RING junior featherweight champ Guillermo Rigondeaux defended his 122-pound titles with a unanimous shutout decision over former two-time bantamweight beltholder Joseph Agbeko during a busy weekend of boxing. The flawless Cuban climbed two spots on THE RING?s pound-for-pound top 10.
There was a lot of significant RING-ratings movement during the packed weekend due to some interesting fights and results.
Pound-for-Pound: Rigondeaux?s complete mastery over Agbeko, an experienced world-class fighter, solidified his status as one of the best pure boxers in the sport. In April, the former amateur star dethroned then-RING 122-pound champ Nonito Doniare, who was a consensus top-five pound-for-pound rated fighter. The follow-up victory over Agbeko makes Rigondeaux, who won his first major title in his ninth pro bout, a Fighter of the Year candidate. It also advanced him from No. 10 to No. 8 in the mythical pound-for-pound rankings, pushing Adrien Broner and Canelo Alvarez to Nos. 9 and 10.
Cruiserweight: Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (49-2-1, 35 knockouts), THE RING?s No. 2-rated 200 pounder, beat unrated Giocobbe Fragomeni (31-2-0-12) via sixth-round retirement. No changes in the rankings.
Super Middleweight: No. 8-rated Sakio Bika (35-5-3, 21 KOs) kept his WBC title with a draw against unrated Anthony Dirrell (26-0-1, 22 KOs). Both were not satisfied with the draw but Bika?s activity and cleaner punches seemed to deserve the keeping of his title. No changes and no ranking for Dirrell.
Middleweight: No. 5-rated Felix Sturm (39-3-2, 18 KOs) was impressive in his second-round stoppage of IBF beltholder Darren Barker (26-2, 16 KOs), formerly our No. 2-rated middleweight. Sturm will advance to No. 2 and Darren Barker will drop to No. 5. Matthew Macklin (30-5, 29 KOs), the No. 7-rated contender, scored a decision over unrated Lamar Russ (14-1, 7 KOs).
Jr. Middleweight: No. 4-rated Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KOs) won a wide decision over Austin Trout (26-2, 14 KOs), formerly our No. 2-rated junior middleweight. Lara also dropped Trout in the 11th. Lara will advance to No. 2 and Trout drops to No. 5 based on his two recent losses. The new 154-pound rankings are as followed:
Champion: Floyd Mayweather (45-0, 26 KOs)
1. Saul Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KOs)
2. Erislandy Lara
3. Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KOs)
4. Carlos Molina (22-5-2, 31 KOs)
5. Austin Trout (26-2, 14 KOs)
6. Demetrius Andrade (20-0, 13 KOs)
7. Vanes Martirosyan (33-1-1, 21 KOs)
8. Willie Nelson (21-1-1, 12 KOs)
9. Ishe Smith (25-6, 11 KOs)
10. Jermell Charlo (22-0, 11 KOs)
Welterweight: Unrated Shawn Porter (23-0-1, 14 KOs) shocked No. 5-rated Devon Alexander (25-2, 14 KOs) to win the IBF world title by a wide margin. No. 9-rated Paulie Malignaggi (33-5, 7 KOs) had a decision win over Zab Judah (42-9, 29 KOs), the No. 6-rated junior welterweight. Changes in ratings from No. 5 are: No 5. Robert Guerrero (31-2-1, 18 KOs); No. 6 Adrien Broner (27-0, 22 KOs); No. 7 Shawn Porter (23-0-1, 14 KOs); No. 8 Malignaggi (33-5, 7 KOs); No. 9 Keith Thurman (21-0, 19 KOs); No. 10 Alexander (25-2, 14 KOs). The Champion and No. 1 through No. 4 remain the same.
Featherweight: No. 1-rated Chris John (48-1-3, 22 KOs) was stopped in the sixth round by unrated Simpiwe Vetyeka (26-2, 16 KOs). Based on this fight, John will drop to No. 6; Vetyeka will enter at No. 5 with Nonito Donaire (32-2, 21 KOs) dropping from the ratings. Nos. 1 through 4 will move up one spot. Nos. 6 through 9 will remain the same.
Junior Featherweight: RING champ Rigondeaux (13-0, 8 KOs) retained his titles by a wide margin decision over Agbeko (29-5, 22 KOs), the No. 6-rated in bantamweight. No changes in the rankings and Agbeko will remain No. 6 at bantamweight pending his decision to continue to fight at 118 pounds.
Bantamweight: No. 3-rated Koki Kameda (32-1, 17 KOs) announced he?s dropping to 115. We?ll reclassify him as soon as he fights at 115. Tomoki Kameda, formerly #9 (29-0-0-18) outpointed unrated Immanuel Naidjala (17-1-0-11) thus Tomoki Kameda will flip with Julio Ceja (25-1-0-23) with Tomoki Kameda #8 and Julio Ceja #9.
Junior Bantamweight: No. 10-rated Daiki Kameda (30-3, 18 KOs) fought Liborio Solis (16-3-1, 7 KOs) which was to be for the IBF and the vacant WBA titles. Though Solis won on a close split decision, he failed to make weight twice, once at the weigh-in and then at the IBF fight-day weigh-in. He was over 130 pounds. Thus we can?t rate Solis so we will keep Kameda, who only lost a split decision against a much heavier opponent, at No. 10.
Flyweight: RING champ Akira Yaegashi (19-3, 9 KOs) retained his titles outpointing No. 4-rated Edgar Sosa (50-7, 29 KOs). Sosa put on a spirited performance and will remain at No. 4.
Jr. Flyweight: No. 9-rated Naoya Inoue (5-0, 4 KOs) stopped unrated Jerson Mancio (18-4-3, 9 KOS) in five. No change.
Strawweight: No. 5-rated Katsunari Takayama (26-6, 10 KOs) had a wide decision win over unrated Virgilio Silvani (17-3-1, 10 KOs) to hold his No. 5 position in the ratings.
