Boxing Rankings (June 7, 2021): Badou Jack holds at 175,

Rankings go up on Mondays at 10 am ET.

Ranked fights this week:

• Junior Welterweight: (10) Jose Pedraza vs Julian Rodriguez, June 12
• Junior Lightweight: (6) Shakur Stevenson vs Jeremiah Nakathila, June 12

Upcoming Fights: (9) Michael Hunter vs Mike Wilson, June 19 … (1) Tyson Fury vs (3) Deontay Wilder, July 24 … (2) Anthony Joshua vs (6) Oleksandr Usyk, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (6) Kevin Lerena vs Ryad Merhy, July 17

Notes: With Jean Pascal failing a drug test for a fourth (!!) substance, this time EPO — which just cannot get into your system by some crazy accident — I’ve made the decision to dump him from the top 10. If you need a better reason to add on, fuck it, he hasn’t fought since 2019. That’s good enough anyway.

Badou Jack fought and won on Saturday without Pascal, powering through an over-matched Dervin Colina. The fight was a total mismatch and Jack, 37, says he might go up to cruiserweight. He dabbled there last November, beating Blake McKernan, who was about as much of a challenge as Colina, That fight was fought north of 175 but less than the 200 lb limit at cruiser (Jack weighed in at 188¾ for the McKernan bout), so it wasn’t quite cruiserweight, but he says he feels he can do well at the weight. I’m not as convinced, but then cruiserweight isn’t that great a division, either. It’ll be mostly, I think, about whether Jack’s age truly catches up to him, and he can handle the bigger power of the naturally bigger opponents, at least the legit ones.

Upcoming Fights: (8) Gilberto Ramirez vs Sullivan Barrera, July 9

Notes: Lemieux got to hang out at a Holiday Inn in Mexico, as Eye of the Tiger took some lads south of the American border so their guys could get fights in while COVID restrictions still have Canada on hold. He also won his fight over David Zegarra, which was predictable and doesn’t move him up any.

Upcoming Fights: (3) David Benavidez vs Jose Uzcategui, Aug. 28 … (1) Canelo Alvarez vs TBA, Sept. 18

Upcoming Fights: (2) Jermall Charlo vs Juan Macias Montiel, June 19 … (8) Jaime Munguia vs TBA, June 19 … (6) Rob Brant vs Janibek Alimkhanuly, June 26

Notes: Remember a while back when I kicked Michel Soro out of the rankings and it was a whole discussion? Didn’t matter a lick, as he’s now back up to No. 8 despite doing absolutely nothing, with Erislandy Lara leaving the division and now Jarrett Hurd falling out of the top 10 following a loss to Luis Arias. At this point Soro could be dropped on inactivity but I’m semi-officially trying to give everyone two years due to the COVID mess of 2020, which still continues boxing-wise in some places. So Soro has until November.

Hurd-Arias was fought at 160 lbs, which is why Arias isn’t the one replacing Hurd here, and I didn’t see legitimate room at 160 for Arias, who wants to fight at 154 anyway, apparently, but hasn’t yet, so he still can’t come in. I suppose you could say maybe Hurd could stay ranked at 154 since he fought at 160, but man, it’s not like he went up and fought GGG or Big Charlo, lost, and said, “I think I belong at 154.” He took what was meant to be a stay-busy against a guy nobody had near any top 10 and lost. And he deserved the loss in that fight.

I like Jarrett Hurd, but his last three fights suggest we’ve seen his best days come and go. They were always a little rocky, anyway. People liked Hurd — and still should! — because he seems like a good dude and is very fun to watch, in part because of his limitations. Losing to Arias should come with consequences, even if it was at 160.

In at No. 10 is Sergio Garcia, who still technically holds the European title, it seems, but hasn’t defended it since 2019 and is agreed to terms to face Sebastian Fundora sometime this summer on FOX. Good fight, and was even before I put Garcia in the top 10 here.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Jeison Rosario vs (5) Erickson Lubin, June 26 … (4) Julian Williams vs Brian Mendoza, June 26 … (6) Tim Tszyu vs Michael Zerafa, July 7 … (1) Jermell Charlo vs (2) Brian Castano, July 17 … (7) Sebastian Fundora vs (10) Sergio Garcia, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Errol Spence Jr vs (3) Manny Pacquiao, Aug. 21

Upcoming Fights: (10) Jose Pedraza vs Julian Rodriguez, June 12 … (7) Mario Barrios vs Gervonta Davis, June 26

Upcoming Fights: (1) Teofimo Lopez vs (9) George Kambosos Jr, June 19 … (2) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs (10) Masayoshi Nakatani, June 26 … (6) Javier Fortuna vs Joseph Diaz Jr, July 9

Upcoming Fights: (6) Shakur Stevenson vs Jeremiah Nakathila, June 12 … (2) Gervonta Davis vs Mario Barrios [junior welterweight], June 26 … (10) Chris Colbert vs Yuriorkis Gamboa, July 3 … (5) Joseph Diaz Jr vs Javier Fortuna [lightweight], July 9 … (8) Shavkat Rakhimov vs Kenichi Ogawa, Aug. 20

Upcoming Fights: (1) Gary Russell Jr vs Rey Vargas, TBA … (3) Kid Galahad vs Jazza Dickens, TBA … (5) Mauricio Lara vs (6) Josh Warrington, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (5) Angelo Leo vs Aaron Alameda, June 19 … (7) Azat Hovhannisyan vs TBA, July 9 … (2) Stephen Fulton Jr vs (3) Brandon Figueroa, Sept. 11 … (1) Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs (8) Ronny Rios, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Naoya Inoue vs Michael Dasmarinas, June 19 … (10) Lee McGregor vs TBA, July 10 … (3) John Riel Casimero vs (4) Guillermo Rigondeaux, Aug. 14

Upcoming Fights: (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (4) Chocolatito Gonzalez, TBA … (3) Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs Carlos Cuadras, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Julio Cesar Martinez vs TBA, June 26 … (3) Junto Nakatani vs (6) Angel Acosta, TBA

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Upcoming Fights: (9) Ginjiro Shigeoka vs Toshiki Kawamitsu, July 14

Upcoming Fights: (2) Naoya Inoue vs Michael Dasmarinas, June 19 … (5) Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos Jr, June 19 … (7) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs Masayoshi Nakatani, June 26 … (10) Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder, July 24 … (9) Juan Francisco Estrada vs Chocolatito Gonzalez, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (7) Mikaela Mayer vs Erica Farias, June 19 … (9) Seniesa Estrada vs Tenkai Tsunami, July 9

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