Above: Everyone on the ratings panel agreed that Devin Haney didn’t fight like a pound-for-pounder should in his loss to Ryan Garcia, but he was also facing some unfair circumstances. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Covering fight results up to June 1, 2024 

POUND FOR POUND: Devin Haney was sitting at No. 7 going into his fight against Ryan Garcia (unrated); he then dropped out after losing to Garcia by majority decision, and Junto Nakatani entered the list at No. 10. A lengthy debate over whether to re-rate Haney ignited after Garcia tested positive for a banned substance in both his A and B samples, but no official action has taken place yet. If some sort of ban happens and the result is switched to a no-contest, the ratings panel decided (the details of that conversation can be read in EIC Doug Fischer’s special update ) that Haney would get his spot back (or at least some rating).

After a much shorter debate, Naoya Inoue (No. 2) supplanted Terence Crawford at No. 1 as a result of demolishing Luis Nery in six rounds.

Then, true to the “three-man race” theme, Oleksandr Usyk jumped from No. 3 to No. 1 after his historic victory over Tyson Fury. There was little debate over this.

HEAVYWEIGHT: Usyk defended his championship and Fury remained the No. 1 contender in the division.

Germany’s Agit Kabayel improved to 25-0 and rose from No. 10 to No. 4 on the strength of a seventh-round knockout of Frank Sanchez, who vanished from his No. 6 position. Daniel Dubois became the new No. 10. A couple of weeks later, Dubois took the No. 6 position from Filip Hrgovic with an eighth-round stoppage on cuts; Hrgovic dropped to No. 9.

With the Bomb Squad seemingly out of ammunition, Deontay Wilder (No. 9) departed from the list – hopefully toward retirement but probably not – after getting TKO’d in the fifth round by Zhilei Zhang, who got a one-spot promotion to No. 4. Wilder’s removal allowed for the return of Efe Ajagba at No. 10.

CRUISERWEIGHT: Jai Opetaia defended his championship and picked up the vacant IBF belt with a unanimous decision over tough Latvian Mairis Briedis, who once again made a late-rounds push that wasn’t enough to break the equally tough but more skilled Australian. Briedis dropped from No. 1 to No. 3.

Soslan Asbarov (No. 8) was slapped with a six-year ban for violating the Russian Anti-Doping Agency’s policy (it must’ve been pretty bad), so he was removed. His unanimous decision victory over Aleksei Papin was also switched to a no-contest and Papin was reinstated at No. 10.

Lawrence Okolie (No. 4) has moved up in weight, so he was removed and once-beaten (though dubiously so) Argentine Yamil Peralta was installed at No. 10.

Papin stopped former contender Isaac Chilemba in the second round and was elevated to No. 6. The reason behind the seemingly disproportionate reward for beating a shot Chilemba was a housekeeping measure; the panel felt that Arsen Goulamirian (No. 7), due to his recent loss and being extremely inactive in the past few years, and those below him shouldn’t rise any higher for the time being.

via Highlights Corner on YouTube:

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: No. 8-rated Michael Eifert was removed for having more than a year of inactivity. The resulting vacancy at No. 10 was taken by Libya’s Malik Zinad, who was coming off a majority decision win over Jerome Pampellone. 

Zinad then stepped up on very short notice to face Dmitry Bivol, replacing an injured Artur Beterbiev. Zinad gave the 2022 Fighter of the Year some trouble but was ultimately saved by the ref while under fire in Round 6. Zinad exited and Willy Hutchinson picked up the slack by entering at No. 9 on the merit of a unanimous decision over countryman Craig Richards.

SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT: Jaime Munguia held his position at No. 5 after giving a good account of himself in a loss to division champ Canelo Alvarez. 

Erik Bazinyan dropped from No. 6 to No. 8 after a draw with Shakeel Phinn (unrated).

Caleb Plant (No. 3) was removed for inactivity, having not fought since his March 2023 loss to David Benavidez. His ejection created room for Bektemir Melikuziev at No. 10.

MIDDLEWEIGHT: Hamzah Sheeraz was boosted from No. 7 to No. 3 after an impressive performance against No. 10-rated Austin Williams, culminating in an 11th-round TKO. Williams was replaced by unbeaten Italian Etinosa Oliha.

JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT: Charles Conwell rose one notch to No. 8 after a sixth-round stoppage of Nathaniel Gallimore.

WELTERWEIGHT: Eimantas Stanionis finally returned to the ring after two years of inactivity and returned to the ratings at No. 3 with a wide unanimous decision over Gabriel Maestre (unrated). The Lithuanian’s arrival pushed Roiman Villa (No. 10) off the list.

Mario Barrios went from No. 7 to 5 after dropping and outpointing Fabian Maidana (unrated).

Undefeated Georgia (the state) native Brian Norman Jr. had a breakthrough performance in going to San Diego and knocking out the previously unbeaten Giovani Santillan in his hometown. Santillan went into the fight rated at No. 4 and slipped to No. 8 while Norman debuted at No. 7, which crowded out No. 10-rated Egidijus Kavaliauskus.

JUNIOR WELTERWEIGHT: Haney maintained his position at No. 1 after the loss to Garcia. Garcia held no rating at 140 going into the fight and didn’t get one afterward, as he unrepentantly missed weight by more than three pounds. 

Arnold Barboza (rated No. 8 at the time) officially won a split decision over Sean McComb (unrated), but the panel invoked the Robbery Clause and kicked him off the list. Undefeated Mexican Lindolfo Delgado entered at No. 10.

Josh Taylor’s fall from grace continued with a unanimous decision loss to Jack Catterall in their rematch, which for many was justice served. The former Ring champion from Scotland slid from No. 2 to No. 5 and Catterall climbed from No. 7 to No. 4.

LIGHTWEIGHT: No. 1-rated Vasiliy Lomachenko looked rejuvenated in dismantling and stopping George Kambosos, who exited the list from his place at No. 7. Mark Chamberlain moved in at No. 10 as a result.

Denys Berinchyk rose from No. 8 to No. 6 and picked up the vacant WBO title with a split decision over Emanuel Navarrete, who was fighting five pounds north of the division where he was No. 1 (and remained so).

No. 10-rated Mark Chamberlain needed a little under three minutes to KO Joshua Wahab during the Usyk-Fury extravaganza in Riyadh; he was promoted to No. 9.

JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHT: Unrated Anthony Cacace upset Joe Cordina with an eighth-round TKO and stormed into the ratings at No. 5, pushing out Eduardo Nunez (No. 10). Cordina (No. 3 going in) gave up his IBF title and was knocked down to No. 6.

JUNIOR FEATHERWEIGHT: Luis Nery scored a knockdown and then suffered the consequence of waking The Monster, losing to division champ Naoya Inoue by sixth-round stoppage. Nery’s ranking only slipped one notch, though, to No. 6.

TJ Doheny didn’t move mountains with his fourth-round stoppage of Bryl Bayogos, but the panel cited his success on the road in giving him a one-spot promotion to No. 8.

BANTAMWEIGHT: A big weekend of action resulted in a clean title sweep for Japan in the 118-pound division: Ryosuke Nishida skyrocketed from No. 9 to No. 2 after taking the IBF belt from Emmanuel Rodriguez, who dropped to No. 6 from No. 3. Jason Moloney gave up his WBO belt to the previously unrated Yoshiki Takei, who entered at No. 4 while Moloney slipped from 2 to 5. Takuma Inoue also gained a couple ranks, ending up at No. 3 after defending his WBA title against Sho Ishida (unrated). All three wins came via unanimous decision. No. 10-rated Daigo Higa was pushed out by Takei’s arrival.

David Cuellar won a unanimous decision against Jose Velasquez and replaced Paul Butler at No. 10.

JUNIOR BANTAMWEIGHT: John Ramirez was replaced at No. 10 by David Jimenez, who beat “Scrappy” by unanimous decision on the Haney-Garcia undercard. (Jimenez also retained his No. 7 ranking at flyweight.)

Pedro Guevara went from No. 9 to No. 4 after a split decision over Andrew Moloney, who sank to No. 6 from No. 4.