Rankings (Feb. 25, 2020): Fury unquestioned as top heavyweight

After a few years of debate, Tyson Fury has taken the throne back with no real questions.

Rankings will be posted each Tuesday at Noon ET.

Ranked fights this week:

• Heavyweight: (9) Joseph Parker vs Shawndell Winters, Feb. 29
• Junior Bantamweight: (6) Roman Gonzalez vs (7) Kal Yafai, Feb. 29
• Flyweight: (3) Julio Cesar Martinez vs Jay Harris, Feb. 29

Notes: The debates are done. The clear best heavyweight in the world today is Tyson Fury, who put what folks used to call a country ass-whoopin’ on Alabama’s Deontay Wilder this past Saturday night. The fight was really never close, certainly not after the second round, as Fury battered and demoralized Wilder until Deontay’s corner threw the towel in the seventh round. The win further raises my opinion of Fury’s in-ring ability, and returns him to the throne he left vacant a few years ago when he stepped away from boxing after beating Wladimir Klitschko. The loss does not terribly damage my opinion of Wilder, in all honesty; I still think he’s a good and obviously dangerous opponent for basically everybody, but Fury just seems to be all wrong for him.

Upcoming Fights: (9) Joseph Parker vs Shawndell Winters, Feb. 29 ... (3) Anthony Joshua vs (8) Kubrat Pulev, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Mairis Briedis vs (2) Yuniel Dorticos, Mar. 21

Upcoming Fights: (1) Artur Beterbiev vs Meng Fanlong, Mar. 28

Upcoming Fights: (3) Canelo Alvarez vs TBA, May 2 ... (10) Fedor Chudinov vs TBA, Mar. 21

Upcoming Fights: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs TBA, May 2 ... (2) Gennadiy Golovkin vs Kamil Szeremeta, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (6) Brian Castano vs (10) Patrick Teixeira, Apr. 25

Notes: There’s no top 10 fight this week, but I want to make note now that if Mikey Garcia is really impressive on Saturday against Jessie Vargas, I’ll consider him for the back end here. This list falls off a cliff past Ugas; I love Ortiz as a prospect, but he’s still pretty unproven, and Garcia has already beaten Lipinets, albeit at 140. It’s all on Mikey. He can win and not be too impressive and not get a spot. But he’s in the mix depending on the outcome and his performance. Vargas not so much; if Vargas beats Mikey, I think it more shows that Mikey simply isn’t a welterweight, period. Plus Vargas has been looking to fight at 154, anyway. This was just too good an opportunity to pass up for him.

Upcoming Fights: (9) Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Samuel Vargas, Mar. 28 ... (8) Sergey Lipinets vs (10) Kudratillo Abdukakhorov, May 16

Upcoming Fights: (1) Josh Taylor vs Apinun Khongsong, May 2 ... (2) Jose Ramirez vs (6) Viktor Postol, May 9

Upcoming Fights: (1) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs (2) Teofimo Lopez, May 30 ... (4) Luke Campbell vs (7) Javier Fortuna, TBA

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Notes: Walsh, the reigning British featherweight champion, didn’t defend his title in his Saturday win over Tyrone McCullagh, as it was an MTK Golden Contract tournament fight, but he was sharp in victory. McCullagh gave him some early troubles, but once Walsh found the timing and range, he took over the fight, dropping McCullagh twice and scoring a clear decision victory. He’ll face Jazza Dickens later this year in the tournament final.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Shakur Stevenson vs Miguel Marriaga, Mar. 14 ... (7) Jessie Magdaleno vs Sakaria Lukas, Mar. 14 ... (9) Ryan Walsh vs Jazza Dickens, TBA

Notes: Navarrete did pretty much as expected with Jeo Santisima on Saturday, dominating and winning an 11th round stoppage. Santisima was tough but overmatched, and “overmatched” has been the story of Navarrete’s recent fights. That said, he’s a good fighter, getting better, and it looks like he’s moving up to 126 next.

Upcoming Fights: (5) TJ Doheny vs Ionut Baluta, Mar. 6 ... (10) Azat Hovhannisyan vs Jose Sanmartin, Mar. 28

Upcoming Fights: (2) Luis Nery vs Aaron Alameda [junior featherweight], Mar. 28 ... (1) Naoya Inoue vs (5) John Riel Casimero, Apr. 25 ... (8) Jason Moloney vs Joshua Greer, Apr. 25 ... (3) Nordine Oubaali vs (4) Nonito Donaire, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (6) Roman Gonzalez vs (7) Kal Yafai, Feb. 29 ... (4) Kazuto Ioka vs Kosei Tanaka, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (3) Julio Cesar Martinez vs Jay Harris, Feb. 29 ... (8) Cristofer Rosales vs Szilveszter Kanalas, Mar. 13 ... (5) Charlie Edwards vs TBA [junior bantamweight], Apr. 18 ... (1) Kosei Tanaka vs Kazuto Ioka [junior bantamweight], TBA

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Wanheng Menayothin vs Marco John Rementizo, Apr. 25