Ring Ratings Analysis Through fights of April 5, 2025 • By Brian Harty
it to the fourth, but his already-compromised legs were entirely rubberized when he absorbed another flush right uppercut followed by a pair of overhand finishers about 40 seconds into the round. Martinez broke into the ratings at No. 10 as a result of the impressive win, replacing Erik Bazinyan. JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT: Jesus Ramos got a bump from No. 9 to No. 8 after his seventh-round stoppage of Guido Schramm, who was pinned on the ropes when a heavy left hook left him too damaged to fend off further punches from the 24-year-old Arizonan. This was the third-straight TKO win for Ramos since his lone defeat against Erickson Lubin in September 2023. WELTERWEIGHT: Brian Norman Jr. was promoted from No. 5 to No. 3 after a brief but methodical beatdown of Derrieck Cuevas, who failed to come up with a convincing response when asked if he wanted to continue after getting floored in the third round. While Norman was climbing to his new perch, he had to pass by No. 4-rated David Avanesyan, which prompted one panelist to ask why Avanesyan was there to be passed in the first place. Starting in December 2022, he has fought four times: Two were knockout losses to Terence Crawford and Jaron Ennis, and the other two were stoppage wins against men with a combined record of 22-58-3 at the time. Not “Top 5” stuff, really. The panelist suggested lowering Avanesyan to No. 10 or ousting him entirely. That suggestion was embraced by some, but opposition from another panel member rekindled a tricky debate: Should changes to the ratings be allowed outside of the normal cycle of weekly events? Put another way: Are we allowed to make corrections? It last came up when a ratings discussion veered toward placing Artur Beterbiev above Dmitry Bivol on the pound-for-pound list but below him on the light heavyweight list – something that didn’t really make sense for two guys who only fight at one weight. Before that, the panel debated whether Sunny Edwards vs. Jesse Rodriguez – a fight that everybody agreed should crown a flyweight king – should be for the vacant Ring championship even though they were ranked No. 1 and No. 4, respectively, and the rules state that a vacancy can only be filled by No.
Rohan Polanco entered at No. 10. (And a quick note to Jaron Ennis and his fans: We barely had time to slap the Opening Shot onto this magazine as it passed by on its way to the printer, so we’ll get back to that performance next time. Look for a feature in the June issue.) FEATHERWEIGHT: Rey Vargas (No. 5) last fought to a draw against Nick Ball in March 2024 and had nothing scheduled at press time, so the former two-division titleholder from Mexico was removed for inactivity. Arriving at No. 10 to pick up the slack was undefeated Californian Omar Trinidad. The rock-solid Ball, meanwhile, stayed put at No. 3 after beating TJ Doheny, whose corner pulled the plug in the 10th to save their fighter from two more rounds of abuse from the young WBA titleholder. Bruce Carrington (No. 8 last month) used a combo straight out of a mitt drill to floor Enrique Vivas in Round 2 – uppercut, dip to avoid the counter hook that whiffs overhead, left to the body, right to the head – but you rarely see it executed so perfectly during a real fight. After referee Raul Caiz Jr. put an end to the clinic in the next round, “Shu Shu” got a one-spot promotion as payment for his teaching services. FLYWEIGHT: Teraji (No. 2 last month) and Akui (No. 3) gave fans a fascinating brawl in mid-March, blending will and skill as they angled for openings to chop at each other with unwavering tenacity in the center of the ring. Both had success, neither gave any ground, and the underdog Akui was ahead on one official scorecard and trailing by just one point on the other two going into the 12th round. Then, suddenly, Teraji slammed into a higher gear, churning at Akui’s head with both hands and whipsawing his foe’s midsection with hooks until Akui, overwhelmed, fell into a clinch for the first time all night. The surge continued as Kenshiro summoned one heavy bomb after another from an apparently inexhaustible stockpile, still throwing and pursuing as Akui staggered backward and referee Katsuhiko Nakamura stepped in at 1:31. With Akui’s WBA belt now providing a counterbalance to the WBC strap already draped on Teraji’s shoulder, the winner ascended to No. 1 on the list while the valiant
1 facing No. 2 (and sometimes No. 3). In both cases, the standings were the result of small decisions that became glaring anomalies over time. Back to Avanesyan: He wasn’t punished too much for losing to a pound-for-pound prodigy in Crawford. His loss to Ennis was also forgivable in itself, but a look back at the ratings discussion shows that the debate that week was focused on whether to bring the legendary Roman Gonzalez back into the ratings after beating Rober Barrera, a win of questionable significance, and Avanesyan’s loss didn’t get much attention. Add in the two stay-busy fights that kept Avanesyan in the mix and the attrition that occurs when others exit the list, and you end up with a guy in the top 5 who looks strange being there. The first panel member argued that Avanesyan’s position was an obvious mistake that should be corrected. The opposing panel member favored strict adherence to the process, saying that the alternative “lacks rigor and can easily lead people down the road to playing favorites/punishing others. […] The panel needs to avoid arbitrary moves like this in favor of a rigorous and consistent approach.” The counter was that the proposal was not arbitrary; it was based on facts. And favoritism is put in check – in theory, at least – by the votes of other members. Panelist No. 2, whose hardline position had also found support, wouldn’t budge, saying these things need to work themselves out by the same process that created them. The panel was faced with approaching the situation as a court approaches the law: The rules state that “The Ring Editorial Board considers input from the Ratings Panel of boxing journalists from around the world and then decides collectively what changes will be made.” Can this be interpreted as permission to make changes at any time? Does rigor exist only in staying within the weekly cycle, or is continuous monitoring and tweaking its own form of rigor? When it comes to a list based on expertise, is it more important to favor process over consensus? It’s an ongoing debate. Another panelist offered this: “Strict rules and consistency are important and essential, and we should continue to do so. However, when you find a ranking that is off the mark like this one, it seems right to admit your mistake and correct it.” In this case, Avanesyan was removed and
fight kept him busy enough to avoid being dropped for a year without action. He’ll be back in the ring facing Jose Ramirez as part of the Times Square day of reckoning on May 2 (with old pal Garcia in the main event), so Haney will be under the microscope soon enough. For the time being, Benavidez is out. HEAVYWEIGHT: It won’t make anyone’s list of candidates for Performance of the Year, but Filip Hrgovic’s unanimous decision victory over Joe Joyce was enough for a promotion. Voting to favor the simple equation of “W > L,” the panel moved the Croatian from No. 8 to No. 6, placing him above Zhilei Zhang and Martin Bakole, who both lost in their most recent fights. CRUISERWEIGHT: Arsen Goulamirian (No. 5 last month) triggered the inactivity trapdoor by not having a fight since his transatlantic letdown against Gilberto Ramirez in March 2024. Once the Frenchman had dropped off the list, undefeated Swede Robin Sirwan Safar moved in at No. 10.
SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT: Joeshon James was at his best
POUND FOR POUND: After coming out on the winning side of 11½ rounds of trench civil warfare with countryman Seigo Yuri Akui, Kenshiro Teraji was nominated to replace David Benavidez at No. 10 on the list. It wasn’t without some trepidation, as the quality of Benavidez’s ongoing run at 168 and now 175 pounds inspired several members of the ratings panel to defend his P4P credentials. An alternative proposal was to drop the next man up the list instead: No. 9-rated Devin Haney. He’s a complicated case, however. Haney fought in April 2024 and
Kenshiro Teraji (right) takes it to Seigo Yuri Akui en route to a dramatic 12th- round stoppage victory.
when boxing from a distance in his twice- postponed matchup with Lester Martinez, but he strayed into unsafe territory once it was clear that the quicker Guatemalan couldn’t be defeated by long jabs alone. Martinez could overcome the arm-length disparity with his quicker feet, but he was even better at close quarters when mixing in some Y-axis attacks, scoring with uppercuts and then completely surprising James with an overhand right that dropped the Californian into what seemed like a definitive heap at the end of Round 3. James surprisingly beat the count and made
dropped a majority decision to Ryan Garcia, but that result was nullified after Garcia tested positive for a banned performance-enhancer. So while Haney’s last official win was a unanimous decision over Regis Prograis all the way back in December 2023, he hasn’t officially lost since then, either, and the Garcia
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