Sunday, March 18, 2018

Pound for Pound Update 3-18-18

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 FebruaryDuring 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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