Canelo Alvarez can no longer argue that he is the number 1 boxer in the world.
The Mexican superstar, the gay king of the table but ranked 2nd in the Boxing Junkie rankings will be this past Saturday, take a decision close, but clear to light heavyweight owner Dmitry Bivol at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
An inevitable price he had to pay was the fall from his lofty perch.
The question is how far should he drop? And at what number should the previously unranked Bivol enter the Boxing Junkie rankings after his monumental disappointment?
First, Alvarez.
On the one hand, some might argue that the undisputed 168-pound champion shouldn’t be punished too severely because he took a significant risk by putting on weight to face the top 175-pound athlete. . Also, the scores are also close (115-113 on all three cards).
And, of course, we can’t refute all that Alvarez has achieved during his domination over the years.
On the other hand, Alvarez had fought at the age of 175 in the past, incapacitated but Sergey Kovalev has aged. And many observers believe that Bivol’s victory is decisive regardless of the official score. Even the judges gave him seven of the last eight rounds.
In the end, Boxing Junkie decided to knock Alvarez from 2nd to 7th, which mirrors what we saw on Saturday night but still keeps him among the best.
Now Bivol.
One could argue that the Russian should not be on the list above Alvarez just for the sake of a win, a victory that matters.
The problem with that argument is that Bivol had a number of important successes in the fight against Alvarez, including one-sided victories over Sullivan Barrera, Isaac Chilemba, Jean Pascal and Joe Smith Jr. consecutive.
Another factor working against Bivol is that he’s not ranked for the fight, which can make for a seemingly awkward massive leap.
However, after some deliberation, it was decided that Bivol’s strong resume and convincing victory over boxer #2 – a man many believed to be invincible – ranked above Alvarez on the list. balance.
He is in 6th place, just behind No. 1 Terence Crawford, No. 2 Naoya Inoue, No. 3. Oleksandr Usyk, No. 4 Errol Spence Jr. and number 5 Tyson Fury.
Next on the list: number 10 Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano not ranked as see you on saturday to unify all 154-pound titles.
The addition of Bivol lowered Kazuto Ioka from 15th to the Honorable Place. And it pushed HM Mairis Briedis off the charts.
Here’s what the current list looks like:
JUNKIE BOX
POUND-FOR-POUND
- Terence Crawford – No scheduled combat.
- Naoya Inoue – Scheduled to face Nonito Donaire in a rematch for the bantamweight title on June 7 in Japan.
- Oleksandr Usyk – It is reported to face Anthony Joshua for the second time on July 23 but no official announcement has been made.
- Errol Spence Jr. – No scheduled combat.
- Tyson Fury – No scheduled combat.
- Dmitry Bivol – No scheduled combat.
- Canelo Alvarez– No scheduled combat.
- Vasiliy Lomachenko – Career stalled because of war in Ukraine.
- Juan Francisco Estrada – In talks to defend his WBC bantamweight title against Joshua Franco in June.
- Gennadiy Golovkin – Was expected to face Canelo Alvarez for a third time in September but that match is now on air.
- Jermell Charlo – Scheduled to face Brian Castano for the undisputed junior middleweight title on May 14 in Carson, California.
- Artur Betterbiev – Scheduled to face Joe Smith Jr in a light heavyweight title unification match on June 18 in New York.
- Gervonta Davis – Scheduled to face Rolando Romero on May 28 in Brooklyn, New York.
- Jermall Charlo – WILLcedes the throne to defend his middleweight title against Maciej Sulecki on June 18 in Houston.
- Shakur Stevenson – No wars scheduled,
Honorable Mention (alphabetical order): Nonito Donaire (scheduled to face Naoya Inoue on June 7); Roman Gonzalez (no scheduled combat); Kazuto Ioka (scheduled to defend the junior bantamweight title against Donnie Nietes on July 13); George Kambosos (scheduled to defend her lightweight title against Devin Haney on June 5); Josh Taylor (no scheduled combat).
