Pound-for-Pound Update 3-29-21

It's been many months since the last Saturday Night Boxing Pound-for-Pound Update and in the interim much has changed throughout the Rankings. To start at the top, there's a new sheriff in town as Saul Alvarez moves up to #1 after his note-perfect domination of 168-lb. titlist Callum Smith in December. He also stopped mandatory challenger Anvi Yildirim after three rounds in their fight in February. Canelo slides up one spot from #2 to #1.  

Elsewhere in the upper end of the Rankings, Juan Estrada defeated Roman Gonzalez by split decision to avenge his 2012 loss. Although many thought that Gonzalez had done enough to earn the victory, the fight was close and Estrada winning the fight was by no means a robbery, despite a poor scorecard from one of the judges. With the win, Estrada moves up from #6 to #4. In addition, Gonzalez, even at his advanced age, showed that he still has enough to compete with the elite in the sport. He rises to #14 from #18. 

Canelo, the New Saturday Night Boxing #1 Fighter
Photo Courtesy of Ed Mulholland

Staying in the junior bantamweight division, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai moves up one spot from #11 to #10 after stopping Kwanthai Sithmorseng, who was a former strawweight champion many years ago. Sor Rungvisai stopped his foe and fellow countryman in three rounds. 

And in another display of the fantastic talent at junior bantamweight, Kazuto Ioka knocked out three-division titlist Kosei Tanaka in the eighth round. Ioka, now a four-weight world titleholder, achieved the signature win of his career with that stoppage. He re-enters the Rankings at #15. With the loss, Tanaka, who had been #16, exits the list. 

In another change, Errol Spence moves up one spot in the Rankings after his unanimous decision victory over Danny Garcia. He ascends to #7.

The final change in this update sees Miguel Berchelt exit the Rankings after his tenth-round knockout loss to Oscar Valdez. Berchelt had been ranked at #19. It was a coin flip to me as to whether Valdez or Jermall Charlo should enter the Rankings. I picked Charlo, but both are deserving of praise. Charlo enters the list at #20. 

One final note, due to the COVID pandemic and the related difficulty around the world in putting fights together, I have not removed any boxers from the list who have been inactive for over a year. For the next update, that rule will be reintroduced and any applicable fighters who have been inactive and have nothing scheduled will be removed.

Here is the complete Saturday Night Boxing Pound-for-Pound List: 

1. Saul Alvarez
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Terence Crawford
4. Juan Estrada
5. Oleksandr Usyk
6. Teofimo Lopez
7. Errol Spence
8. Gennadiy Golovkin
9. Jermell Charlo
10. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai
11. Artur Beterbiev
12. Manny Pacquiao
13. Tyson Fury
14. Roman Gonzalez
15. Kazuto Ioka
16. Vasiliy Lomachenko
17. Mikey Garcia
18. Josh Taylor
19. Kenshiro Teraji
20. Jermall Charlo

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. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.

snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook.

Manager Frank Espinoza on Valdez's Victory over Berchelt

Frank Espinoza Jr. has been one of the guiding lights of Oscar Valdez's professional boxing career. Espinoza, along with his father, Frank Sr., has been with Valdez from the beginning. The Espinozas have watched their fighter, a Mexican Olympian, align with Top Rank, win a world title at featherweight and become a fixture on the American boxing scene. 

Yet something wasn't working. A pivotal fight against Scott Quigg in 2018 led to a different trajectory for Valdez's career. Although Valdez won the bout, he suffered  a broken jaw, which led to him being out of the ring for almost a year. The Espinozas along with Oscar's father, Oscar Valdez Sr., knew that something needed to change. 

Oscar's brain trust decided that their best move would be to enlist Eddy Reynoso, Canelo Alvarez's trainer, as their new coach. From the outside, it seemed to be an unusual pairing. Valdez was known as a come-forward slugger while Reynoso often focused on more foundational boxing elements. 

Oscar Valdez, with much to celebrate in his career.
Photo Courtesy of Mikey Williams/Top Rank

The early results of the Valdez/Reynoso partnership didn't win many over. Valdez was dropped by light-hitting Adam Lopez, who was a late replacement and thought to be overmatched in the fight. Oscar also looked caught in between styles against Jayson Velez. Although he won those fights, both performances left a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, Valdez pursued a matchup with junior lightweight champion Miguel Berchelt, a knockout artist who was among the top punchers in the sport. 

Valdez entered last month's fight against Berchelt as a significant underdog, but from the opening bell he established himself as the superior boxer and athlete. Scoring three knockdowns in the fight, including a pulverizing left hook to end it in the tenth, Valdez put forward the performance of his career. 

This week I reached out to Frank Jr. for his thoughts on the victory, Valdez's past struggles, his switch to Reynoso and other topics. The interview is below. 

This interview has been edited for clarity.  

Frank, thank you for your time today and congratulations on the victory. I know it must have been a great moment for you and your family. 

Thank you very much. It definitely was an amazing experience. Everything really came together. 

I wanted to start by asking you about Oscar's decision making process after moving up to 130 lbs. Why did Oscar choose to go after Berchelt instead of Jamel Herring, or other fighters who had titles at junior lightweight. 

Well, we certainly had that conversation with Oscar where we presented Herring and Berchelt as possible options. Oscar made it very clear that he wanted to fight Berchelt because Berchelt was considered the best in the division. He wanted to fight someone where if he were to win, he would get that respect, and that’s what he was gunning for. He was 100% sold on it. He felt like he knew that style and how to beat him. After having that conversation, it was pretty much set in stone what direction we would follow. 

What were the feelings of Oscar and the team heading into fight week? 

During fight week we actually were very confident going into it. I’m not going to lie. Miguel Berchelt is a big puncher. He’s a well-respected world champion. He already had six title defenses. We knew what was at stake and that there was a lot of risk. But I will say that seeing Oscar during training camp, looking at him in the gym, seeing how everything was coming together, honestly, we felt really good. Surprisingly, me and my father didn’t feel quite as nervous as we did in previous fights. I don’t know if we were just confident. But we were pretty much calm. 

Prior to his fight with Berchelt, some of Oscar's performances had been lacking sharpness. There was a concern that he was starting to plateau, that he wasn't achieving all he could in the ring. What had been going on with Oscar during the last few years and how was he able to turn it up another level against Berchelt? 

To be quite honest with you, we had that conversation – myself, Frank Sr. and Oscar Valdez Sr. – after the Scott Quigg fight. We noticed that when Oscar was with Manny Robles he was starting to brawl a little too much for our liking. He was fighting off heart and a tremendous amount of balls, but that style comes at a cost. After the Scott Quigg fight, we knew we had to have a discussion about what was next for him. We knew that Oscar put on great fights, but at the end of the day his health and career could be short-lived if he continued in that direction.

It was certainly a critical time and a critical decision in Oscar’s career to make a change in trainers. And we also knew it was going to take a couple of fights for it to work. I feel the switch to Eddy Reynoso is one of the best decisions that we made. People are now seeing what we envisioned Oscar could do under Eddy Reynoso. 

Why did you think that Oscar and Eddy would be a good match? 

Eddy, at that time, wasn’t really training anyone but Canelo. My father has a good relationship with him. After talking with Oscar Sr. and Oscar about him, we all liked the idea of that move. One thing I really liked about Eddy was that he was going to add more wrinkles to Oscar in the ring. 

One of the first things he told Oscar was that some fighters hit the mitts with ten-punch combinations, but that wasn't going to happen under him. It may look great on video, but when’s the last time you saw a fighter do that in the ring. He said, "I’m going to take you back to basics and teach you combinations that you are actually going to use." 

Eddie is such a student of the game. I'm not sure if people know this about him but he has a huge library of boxing videos. And he's always studying films of past fighters. He wants to be considered one of the best. We felt that the chemistry between him and Oscar would gel, and it did. 

Oscar had a lot of success against Berchelt fighting in the southpaw stance, which wasn't something we saw too much of earlier in his career. Had he always been able to fight as a southpaw or was this something he had developed with Eddy Reynoso?

Oscar’s been switching to southpaw in sparring for the longest time, but I can honestly say that he’s never felt confident enough to do it that much in a fight. In previous training camps, there are videos of Oscar fighting southpaw. Eddy, knowing that Oscar could fight southpaw, wanted to use it against Berchelt. He said, at some point we’re going to switch to southpaw. 

Certainly, we felt that it was going to confuse Berchelt, and it did. One of the first things that Oscar said in the locker room after the fight was that turning southpaw was one of the keys. He said, "Man, he looked so confused. I knew I had him." 

What has the last week been like for you after the victory? 

This is what you are here for, winning world championships. With Oscar’s experience with that broken jaw [after the Quigg fight], I literally saw his struggles. He wasn’t able to eat the things he wanted to eat. It was a long road to recovery. And then the switch of trainers... 

For me, I was extremely happy for him because it was a such a tough, long road back. It showed so much character from Oscar. Thank god he trusted the process because it all paid off in the end.  

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. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.

snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook. 

The Fight City Podcast

I joined this week's "The Weekend That Was" podcast with Alden Chodash of the Fight City to recap a great fight weekend, including Berchelt-Valdez, Flores-Velez and Kelly-Avanesyan. We also looked ahead to the Roman Gonzalez-Juan Estrada rematch. To listen to the podcast, click on this link:

https://www.thefightcity.com/weekend-that-was-podcast-no-10-valdez-flores-boxing-recap/

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. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.

snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook. 

Opinions and Observations: Berchelt-Valdez

In observing Oscar Valdez's recent outings against Adam Lopez and Jayson Velez, it's safe to say that he was a fighter caught between styles. As a young pro, he had risen as a brawling pugilist with a nasty left hook. But a switch to trainer Eddy Reynoso led to Valdez incorporating additional elements of a purer boxing style into his attack – boxing off his back foot, switching stances, and using his legs more. Until Saturday's fight against junior lightweight titlist Miguel Berchelt, these disparate styles had yet to coalesce. What Reynoso was requiring of Valdez did not necessarily seem natural for the fighter and furthermore, it seemed that Valdez's natural aggression and offensive talents were being marginalized.

Yet on Saturday, it all cohered seamlessly, as if everything the pair had been working on for the last two years had been building to this one, singular performance. Valdez's stunning tenth-round knockout of Berchelt was a product of these years of hard work. And what had seemed like a series of strange career decisions and ring tactics now revealed themselves to be profound calculations by a young fighter taking control of his career and a trainer who has emerged as one of the best strategists in the sport.

Oscar Valdez (left) lands a left hook
Photo courtesy of Mikey Williams/Top Rank

Valdez's performance on Saturday illustrated a complete mastery of a tough opponent. And for everything great that Valdez did in the fight, I believe that two specific attributes were chiefly responsible for his win: the application of a speed advantage, and sowing confusion. 

Although Berchelt held massive physical advantages over Valdez, Reynoso believed that his fighter had superior speed that, if applied correctly, could provide the open window needed for winning the fight. And it's this specific application of Valdez's speed that highlights Reynoso's strategic brilliance and Valdez's overall skills as a fighter. To Reynoso, many of the traditional measures of speed in the ring would not be effective against Berchelt. He didn't emphasize being first during exchanges or want Valdez necessarily running around the ring hoping to tire Berchelt out; how he envisioned Valdez’s speed advantage was far more subtle. He wanted everything to be quick: incisive jabs, sharp lead left hooks, in-and-out movement, turning and spinning off the ropes, and fast changes to the southpaw stance. In the early rounds, everything was one shot and out.

Reynoso believed that it was imperative to minimize Berchelt's comfort in the ring. He didn't want Berchelt to be able to plant his feet or establish a consistent offensive rhythm. A large part of accomplishing this goal was for his fighter to avoid slugging it out in the center of the ring, where Berchelt could unfurl his numerous offensive weapons. 

With Reynoso's plan, Valdez could also marginalize Berchelt's physicality. In particular, Valdez avoided two tactics as best as he could: inside fighting and clinches. Throughout the fight, Valdez did almost all of his work from mid-range and distance. Rarely did he try to grapple with Berchelt or assert himself in the trenches. Even when Berchelt was able to corner Valdez along the ropes, Valdez did not initiate a clinch or hold, where he could be worn down by Berchelt's more muscular frame. Instead, he expertly used his hands and body to maneuver himself away from Berchelt, often by spinning Berchelt or manipulating him away from the action. These moves were quick and subtle, but they were highly effective. 

The early-round success for Valdez culminated in a knockdown in the fourth. Because he was able to establish a punishing jab from the outset of the fight, Valdez forced Berchelt into making a mistake. In the beginning of the fourth, Valdez cocked his left hand and Berchelt extended his arms expecting to block a jab. However, Valdez followed with a sharp left hook that bypassed Berchelt's outstretched arms and landed with maximum authority. Immediately, Berchelt's legs turned to jelly. Valdez would land another half-dozen pulsating left hooks in the round and eventually would get a knockdown. But all of this started with his hard jabs earlier in the fight and Berchelt being wary of them. 

After Valdez failed to get the stoppage in the fourth, he increasingly decided to fight in the southpaw stance, which seemed like a strange choice at the time. After all, he had just had his best moments of the fight in the orthodox stance. By the sixth and seventh rounds, Berchelt was able to work his way back into the fight by landing a number of hard straight right hands to the head and left hooks to the body. It appeared that the tide of the fight was turning. Despite being on wobbly legs and seriously hurt, Berchelt continued to press forward and his confidence grew. 

However, the final three rounds of the fight illustrated the mastery of Valdez and Reynoso's plan. It was a clinic on how to confuse a technically limited opponent. Valdez would hit Berchelt with almost every shot imaginable, and from unpredictable angles: lead hooks and jabs in the orthodox stance, overhand rights, right hooks out of the southpaw stance and perhaps most notably, rear hooks out of the southpaw position. This final punch set up the second knockdown of the fight in the ninth round, where Valdez detonated a rear left hook from southpaw then switched to a right uppercut in the orthodox stance; Berchelt had no idea where the shots would be coming from or how to defend them. 

In the final moment of the fight, Valdez landed the signature punch of his career, a short, rear left hook out of the southpaw position. The shot was so fierce that Valdez didn't even bother to look at Berchelt once the punch connected. He sprinted around the perimeter of the ring and then jumped into the clutches of his team. He knew that this was the moment of his career. 

It should be noted that Berchelt was a sizable favorite coming into the fight. He entered the contest having defended his junior lightweight title six times, which included five stoppages, many of which were brutally impressive. More than a few, myself included, thought that Valdez was nuts for pursuing a Berchelt fight in that he would be severely undersized and outgunned. 

However, one needs to understand that there is a certain arrogance that can be a blessing (or a curse) at the top levels of boxing. There is a belief by fighters and trainers that they can overcome any challenge or opponent. Now of course every team thinks that they have a strategy to beat the favorite, but it's not often where one witnesses a game plan executed to such perfection. All of what Reynoso had been building over the last few years – the back-foot boxing, the switching, the limiting of opportunities by opponents – led to Saturday's victory. 

And as brilliant as Reynoso was on Saturday, he wasn't the guy in the ring. Valdez was the one who had the capacity to execute such a specific game plan. He had the physical ability and intellectual aptitude to add things to his craft. Not only could he switch stances, but he could initiate fight-ending sequences with them, a rare gift. He had the tools AND fully comprehended when, where and how to use them.  

When Valdez left trainer Manny Robles for Reynoso, he had decided to undertake a radical transformation of his fight style, with no guarantee that it would be effective. His move was risky and had a chance of backfiring, but he maintained a belief in his chosen path, even despite spotty initial results. Not only does Valdez deserve credit for envisioning a more well-rounded style for himself in the ring, but he had the perseverance to stick with it even after getting dropped by an undersized Adam Lopez and looking less than menacing against Jayson Velez. 

Valdez scored a knockout for the ages on Saturday; that left hook will always be the first clip of his career retrospective highlight reel. But what should not be forgotten about Saturday's performance is the culmination of an unusual journey, the transition from a front-foot slugger to a slick boxer-puncher. Valdez had bet on himself and won, validating one of the biggest decisions of his career. He saw something different in himself and, with Reynoso, a way to get there. And together they slayed a giant.

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. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.

snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook. 

SNB Stock Report 6-28-20

With the completion of the first three weeks of ESPN's summer boxing series, it's time for another edition of the Saturday Night Boxing Stock Report. The Stock Report shows which fighters' stock went up (+), down (-) or remained unchanged (NC) based on their most recent performance. Let's get started!  

Shakur Stevenson (+) 

Photo Courtesy of Mikey Williams

Stevenson did what was expected of him against the overmatched Felix Caraballo, scoring two knockdowns and winning via a sixth-round stoppage. However, his performance highlighted some impressive new dimensions. He stayed in the pocket and sat down on his shots much better than he has throughout most of his pro career. In addition, Stevenson's combination punching and body work demonstrated a new-found ferocity. He wasn't throwing shots to score points; he was trying to administer hurt. Refreshingly, Stevenson didn't play with his food or fight down to the level of his opposition. He exhibited no signs of ring rust, which might have been expected during his lengthy layoff. Overall, he looked sharp. At 14-0 and still just 23, Stevenson should have more room for growth. It will be interesting to see if he remains at 130 lbs. or drops back to 126 to defend his featherweight title. 

Jason Moloney (+) 

Moloney exhibited fantastic inside fighting skills to grind down late-replacement opponent Leonardo Baez over seven rounds. With a keen understanding of his preferred range, Moloney stayed inside Baez's long reach. In the trenches he cracked Baez with power shots throughout the match. Ultimately, Baez didn't answer the bell for round eight. Moloney has displayed excellent intestinal fortitude in his high-profile bouts. In the bantamweight World Boxing Super Series, he was down big to Emmanuel Rodriguez before making a spirited push in the second half. It wasn't enough to get the win, but he showed tremendous poise, self-belief and craft to get back into the bout. Against Baez, Moloney had to fight just two days after his brother received a hellacious beating in the ring. But there was no psychological let down against Baez, which speaks to Jason's strong intangibles. Still, he does require some work on his defense. He's lucky that Baez didn't possess more power. Moloney got caught with a number of clean left hooks when pulling out.  

  

Joshua Franco (+) 

In this month's best fight, Joshua Franco pulled away in the second half of the bout to defeat Andrew Moloney in a battle of grueling trench warfare. Franco was down early in the fight, with Moloney's volume and footwork troubling him. However, Franco landed a number of fantastic counter left hooks to get back into the match. As the fight progressed, Franco went on the march, attacking Moloney to the head and body and pressing the action. Ultimately, the fight came down to power and punch resistance, and Franco was superior in both aspects. He scored a knockdown in the 11th round and went on to win a competitive unanimous decision. Franco's record of 17-1-2 might not dazzle, but make no mistake; he's an excellent fighter. His performances against Moloney and Oscar Negrete have provided him with the seasoning to compete at the highest level of the 115-lb. division. 

 

Andrew Moloney (-) 

Considering Andrew's spirited effort in defeat against Franco, the minus symbol next to his name might be harsh. But he took such a beating, with damage to both ear drums and a cracked rib among other injuries, that he won't be back in the ring any time soon, a significant setback for his career. Moloney fought too overconfidently early in the match. He was landing at will and he tried to impose his will on the inside. But he was met with a lot of return fire, and by the time he tried to fight Franco on the outside, it was already too late. Overall, he was too eager to trade and was seemingly over-impressed with his power. Moloney possesses top-ten talent at 118 lbs., but he needs to gain a better understanding of his strengths and weaknesses in the ring.   

 

Emanuel Navarrete (NC) 

Photo Courtesy of Mikey Williams

The junior featherweight champion stayed active with a non-title fight against the overmatched Uriel Lopez and scored a sixth-round knockout. After a sluggish start, Navarrete displayed his characteristic frenetic attack, with powerful body work, odd-angled shots and multi-punch combinations. After winning his title, he has now fought five time in ten months, but not one of these opponents will be remembered. It's time for him to get another real challenge. It remains to be seen whether he will stay at 122 lbs. or move up to featherweight. But enough of these stay-busy fights! 

Miguel Berchelt (NC) 

Similar to his Mexican countryman Navarrete, Berchelt, who has a belt at 130 lbs., took a non-title fight against a poor opponent. The unlucky but brave victim in this case was Eleazar Valenzuela.  Berchelt fired off scores of menacing left hooks and won by a sixth-round stoppage. Berchelt wants to face former featherweight champion Oscar Valdez next, and that's a fight which should generate fantastic action for boxing fans.  

Gabriel Flores (NC) 

In the early rounds of his fight against Josec Ruiz, Flores seemed to have turned a corner. Instead of over-moving, he planted himself in the pocket, fired off a number of impressive power shots and even scored a knockdown. However, as the fight progressed, he reverted to form, and used his legs and long-range boxing skills to pull away for an easy unanimous decision. Throughout the fight, his trainer (his father, Gabriel Sr.) repeatedly admonished Gabriel to hold his ground against the hard-charging Ruiz, but it's clear that Flores isn't yet comfortable with taking more chances on the inside. Flores (20 years old and now 18-0) has great legs and stellar hand speed, but he needs to become more proficient fighting at mid-range and on the inside. Until that time, he will remain a tantalizing prospect, and not a fully-formed top fighter. 

 

Jessie Magdaleno (NC) 

Magdaleno won by disqualification in the 10th round. His opponent, Yenifel Vicente, had already lost three points for various infractions, and referee Robert Byrd had seen enough. Magdaleno scored two knockdowns in the fight from quick counter right hooks and had built a lead on the cards. However, there were also large portions of the fight where he was passive in the ring, barely letting his hands go. In addition, Vicente fired low blows at Magdaleno throughout much of the fight and it's concerning that Magdaleno didn't try to take manners into his own hands at any point. Magdaleno once had a title at 122 lbs., and his skills are apparent, but he doesn't seem to be fighting with a lot of confidence. His passivity in the ring is a recent phenomenon, and one that needs to be expunged if he entertains notions of being a world titlist again.

Mike Plania (+) 

Photo Courtesy of Mikey Williams

Chalk this one up to the Top Rank matchmakers. The relatively unknown Plania was brought over from the Philippines to give bantamweight contender Joshua Greer a stern test. When the fight was announced, oddsmakers were unimpressed, with Greer initially installed as an over 10-1 favorite. But as more people started to research the fight, they said to themselves, hey, this kid can fight, and the odds started to close in a hurry. And Plania rewarded those who jumped on the initial betting lines. Scoring two knockdowns with wide left hooks, Plania took control of the fight. He displayed impressive poise for a young fighter and featured a variety of offensive weapons. Greer did come on a little in the second half, but Plania had done enough to win the fight on the scorecards. Almost everything Plania throws is hard and he doesn't light up the punch counting stats, but his power is real. At just 23 years old, he looks to be another significant player in the fascinating bantamweight division.  

Joshua Greer (-) 

This had been coming for some time. Greer had difficulty in his last three bouts. For this fight, he trained back in Chicago and returned to a former coach. But, in the first round against Plania, he was in trouble once again. He couldn't adjust to the trajectory of Plania's wide hook and was dropped; the same punch also led to his knockdown in the sixth. Eventually Greer realized that he was much safer on the inside and he had good moments on his front foot. However, he had already lost too many rounds to win the bout on the cards. Greer is a type of fighter who has superior athletic talent that sometimes can mask defensive deficiencies. He has flashy speed, but gets hit far too often at this point in his career. With Top Rank as his promoter and J. Prince as his management, he will get additional opportunities, but he has lots of work to do in the gym to succeed at the next level.  

Christopher Diaz (+) 

Diaz turned in a strong performance against Jason Sanchez, winning a wide unanimous decision. He controlled the pocket, threw a strong right hand and featured a variety of boxing skills that haven't always been part of his offensive attack. Diaz has yo-yoed between 126 and 130 lbs. throughout his career and believes that the lower weight may serve him best. He remains a capable fighter as long as an opponent engages him in the pocket. To me, he has the makings of a top gatekeeper at featherweight and junior lightweight, and I don't mean that as an insult. He's going to beat the fighters that he should beat, and will most likely lose to the most talented guys in these divisions. But if he can avoid taking too many clean shots, he will have a lengthy career as a B-side to the stars and up-and-coming prospects.  

Abraham Nova (NC) 

Facing a spoiler in Avery Sparrow, Nova's high-profile opportunity on ESPN was almost...well, spoiled. Although Sparrow landed very little in the fight, his jab and movement prohibited Nova from opening up with combinations, especially in the early rounds. In addition, Nova fought as if he had too much confidence in his power, seemingly surprised that after he landed a shot, Sparrow would continue unaffected. Once Nova realized that more effort was required to win, he did connect with some impressive power punches and overall, he had a stronger second half. He won the fight by a unanimous decision, but his performance didn't answer many questions about his future prospects in the sport. Nova features an impressive record (19-0, 14 KOs), but against unimpressive opposition. Although he possesses power and physicality, he doesn't yet understand the finer points of how to apply his skills in the ring. Top Rank has talked about matching him next against former 130-lb. champ Masayuki Ito, and that fight would present a stern test for Nova.  

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. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.

snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook.

Pound-for-Pound Update 4-18-19

It's been a long time since the last Saturday Night Boxing Pound-for-Pound update. How long? Six months in fact and much has happened in the boxing world since then. Perhaps the biggest fight in terms of pound-for-pound relevance since the last update was the clash between Errol Spence and Mikey Garcia, a matchup between two of the best boxers in the sport. Moving up to welterweight, Garcia was rendered ineffective by Spence's work rate, movement and power punches. As a result, Spence moves up the list from #10 to #8 and Mikey Garcia slides from #6 to #9. 

Two Asian boxers continue their impressive climbs up the pound-for-pound list. Donnie Nietes, from the Philippines, won a squeaker against former multi-division titlist Kazuto Ioka on New Year's Eve. Nietes, now campaigning at junior bantamweight, has won titles in four divisions. He moves up to #10 from #13. Japan's Kosei Tanaka continues his meteoric ascent in boxing. At just 23 and with only 13 professional fights, Tanaka, a flyweight champion, added to his resume earlier this year by defeating former 108-lb. champion Ryoichi Taguchi in an impressive performance. He moves up to #11 from #15.  

Elsewhere in the rankings, three fighters make their debut. Josh Warrington, Miguel Berchelt and Wanheng Menayothin enter the pound-for-pounds list at #18, #19 and #20, respectively. Warrington had an excellent 2018, defeating a current featherweight champ (Lee Selby) and a recent one (Carl Frampton), who had been #20 in the SNB Rankings prior to the fight. Miguel Berchelt is in the midst of an impressive run at junior lightweight, defeating three action warriors in Francisco Vargas, Takashi Miura and Miguel Roman. Menayothin, of Thailand, has defended his minimumweight title 11 times. To this point Menayothin (52-0) hasn't faced a Murderer's Row of opponents, but he is starting to build a solid resume. 

With his eighth-round knockout over Tony Bellew, undisputed cruiserweight Oleksandr Usyk moves from #4 to #3. 

In addition to Frampton, two other fighters dropped out of the rankings. Adonis Stevenson was knocked out by Oleksandr Gvozdyk and it's unlikely that the 41-year-old will ever fight again. Guillermo Rigondeaux also leaves the rankings. Rigondeaux hasn't had a notable win in years, and his inactivity and quality of opposition leave a lot to be desired. 

Here is the complete Saturday Night Boxing Pound-for-Pound List:

1. Vasiliy Lomachenko
2. Terence Crawford
3. Oleksandr Usyk
4. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai
5. Naoya Inoue
6. Saul Alvarez
7. Gennady Golovkin
8. Errol Spence
9. Mikey Garcia
10. Donnie Nietes
11. Kosei Tanaka
12. Juan Estrada
13. Anthony Joshua
14. Jarrett Hurd
15. Manny Pacquiao
16. Leo Santa Cruz
17. Roman Gonzalez
18. Josh Warrington
19. Miguel Berchelt
20. Wanheng Menayothin

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. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.
snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook.   

Punch 2 the Face Podcast

On this week's Punch 2 the Face Podcast, we welcomed 122-lb. champ Danny Roman to the show. Roman recounted his last 18 months where he went from a virtually unknown club fighter to a world titleholder. Roman also talked about what's next for his career. Also on the podcast, Brandon and I looked back at last weekend's World Boxing Super Series action that included the Taylor-Martin and Burnett-Donaire fights. In addition, we gave our picks and predictions for Saturday's Usyk-Bellew clash.

Click on the links below to listen to the podcast:


Blog Talk Radio link:
iTunes link:
Stitcher link: 


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. 
Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.

snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook.