105 POUNDS
HOW OUR RATINGS ARE COMPILED RECORDS PROVIDED BY BOXREC.COM
C OSCAR COLLAZO RING, WBA, WBO U.S. • 11-0-0 (8 KOs) 1 MELVIN JERUSALEM WBC Philippines • 23-3-0 (12 KOs) 2 PEDRO TADURAN IBF Philippines • 17-4-1 (13 KOs) 3 KNOCKOUT CP FRESHMART Thailand • 25-1-0 (9 KOs) 4 YUDAI SHIGEOKA Japan • 9-1-0 (5 KOs) 5 GINJIRO SHIGEOKA Japan • 11-1-0 (9 KOs) 6 HASANBOY DUSMATOV Uzbekistan • 6-0-0 (5 KOs) 7 DIANXING ZHU China • 14-1-0 (12 KOs) 8 SIYAKHOLWA KUSE S. Africa • 8-2-1 (4 KOs) 9 YUNI TAKADA Japan • 16-8-3 (6 KOs) 10 JOEY CANOY Philippines • 23-5-2 (14 KOs)
Championship vacancies can be filled in the following two ways: 1. The Ring’s Nos. 1 and 2 contenders fight one another. 2. If the Nos. 1 and 2 contenders choose not to fight one another and No. 1 fights No. 3, that matchup could be for the Ring title if the Editorial Board deems No. 3 worthy. A champion can lose their belt in six sit- uations: 1. The Champion loses a fight in the weight class in which they are cham- pion; 2. The Champion moves to another weight class; 3. The Champion does not schedule a fight in any weight class for 18 months, although injuries and certain other
unforeseen circumstances could be taken into consideration; 4. The Champion does not schedule a fight at their championship weight for 18 months (even if they fight at another weight); 5. The Champion does not schedule a fight with a Top-5 contender from any weight class for two years; 6. The Champion retires. The Ring Editorial Board considers input from the Ratings Panel of boxing jour- nalists from around the world and then decides collectively what changes will be made. That applies to both the pound-for- pound and divisional ratings.
POUND-FOR-POUND: The mythical list of the best fighters in the world regardless of weight was in need of an overhaul, and a few results in the past month provided reasons for a major shakeup. Lauren Price’s superb performance against Natasha Jonas convinced the panel that it was time for Price to skyrocket past her own projected inflation chart. She kicked in the door and landed at No. 7, dragging fellow Team GB member Caroline Dubois along in the process – Dubois entered at No. 9 on the tail of a win over South Korea’s Bo Mi Re Shin. Natasha Jonas (No. 9 last month) and Mikaela Mayer (No. 10) were ousted to make room for the two newest members of the roster.
It could have been a career-damaging event, but in the end, Claressa Shields was largely exonerated from her positive result for marijuana during a routine test after her win over Danielle Perkins on February 2 in Shields’ hometown of Flint. The finding originally led the Michigan Unarmed Combat Commission to impose a 90-day suspension that now appears to be on its way to being overturned. Currently holding the coveted Ring middleweight championship as well as the No. 1 position in our pound-for-pound ratings, Shields is considered a trailblazer in the sport and one of the greatest female fighters of all time. A drug-related suspension could potentially smear her
entire career and place an asterisk on her resume. But as the investigation unfolded, it was determined that only “trace amounts” of THC (the active component found in cannabis) were found in a sample taken from a swab used in Shields’ mouth. Since cannabis is legal and widely consumed in many states (including Michigan, where the fight took place), and since the amounts of THC in Shields’ system were significantly low, both the World Boxing Council (one of the sanctioning bodies present at the fight) and the Association of Boxing Commissions decried the Michigan suspension as “exaggerated” and demanded more proof before honoring the
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