Vasiliy Lomachenko may no longer be a pound-for-pound rated boxer, but the 36-year-old veteran remains The Ring’s No. 1-rated lightweight. 

Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) picked up the one sanctioning body belt he hasn’t already won with a dominant 11th-round stoppage of former unified Ring Magazine champ George Kambosos on May 11 in Perth, Australia. 

The Ukrainian southpaw’s savvy aggression was simply too much for the gritty Australian contender to compete with.

Lomachenko won The Ring magazine lightweight championship en route to unifying the WBA, WBC and WBO belts during an impressive two-year run in 2018-2019. Since losing a unanimous decision to Teofimo Lopez in 2020, he’s won three of four bouts – all in the 135-pound division – with the other loss being a controversial split nod to then-undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney last May.

“Vasiliy Lomachenko thoroughly dominated George Kambosos before stopping the Australian in 11 rounds to win the vacant IBF title,” said Anson Wainwright. “Loma to remain No. 1, Kambosos to drop to No. 9.”

Vasiliy Lomachenko takes apart George Kambosos Jr. to win the vacant IBF lightweight title (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank)

No arguments with Loma at No. 1, but members of the Panel felt it was time for the tough-but-limited Kambosos to exit the lightweight rankings.

“Kambosos has lost 3 of his last 4 and could have lost 4 of his last 4,” noted Adam Abramowitz. “It’s time for him to go. I think either Sam Noakes or Mark Chamberlain are good candidates to come in at number 10.”

Tom Gray, Abraham Gonzalez, Michael Montero and Jake Donovan agreed. 

“Yeah, I’m a fan of George, but Maxi Hughes cleanly outboxed him and got ripped off,” said Gray. “He was game (vs. Lomachenko) but out of his depth.

“I’ll side with Adam here and vote in Chamberlain.”

Added Gonzalez:

“I’m good with removing Kambosos from the rankings. He was barely holding on before (the Lomachenko) fight.

“I like Adam’s recommendation of bringing in Chamberlain.”

Montero suggested a third option for the No. 10 spot.

“Agreed with Adam’s take, Kambosos is no longer a top 10 LW. 

“However, I feel that Russian Albert Batyrgaziev (10-0) has done more than Noakes, Chamberlain, [Floyd] Schofield and other top lightweight prospects to earn that No. 10 spot. He’s faced better opposition as a pro and his amateur career was terrific, culminating in a gold medal at the 2020 Olympics. The only problem is, he hasn’t fought since last October.  Hmmm…”

Added your favorite Editor-In-Chief: 

“I agree that Batyrgaziev has a better resume than Chamberlain, but his inactivity concerns me. Chamberlain fought in March and will see action this Saturday in Riyadh. I’m leaning towards Chamberlain, but I want to know if anyone else prefers Batyrgaziev (or some other lightweight up-and-comer).

Added Donovan:

“I agree with Adam’s proposal that Kambosos needs to be dropped. I ‘slightly’ lean towards Sam Noakes but agree with Adam (once again) Mark Chamberlain is the more sensible pick. It’s a coin-flip, and chances are he would replace Noakes or any other candidate we name for the No. 10 spot.”

Chamberlain (15-0, 11 KOs), a 25-year-old British southpaw who faces Joshua Olawaseun Wahab on the Usyk-Fury undercard, replaces Kambosos in the lightweight rankings.

Two other points of business were brought up by Donovan and Corey Erdman, which will be addressed at later dates.

“This might be for next week but Soslan Asbarov, our No. 8 cruiserweight, tested positive for a banned substance,” noted Donovan. “His October win over Aleksei Pepin has been changed to a No-Contest and he now faces a SIX-year ban. He will obviously need to come out of our Top 10, whether instantly or next week’s update.”

Added Erdman:

“Michael’s Batyrgaziev suggestion actually brings up a related issue for us to consider. Batyrgaziev beat Lazaro Alvarez in December, a fantastic win obviously, but it was on an IBA Boxing event, and fought at 132 pounds over ten rounds. In basically every practical way, it was a pro bout. Some bouts on IBA cards are full on sanctioned pro bouts (i.e. Albert Ramirez-Lenin Castillo, Ali Akhmedov-Carlos Rivera, etc.) but some/most are not. 

“In instances like this, do we take these wins into consideration?”

RING RATINGS UPDATE (As of May 11)

LIGHTWEIGHT – Lomachenko remains No. 1. Kambosos exits. Mark Chamberlain enters at No. 10.

JUNIOR FEATHERWEIGHT – Marlon Tapales remains at No. 2 following a second-round KO of Nattapong Jankaew.

JUNIOR BANTAMWEIGHT – Pedro Guevara advances to No. 5 after scoring a split decision over Andrew Moloney, who drops to No. 6.

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