In the world of boxing, the rankings picture can get a little muddled. There are multiple titleholders and different organizational rankings. We’ve taken the approach of simply identifying who we think are the 10 best fighters in each weight class.
Note: the numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from the previous month.
- Tyson Fury (1)
- Oleksandr Usyk (2)
- Deontay Wilder (3)
- Anthony Joshua (4)
- Andy Ruiz (5)
- Luis Ortiz (6)
- Dillian Whyte (7)
- Daniel Dubois (8)
- Zhilei Zhang (9)
- Joe Joyce (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Jai Opetaia (2)
- Chris Billam-Smith (NR)
- Lawrence Okolie (1)
- Mairis Briedis (3)
- Yunier Dorticos (4)
- Badou Jack (5)
- Ilunga Makabu (6)
- Aleksei Papin (7)
- Noel Gevor (8)
- Mateusz Masternak (9)
Dropped from the Rankings: Richard Riakporhe (10)
An ugly fight and a disastrous performance from Lawrence Okolie, and, in the process, he suffered his first professional defeat. Chris Billam-Smith took not only the zero from Okolie’s loss record, but also his WBO championship. Okolie drops to No. 3, with Opetaia now sitting on top of the rankings. Billam-Smith enters the rankings all the way up to No. 2. The division is really at a low point right now.
- Dmitry Bivol (1)
- Artur Beterbiev (2)
- Joe Smith Jr. (3)
- Callum Smith (4)
- Gilberto Ramirez (5)
- Joshua Buatsi (6)
- Anthony Yarde (7)
- Mathieu Bauderlique (8)
- Dan Azeez (9)
- Michael Eifert (10)
Joshua Buatsi remained undefeated with a decision victory over Pawel Stepien. It’s time to see what Buatsi can do against the upper echelon fighters in the division. It isn’t a very deep division, but still, he needs to have a bigger fight to see just how good he is.
- Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (1)
- David Benavidez (2)
- Caleb Plant (3)
- John Ryder (4)
- Daniel Jacobs (5)
- Rocky Fielding (6)
- Lerrone Richards (7)
- Carlos Gongora (8)
- David Morrell Jr. (9)
- Demetrius Andrade (10)
John Ryder was the latest fighter to take a crack at Canelo Alvarez, and he was definitely game, but fell short with a decision loss. Very wide scorecards and deservingly so, however, Ryder keeps his No. 4 spot in the rankings.
- Jermall Charlo (1)
- Gennady Golovkin (2)
- Jaime Munguia (3)
- Liam Smith (4)
- Zhanibek Alimkhanuly (7)
- Chris Eubank Jr. (5)
- Michael Zefara (6)
- Carlos Adames (8)
- Erislandy Lara (9)
- Meiirim Nursultanov (10)
Zhanibek Alimkhanuly made quick work of Steven Butler in a headlining bout, knocking Butler out in the second round. The win brings Zhanibek up to No. 5 in the rankings.
- Jermell Charlo (1)
- Brian Castano (2)
- Tim Tszyu (3)
- Brian Mendoza (4)
- Liam Smith (5)
- Sebastian Fundora (6)
- Erickson Lubin (7)
- Israel Madrimov (8)
- Magomed Kurbanov (9)
- Jesus Ramos (10)
Magomed Kurbanoz found himself on the winning end of another close fight – this time a split decision victory over Michel Soro. Kurbanov has yet to fight out of Russia, and you could make a strong argument that the hometown judging is why he doesn’t have losses to both Soro and Smith. Nonetheless, Kurbanov stays at No. 9 in the rankings. A fight outside of his home country and a stoppage over a top opponent would go a long way to quieting critics.
- Errol Spence Jr. (1)
- Terence Crawford (2)
- Keith Thurman (3)
- Jaron Ennis (4)
- Yordenis Ugas (5)
- Vergil Ortiz Jr. (6)
- Eimantas Stanionis (7)
- Cody Crowley (8)
- Conor Benn (9)
- David Avanesyan (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Josh Taylor (1)
- Regis Prograis (2)
- Jose Carlos Ramirez (3)
- Jack Catterall (4)
- Arnold Barboza Jr. (5)
- Subriel Matias (6)
- Gary Antuanne Russell (7)
- Teofimo Lopez (8)
- Jose Zepeda (9)
- Sandor Martin (10)
Jack Catterall finally returned to action, years after he was robbed of a world title. He cruised to a decision victory over Darragh Foley. Here’s hoping another title opportunity isn’t too far away.
- Devin Haney (1)
- Vasily Lomachenko (2)
- Shakur Stevenson (3)
- Gervonta Davis (4)
- Ryan Garcia (5)
- George Kambosos Jr. (6)
- William Zepeda (7)
- Richard Commey (8)
- Isaac Cruz (9)
- Frank Martin (10)
Two consecutive months of huge fights in the division, with May displaying a master class of boxing between Devin Haney and Vasily Lomachenko. It was a superb and tightly contested fight, and one in which Haney won via split decision. Despite the loss, Loma keeps his No. 2 spot.
Removed from the Rankings: Zaur Abdullaev (9)
- Oscar Valdez (1)
- O’Shaquie Foster (2)
- Joe Cordina (3)
- Shavkat Rakhimov (4)
- Hector Luis Garcia (5)
- Emanuel Navarette (6)
- Kenichi Ogawa (7)
- Robson Conceicao (8)
- Zelfa Barrett (9)
- Lamont Roach Jr. (10)
Oscar Valdez returned to action and cruised to a decision victory over Adam Lopez. With the win sets up a major clash of two great fighters, as Valdez is now expected to face Emanuel Navarette later in the summer.
- Emanuel Navarette (1)
- Rey Vargas (2)
- Brandon Figueora (3)
- Mark Magsayo (4)
- Leigh Wood (6)
- Mauricio Lara (5)
- Luis Alberto Lopez (8)
- Josh Warrington (9)
- Reiya Abe (NR)
- Robeisy Ramirez (NR)
Dropped from the Rankings: Gary Russell Jr. (5), Kiko Martinez (10)
Leigh Wood enacted revenge on Mauricio Lara, capturing the WBA title in the process. The first matchup between the two ended with a seventh round TKO by Lara on Wood. This time Wood got the decision victory with little to no resistance, and came close to sweeping all three scorecards. Wood moves ahead of Lara in the rankings.
- Stephen Fulton (1)
- Luis Nery (2)
- Marlon Tapales (3)
- Murodjon Akhmadaliev (4)
- Ronny Rios (5)
- Ra’eese Aleem (6)
- Takuma Inoue (7)
- Zolani Tete (8)
- Daniel Roman (9)
- Liam Davies (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Naoya Inoue (1)
- Nonito Donaire (2)
- Emmanuel Rodriguez (3)
- Jason Maloney (4)
- John Riel Casimero (5)
- Reymart Gaballo (6)
- Rau’shee Warren (7)
- Vincent Astrolabio (8)
- Paul Butler (9)
- Gary Antonio Russell (10)
Jason Maloney won a very close bout against fellow contender Vincent Astrolabio, walking out with the majority decision win.
- Juan Francisco Estrada (1)
- Jesse Rodriguez (2)
- Roman Gonzalez (3)
- Kazuto Ioka (4)
- Joshua Franco (5)
- Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (6)
- Junto Nakatani (7)
- Francisco Rodriguez Jr. (8)
- Fernando Martinez (9)
- Argi Cortes (10)
The undercard of Haney-Lomachenko included Junto Nakatani, who emerged victorious with a final round stoppage over Andrew Maloney.
- Sunny Edwards (1)
- Jesse Rodriguez (2)
- Julio Cesar Martinez Aguilar (3)
- Artem Dalakian (4)
- Felix Alvarado (5)
- Seigo Akui (6)
- McWilliams Arroyo (7)
- Taku Kuwahara (9)
- Giemel Magramo (9)
- David Jimenez (10)
The undercard of Canelo-Ryder featured Julio Cesar Martinez winning via TKO over Ronal Batista. Martinez has rattled off two straight wins since falling to Roman Gonzalez, a fight in which he attempted to move up in weight (and missed weight).
- Ken Shiro (1)
- Masamichi Yabuki (2)
- Hiroto Kyoguchi (3)
- Jonathan Gonzalez (4)
- Hekkie Budler (5)
- Esteban Bermudez (6)
- Elwin Soto (7)
- Daniel Matellon (8)
- Sivenathi Nontshinga (9)
- Carlos Canizales (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Knockout CP Freshmart (1)
- Petchmanee Freshmart (2)
- Wanheng Menayothin (3)
- Byron Rojas (4)
- Jose Argumedo (5)
- Simphiwe Khonco (6)
- Nkosinathi Joyi (7)
- Joey Canoy (8)
- Melvin Jerusalem (9)
- Wilfredo Mendez (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Naoya Inoue (1)
- Oleksandr Usyk (2)
- Terence Crawford (3)
- Errol Spence (4)
- Dmitry Bivol (5)
- Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (6)
- Josh Taylor (7)
- Juan Francisco Estrada (8)
- Tyson Fury (9)
- Shakur Stevenson (10)
Canelo was the lone pound-for-pound fighter in action, and, with his victory, stays in the rankings at No. 6.