All astute boxing fans know that the rise of world titles has diminished their value.
Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia proved it by generating 1.2 million pay-per-view purchases in the United States despite no belts being counted for their April 22 match.
And few doubt that Davis is the best 135-pound athlete even though Devin Haney is the undisputed champion.
That’s why Davis was able to cement his place in Boxing Junkie’s Great Eight feature, in which we named boxers #1 in each of the original eight weight classes (heavy, light, etc.) , medium, welding, light, feather, bantam and fly).
It’s also why 112-pound belt holder Julio Cesar Martinez quit after a bad performance on the Canelo Alvarez-John Ryder card last Saturday.
Davis prevails and then stops Ryan Garcia with a body blow, proving again that he – not Haney, not Shakur Stevenson and not Vasiliy Lomachenko – is the one to beat in the division. weigh between 130 and 135 pounds.
Meanwhile, Martinez stopped unknown opponent Ronald Batista in the 11th round but struggled for most of the match because of his technical limitations.
That came after his poor challenge to bantamweight opponent Roman Gonzalez, who easily overtook him last March, and a mediocre attempt in a decisive majority win over Samuel Carmona in 112th in December.
So who replaced him? A difficult.
If this were a pound list, the best option might be Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, who beat Carlos Cuardras and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai at 115 last year before falling to 112.
However, this is based on performances and achievements at 112 and below. So we chose to go with Sunny Edwards, a talented, albeit slightly light, 112-pound athlete who has held a major title for more than two years.
Our hope is that Edwards and Rodriguez will solve the problem in the ring soon.
Here are the top fighters in the original eight divisions and their immediate plans:
WEIGHT WEIGHT
Tyson’s Rage (33-0-1, 24 KOs) – Reportedly considering defending the title against former champion Andy Ruiz Jr. or Zhilei Zhang in July, although Zhang will likely rematch Joe Joyce.
LIGHT-WEIGHT
Dmitri Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) – Expected to defend his 175th title against Canelo Alvarez in a rematch in September but no deal has been reached yet.
MEDIUM
Jermell Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) – No matches scheduled.
WEIGHT
Terence Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) – Reportedly close to reaching an agreement to face Errol Spence Jr. to win the undisputed 147-pound championship in July but no announcement was made.
LIGHT-WEIGHT
Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) – No matches scheduled.
WEIGHT WEIGHT
Stephen Fulton Jr. (21-0.8 KO) – Scheduled to defend the 122-pound belt against Naoya Inoue on July 25 in Tokyo
WEIGHT
Naoya Inoue (24-0, 21 KO) – Expected to challenge 122-pound owner Stephen Fulton Jr. on July 25th in Tokyo
WEIGHT FLYING
sunny Edwards (19-0.4 KO) – A belt defense against Andres Campos is scheduled on June 10 in London.
