As
the first quarter of 2018 winds to a close, it's time to update the Saturday
Night Boxing Pound-for-Pound List, where a number of fighters made significant leaps
in the Rankings, notably Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, Mikey Garcia, Errol
Spence, Oleksandr Usyk, and Donnie Nietes. The major updates to Rankings are as follows:
We
have a new number-one in the SNB Pound-for-Pound List, as Srisaket Sor
Rungvisai won via majority decision over Juan Estrada in February. During the last 12 months Srisaket has beaten the then-top fighter in the
Rankings (Roman Gonzalez) and the number-nine boxer (Juan Estrada). No
one else under consideration for the top spot in the Rankings has wins over
that level of competition. Srisaket is ranked in various positions in the
top-10 by different ratings organizations. The divergence of opinion
regarding his placement most likely depends on whether his majority decision victory over Gonzalez in their first fight was viewed as a legitimate result. In my estimation, that fight was
close enough where I thought that the official result was defensible; others may
disagree. With the win over Estrada, Srisaket moves from #3 to #1 in the Rankings. Estrada
remains at #9.
Mikey
Garcia continues
to impress as he now has won a title in his fourth division. Earlier this month
he defeated junior welterweight titlist Sergey
Lipinets via unanimous decision. Garcia currently holds belts at both 135 and 140 lbs. Perhaps most
notably, in his title fights that have gone to a decision, Garcia's closest
margin of victory on any scorecard has been a four-point victory. Through this
point in his career, not only is he beating solid fighters, but he's winning
convincingly. He rises to #5 from #8.
Errol
Spence earned
a seventh-round stoppage over Lamont Peterson in January. Spence dominated a
legitimate top-ten contender in the division. He continues to rise in the
Rankings, moving up to #11 from #17.
Oleksandr
Usyk is
now a unified titleholder in the cruiserweight division after squeaking by with
a majority decision win over Mairis Briedis. Perhaps the scores were a little
closer than they should have been (the fight was on Briedis's home turf) but
Usyk was a deserved winner in my estimation. Usyk rises to #12 from #19 with
the victory and has a chance to ascend even higher in the Rankings later this year when he
takes on titleholder Murat Gassiev in the finals of the World Boxing Super
Series
Donnie
Nietes shined
last month during his HBO debut by knocking out the rugged Juan Carlos Reveco
in a flyweight title defense. Nietes, a three-division champion, continues to
impress even at the advanced age of 35. He moves up two places to #13.
With
the retirement of Kazuto Ioka, Badou Jack enters the Rankings
at #20. Jack had already proven to be one of the elites at super middleweight
and looked sensational in knocking out former light heavyweight champion Nathan
Cleverly last summer.
Here
is the complete Saturday Night Boxing Pound-for-Pound List:
1. Srisaket
Sor Rungvisai
2. Terence
Crawford
3. Vasyl
Lomachenko
4. Gennady
Golovkin
5. Mikey
Garcia
6. Saul
Alvarez
7. Sergey
Kovalev
8. Naoya
Inoue
9. Juan
Estrada
10. Keith
Thurman
11. Errol
Spence
12. Oleksandr
Usyk
13. Donnie
Nietes
14. Manny
Pacquiao
15. Adonis
Stevenson
16. Roman
Gonzalez
17. Guillermo
Rigondeaux
18. Leo Santa
Cruz
19. Carl
Frampton
20. Badou
Jack
Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com.
He's a member of Ring Magazine's Ring Ratings Panel and a Board Member for the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook.
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