Rankings (Jan. 30): Beterbiev rolls on, Yarde’s stock rises in defeat, more

Artur Beterbiev got a good fight, but stayed unbeaten against Anthony Yarde, plus more in this week’s rankings!

Rankings go up on Mondays.

Ranked fights this week:

• Featherweight: (1) Emanuel Navarrete vs Liam Wilson [junior lightweight], Feb. 3 (Note: The winner of this fight will wind up ranked at junior lightweight, as the winner will have the WBO title)
• Flyweight: (10) Seigo Yuri Akui vs Jayson Vayson, Feb. 4
• Women’s P4P: (3) Amanda Serrano vs Erika Cruz, Feb. 4
• Women’s P4P: (4) Alycia Baumgardner vs Elhem Mekhaled, Feb. 4

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Upcoming Fights: (4) Anthony Joshua vs Jermaine Franklin, Apr. 1

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Upcoming Fights: (4) Ilunga Junior Makabu vs Badou Jack, Feb. 26 ... (2) Lawrence Okolie vs David Light, Feb. 11

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Notes: Artur Beterbiev soldiers on, but he got a damn good fight from Anthony Yarde on Saturday, a proper slugfest between two heavy-hitters who came to do damage and came to win. I said a good bit before the fight that if nothing else, Yarde would not be scared of the moment or the opponent. He was not. That doesn’t mean he was going to fight stupid, and he didn’t. It was, I thought, the best performance of his career overall.

That’s why Yarde’s stock actually rises a bit in defeat. He did a damn sight better against Beterbiev than Joe Smith Jr did last year, and I think a bit than Marcus Browne before that, though Browne also made it a fight as long as he could, similar to Yarde.

Beterbiev is Beterbiev. Still. He remains inevitable until proven otherwise. The dream fight at 175 is Dmitry Bivol. Both want it. It won’t be easy to get made, for a number of reasons, but I won’t be surprised if they both just insist and we do get it. It is a fascinating style matchup on paper and they are so clearly separated from the rest of this pack. Everyone else in my top 10 has been beaten by one or both of them other than Buatsi and Callum Smith.

Upcoming Fights: (10) Jean Pascal vs Michael Eifert, Mar. 16

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Upcoming Fights: (9) Carlos Gongora vs (10) Christian Mbilli, Mar. 23 ... (2) David Benavidez vs (3) Caleb Plant, Mar. 25

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Gennadiy Golovkin vs Esquiva Falcao, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (4) Tim Tszyu vs (8) Tony Harrison, Mar. 11

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Upcoming Fights: (6) Vergil Ortiz Jr vs (7) Eimantas Stanionis, Apr. 29

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Notes: This is a busy, crowded division right now. Some things will shake out a bit more soon enough, but keep an eye on this Saturday’s Arnold Barboza Jr vs Jose Pedraza fight, too; I don’t think the winner will take a top 10 spot next week, but as those things shake out in the coming months, the outcome there could be important. It’s going to be a meaningful win for either guy.

Upcoming Fights: (5) Subriel Matias vs Jeremias Ponce, Feb. 25 ... (4) Jose Ramirez vs Richard Commey, Mar. 25 ... (7) Ryan Garcia vs Gervonta Davis, Apr. 15 ... (2) Josh Taylor vs (3) Jack Catterall, TBA ... (10) Alberto Puello vs Gary Antuanne Russell, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (3) Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia [junior welterweight, technically], Apr. 15 ... (1) Devin Haney vs (2) Vasiliy Lomachenko, May 20

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Notes: The winner of the Emanuel Navarrete vs Liam Wilson fight this coming Friday will have the WBO title, and will be ranked next week.

Upcoming Fights: (7) O’Shaquie Foster vs Rey Vargas, Feb. 11 ... (2) Joe Cordina vs (3) Shavkat Rakhimov, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Emanuel Navarrete vs Liam Wilson [junior lightweight], Feb. 3 ... (3) Rey Vargas vs O’Shaquie Foster [junior lightweight], Feb. 11 ... (2) Mauricio Lara vs (4) Leigh Wood, Feb. 18 ... (5) Mark Magsayo vs Brandon Figueroa, Mar. 4 ... (10) Isaac Dogboe vs Robeisy Ramirez, Apr. 1

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Upcoming Fights: (10) Liam Davies vs Jason Cunningham, Apr. 29 ... (1) Stephen Fulton Jr vs Naoya Inoue, TBA ... (2) Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs (9) Marlon Tapales, TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (10) Guillermo Rigondeaux vs Jesus Martinez, Feb. 24

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Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Notes: We had a fight with Artem Dalakian and David Jimenez, but no change in the rankings. Dalakian got a close win in a dull fight. I scored it narrowly for Jimenez. I did not think it was the outrage robbery that Andre Ward and Tim Bradley presented on the ESPN+ broadcast. Bam Rodriguez figures to make a big splash in early April, and should jump right into the top two or three if he wins as expected against Cristian Gonzalez.

Upcoming Fights: (10) Seigo Yuri Akui vs Jayson Vayson, Feb. 4 ... (9) Dave Apolinario vs Frengky Rohi, Feb. 11

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Notes: Masamichi Yabuki got a win on Saturday in Nagoya, stopping Ronald Chacon in the seventh round. Chacon may have the empties 28-2-1 record in the history of boxing.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Kenshiro Teraji vs (3) Jonathan Gonzalez, TBA

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Notes: A good win for Oscar Collazo over Yudel Reyes on Saturday, and it was a WBO eliminator. He jumps a spot, over the guy he was supposed to fight, Wilfredo Mendez. Not blaming or “punishing” Mendez for getting hurt, but Collazo got out there and did something, and “getting out there and doing something” can count for a lot.

Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Upcoming Fights: (3) Amanda Serrano vs Erika Cruz, Feb. 4 ... (4) Alycia Baumgardner vs Elhem Mekhaled, Feb. 4 ... (5) Seniesa Estrada vs Tina Rupprecht, Mar. 25 ... (6) Mikaela Mayer vs Christina Linardatou, TBA