Great Eight: Welcome aboard, Jesse 'Bam' Rodriguez ... for now

The proliferation of titles makes it difficult for all but the most astute fans to determine the cream of the boxing crop.

That’s why Boxing Junkie came up with its “Great Eight” feature, which names the best fighter in each of the original eight weight classes –heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight and flyweight.

Heavyweight includes cruiserweight (and the WBA and WBC’s bridgerweight), light heavyweight includes super middleweight, middleweight includes junior middleweight and so on down to flyweight, which includes junior flyweight and strawweight.

In this installment of “Great Eight,” we do three things:

• Crown a new champion in the lightest weight class (although he plans to move back into the next division),
• Provide the final listing of the year,
• And take a peek at potential changes that might lie ahead.

First, surging Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez dethroned Sunny Edwards as flyweight champion here, the result of his sensational nine-round demolition of his British rival to become undisputed 112-pound champion on Dec. 16.

Rodriguez’s reign isn’t destined to be a long one, however: He’s expected to move back up to 115, at which he had success last year. That would move him into the bantamweight division for the purposes of Great Eight, which would result in another change at flyweight.

We’ll see what our No. 11 pound-for-pounder decides to do next and act accordingly.

Meanwhile, we also could see multiple changes in the other seven divisions in 2024. Great Eight champions Tyson Fury (heavyweight), Dmitry Bivol (light heavyweight) and Jermell Charlo (middleweight) could face their demise in the coming year.

And, of course, the other champions also have capable rivals who would love a crack at them. Stay tuned.

Here are the top fighters in the original eight divisions:

HEAVYWEIGHT

Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) – Fury’s reign as the top man here is in jeopardy, as he’s scheduled to face Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship on Feb. 17 in Saudi Arabia. He’ll have to perform better against Usyk than he did against Francis Ngannou to win.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) – The 175-pound titleholder gave another strong performance on Dec. 23, shutting out overmatched Lyndon Arthur. A meeting with Artur Beterbiev for light heavyweight supremacy could be next if Beterbiev beats Callum Smith on Jan. 13.

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs) – The 154-pounder came up short against 168-pound champ Canelo Alvarez but he remains the best at 160 and 154. He wants to fight pound-for-pound and welterweight king Terence Crawford, who would take Charlo’s place in this division with a victory.

WELTERWEIGHT

Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) – Crawford, coming off his epic beat down of Errol Spence Jr., could be poised to move up to 154 to challenge titleholder Charlo, which would create an opening here. Only talented Jaron Ennis would appear to be a genuine threat at 147.

LIGHTWEIGHT

Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) – “Tank” remains the most-complete fighter at 135 and 130 but boxing wizards Shakur Stevenson and Vasiliy Lomachenko might have something to say about who reigns in Great Eight before all is said and done. Now we need to see these pivotal matchups.

FEATHERWEIGHT

Naoya Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) – Inoue gave another dominating performance against Marlon Tapales on Dec. 26, stopping the Filipino in the 10th round to become undisputed champion in a second weight class. Can anyone compete with him? Murodjon Akhmadaliev might have the best chance.

BANTAMWEIGHT

Juan Francisco Estrada (44-3, 28 KOs) – The 33-year-old future Hall of Famer from Mexico didn’t fight this year but he presumably will get back to work soon. “Bam” Rodiguez called him out for what could turn out to be a passing-of-the-torch matchup. Will he bite?

FLYWEIGHT

Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (19-0, 12 KOs) – Rodriguez supplants Edwards as champion here after leaving no doubt about who is the best 112-pounder in the world. However, he has said he plans to move up to junior bantamweight. We’ll wait until he schedules a fight to remove him.