Since our last rankings two top fighters have won in their respective division, but while one of them got praised, the other lost some ground.
Unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev shined in a seventh-round TKO victory against Callum Smith in January, and while that wasn’t enough to move up in the rankings, he closed the gap between him and No. 6 Devin Haney. He also distanced himself from No. 8, Gervonta Davis, to solidify the No. 7 spot.
Teofimo Lopez Jr. was knocking on the top 10 door and had an opportunity to get in, but a poor performance in a disputed decision victory over Jamaine Ortiz to retain his WBO junior welterweight belt on Friday had our panel dropping him farther below.
“P4P fighters should be capable of handling any boxing style,” explained two-division champion, a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and current ESPN TV boxing analyst Timothy Bradley Jr., who dropped Lopez from his top 10. “Lopez has shown a pattern of struggling against backfoot counterpunchers throughout his career. For this reason, I have removed him from my list.”
ESPN boxing writer Mike Coppinger agrees. He was one of the panelists who voted Lopez in the top 10 after his title fight win over Josh Taylor back in June. But his latest performance made Coppinger change his mind.
“His terrific performance against Josh Taylor was Lopez’s second strong showing in victory over the top guy in the division, when you consider Lopez also defeated Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2020,” Coppinger said. “But aside from those wins, Lopez has been inconsistent and arguably lost to both Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz, two slick southpaws. Lopez is undoubtedly one of the most talented boxers in the world, but that particular style has proven problematic.”
Our panel of Mike Coppinger, Timothy Bradley Jr., Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Eric Raskin, Michelle Joy Phelps, Claudia Trejos, Bernardo Osuna, Eric Woodyard, Bernardo Pilatti, Charles Moynihan, Salvador Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli, Michael Mascaro, Aladdin Freeman, Victor Lopez and Damian Delgado Averhoff, shares its votes.
