Monday, December 5, 2016

Pound-for-Pound Update 12-5-16

With a busy November in the top reaches of the sport, there have been a series of changes to the Saturday Night Boxing Pound-for-Pound list. The first order of business is to remove several inactive fighters. Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko and Miguel Cotto haven't fought in over a year; they have been removed from the Rankings. The rest of the updates are as follows:

Andre Ward won a razor-thin unanimous decision over Sergey Kovalev last month. Although the victory wasn't comprehensive and failed to provide a definitive answer as to which was the better fighter, both boxers displayed world-class capabilities against their best opponent to date. As a result, I have elevated both fighters, moving Ward to the number-two spot and Kovalev to number-three. Manny Pacquiao, who had his own victory last month, slides to number-four. 

Vasyl Lomachenko notched a dominant victory over Nicholas Walters last month, winning every round and forcing his foe to surrender in the corner. Lomachenko, a two-division titleholder has elite-level skills. If he continues to get top opponents in the ring, he could further rocket up the list. He moves up six places in the Rankings, from #18 to #12. 

Keith Thurman and Shinsuke Yamanaka both reenter the Rankings, at #18 and #19, respectively. Thurman slid off the list as other fighters had impressive showings this summer. With his next fight, against fellow pound-for-pound-fighter Danny Garcia, Thurman will have a big opportunity to ascend in the rankings. Yamanaka had a questionable decision victory over Anselmo Moreno in 2015. Since that debatable win, he knocked Moreno out in a thrilling rematch in September and defeated durable former junior bantamweight champ Liborio Solis earlier in the year.

Rances Barthelemy makes his Saturday Night Boxing pound-for-pound debut at #20. Barthelemy has won titles at junior lightweight and lightweight. Although he's yet to defeat a great fighter, he's beaten a number of good ones, including the likes of Argenis Mendez and Denis Shafikov. There are several impressive talents at 135-lbs. and if things break right, Barthelemy should have an opportunity in the next 12-18 months to prove his talent in the ring against a top opponent. 

The complete Saturday Night Boxing Pound-for-Pound list is below:
  1. Roman Gonzalez
  2. Andre Ward
  3. Sergey Kovalev
  4. Manny Pacquiao
  5. Terence Crawford
  6. Gennady Golovkin
  7. Saul Alvarez
  8. Juan Estrada
  9. Tim Bradley
  10. Guillermo Rigondeaux
  11. Naoya Inoue
  12. Vasyl Lomachenko
  13. Adonis Stevenson
  14. Donnie Nietes
  15. Danny Garcia
  16. Carl Frampton
  17. Carlos Cuadras
  18. Keith Thurman
  19. Shinsuke Yamanaka
  20. Rances Barthelemy
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
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Contact Adam at: 
saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com

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