Saturday Night Boxing: Pound-for-Pound Update 12-5-16

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: