Women’s Ratings Update: Thorslund and Valle break in at pound-for-pound, and more
A lot of interesting fights took place during the past couple of weeks in women’s boxing. Although not every one of those produced changes in our trailblazing ratings, there were plenty of movements to account for after our panel’s intense debate.
The most seismic changes took place in our mythical pound-for-pound ratings, where our Women’s Ratings Panel felt that it was time to rearrange the bottom of the ratings based on recent performances.
In that effort, two long-time entrants were voted out of the ratings (Jessica McCaskill and Delfine Persoon) and two new entrants found their way into the mythical Top 10.
The new members are Denmark’s Dina Thorslund and Costa Rica’s Yokasta Valle, who are now rated at No. 8 and 9 respectively. Natasha Jonas moved up to No. 7 in that process, and Mikaela Mayer remained at No. 10.
“Thorslund has put on consistently excellent outings against real competition, including in her latest outing against Yulliahn Luna Avila,” said historian Malissa Smith in her analysis, when proposing the Danish dynamo as our new No. 8.
Argentina’s Yesica Palmetta argued that “Yokasta must enter (our Top 10), since she has proven to be able to maintain her crown while being a high-level fighter, and has been a champion since 2019. In her 31 fights she has taken some risks to become a champion.”
Caroline Dubois – Photo by Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer
A very contentious vote ensued, with very strong opinions from our experts from across the globe, and the new Top 10 finally took shape.
In the lightweight division, a new force emerged when Caroline Dubois decisioned Magali Rodriguez in dominant fashion to claim the top of the ratings in which Ireland’s Katie Taylor still reigns supreme as inaugural champion.
“The heir apparent to the lightweight crown and a future pound-for-pound mega star, Dubois without a doubt deserves to be ranked No. 1 at 135,” said writer Christopher Benedict in justifying a proposal to move Dubois over Estelle Mossely, with author and editor Irene Deserti agreeing by saying that “I think (Dubois) not only has better skills but has had stronger performances.”
Columnist Mark Jones closed the debate by saying that “Mossely fought to a controversial draw with Rodriguez, who was dominated by Dubois last weekend. I think Dubois is one or two fights away from entering the pound-for-pound rankings.”
Therefore, Dubois is our new No. 1 at lightweight.
Also at 135, Rhiannon Dixon’s excellent performance against Katarina Thanderz earned her the right to occupy the No. 4 position in our Top 5.
Finally, two high-profile bouts failed to produce any movements. The once-postponed and much-anticipated clash between Terri Harper and Cecilia Braekhus failed to gather enough interest to move the former “First Lady” any higher than her No. 4 rating at junior middleweight, while Evelin Bermudez’s solid performance against Kim Clavel in Canada was also not enough for the panel to promote the Argentine warrior above the superbly talented Jessica Nery-Plata at junior flyweight.
Diego M. Morilla writes for The Ring since 2013. He has also written for HBO.com, ESPN.com and many other magazines, websites, newspapers and outlets since 1993. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and an elector for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He has won two first-place awards in the BWAA’s annual writing contest, and he is the moderator of The Ring’s Women’s Ratings Panel. He served as copy editor for the second era of The Ring en Español (2018-2020) and is currently a writer and editor for RingTV.com.
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