Monday, September 28, 2015

Pound-for-Pound Update 9-28-15

There have been several changes to the Saturday Night Boxing Pound-for-Pound list. Most notably, Floyd Mayweather, boxing's longtime top dog, announced his retirement. As a result, he exits the Rankings. Flyweight champ Roman Gonzalez is now the number-one fighter in the SNB Pound-for-Pound list. In addition, all boxers below Mayweather in the Rankings move up one spot (with two exceptions that I will explain in subsequent paragraphs). Re-entering the pound-for-pound list at #20 is featherweight Leo Santa Cruz, who had an impressive unanimous decision win over Abner Mares last month.  Santa Cruz (31-0-1) now has held title belts in three divisions. Although his resume still appears somewhat soft, he does have quality wins over Mares, Cristian Mijares and Victor Terrazas. He is 10-0 in world title fights.
 
Last week, bantamweight titlist Shinsuke Yamanaka won a split decision over former 118-lb. king Anselmo Moreno. The fight was very competitive with a number of momentum swings throughout the match. Although I had Moreno winning 115-113 (like one of the judges), I thought that the official scores were all conceivable. Other may claim that Moreno was robbed but I believe that the verdict should be considered legitimate. Consequently, I won't be elevating Moreno into the Rankings (in his previous fight, he lost to Juan Carlos Payano); however, I am jumping Terence Crawford one position ahead of Yamanaka. Crawford is now ranked at #16 while Yamanaka remains at #17.
 
On Saturday, flyweight titlist Juan Estrada knocked out former 112-lb. champion Hernan "Tyson" Marquez. Although Marquez is past his best, Estrada has quality victories over Giovani Segura and Milan Melindo among his five title defenses.  Because of his solid wins and overall activity level, I am placing him over Guillermo Rigondeaux in the Rankings. Rigondeaux does have that excellent win over Nonito Donaire, but with only three fights in 30 months (and none of them against top contenders), he may continue to slide in the Rankings as he remains on the sidelines. It should also be pointed out that Rigondeaux was knocked down twice in his last fight against unheralded Hisashi Amagasa. Estrada continues his climb on the pound-for-pound list. He moves up two spots to #7 while Rigondeaux stays at #8.
 
The complete Saturday Night Boxing Pound-for-Pound list is below:

1.    Roman Gonzalez
2.    Wladimir Klitschko
3.    Andre Ward
4.    Manny Pacquiao
5.    Tim Bradley
6.    Sergey Kovalev
7.    Juan Estrada
8.    Guillermo Rigondeaux
9.     Naoya Inoue
10.  Adonis Stevenson
11.  Gennady Golovkin
12.  Miguel Cotto
13.  Saul Alvarez
14.  Danny Garcia
15.  Takashi Uchiyama
16.  Terence Crawford
17.  Shinsuke Yamanaka
18.  Donnie Nietes
19.  Nicholas Walters
20.  Leo Santa Cruz
 
Adam Abramowitz is the head writer and founder of saturdaynightboxing.com.
He is also a member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
@snboxing on twitter, SN Boxing on Facebook

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