Rankings (Dec. 6): Davis and Haney in lightweight shuffle, more

The 135 lb division continues to shift around, with Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney winning this weekend, plus much more.

Rankings go up on Mondays.

Ranked fights this week:

• Cruiserweight: (7) Arsen Goulamirian vs Aleksei Egorov, Dec. 10
• Light Heavyweight: (2) Dmitry Bivol vs (10) Umar Salamov, Dec. 11
• Junior Middleweight: 10) Magomed Kurbanov vs Patrick Teixeira, Dec. 11
• Welterweight: (9) Kudratillo Abdukakhorov vs Cody Crowley, Dec. 11
• Welterweight: (10) Conor Benn vs Chris Algieri, Dec. 11
• Lightweight: (3) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs (7) Richard Commey, Dec. 11
• Junior Lightweight: (6) Shavkat Rakhimov vs Rilwan Oladosu, Dec. 11
• Bantamweight: (2) Nonito Donaire vs Reymart Gaballo, Dec. 11
• Bantamweight: (3) John Riel Casimero vs Paul Butler, Dec. 11
• Junior Bantamweight: (9) Donnie Nietes vs Norbelto Jimenez, Dec. 11
• Flyweight: (2) Sunny Edwards vs Jayson Mama, Dec. 11
• Women’s P4P: (1) Katie Taylor vs Firuza Sharipova, Dec. 11

It’s a lot.

Notes: Michael Hunter falls out of the top 10 from the No. 9 spot after going to a questionable draw with Jerry Forrest last Thursday. Hunter was not good in that fight, and I thought Forrest deserved the win, but it was close. Hunter’s series of really questionable career moves have not paid off; since his hard-fought draw with Alexander Povetkin in 2019, he’s trounced two club fighters and gone to another draw with Jerry Forrest, who is a good fighter but not in 2021 what people thought of Povetkin in 2019.

In at No. 10 is Tony Yoka. I also considered Frank Sanchez, Daniel Dubois, Filip Hrgovic, Robert Helenius, and a return for Kubrat Pulev, but settled on Yoka. The last two spots here could go to the guys I have or any combination of those two or the other guys I just mentioned, whatever. There is not a gap there of any real note. Ultimately for me it was coming down to Yoka and Hrgovic, and while I think maybe I’d pick Hrgovic to beat Yoka right now, I also think Yoka has a better enough resume — which is not really Hrgovic’s fault — to give him the nod.

Upcoming Fights: (8) Joseph Parker vs Derek Chisora, Dec. 18 ... (2) Oleksandr Usyk vs (4) Anthony Joshua, TBA

Notes: Took Kevin Lerena out, as he seems pretty set on fighting at heavyweight/”bridgerweight,” and if he changes his mind he can be re-inserted here, it’s not that big of a deal. He also hasn’t fought in a year, either, so whatever. In comes Polish veteran Mateusz Masternak, who has been in or right around the top 10 for years.

Friday supposedly has Arsen Goulamirian defending his belt against Aleksei Egorov in Russia, but BoxRec aren’t listing that, and I never saw anything official about it, either. RCC have it on their YouTube channel set for a live stream, so we’ll see.

Upcoming Fights: (7) Arsen Goulamirian vs Aleksei Egorov, Dec. 10 ... (3) Ilunga Junior Makabu vs (10) Thabiso Mchunu, Jan. 29

Upcoming Fights: (2) Dmitry Bivol vs (10) Umar Salamov, Dec. 11 ... (1) Artur Beterbiev vs (4) Marcus Browne, Dec. 17 ... (5) Gilberto Ramirez vs Yunieski Gonzalez, Dec. 18 ... (3) Joe Smith Jr vs Callum Johnson, Jan. 15

Upcoming Fights: (5) Carlos Gongora vs Lerrone Richards, Dec. 18 ... (10) David Morrell Jr vs Alantez Fox, Dec. 18

Notes: Carlos Adames comes into the top 10 with his upset win over Sergiy Derevyanchenko, who was No. 4 before last week and is now out. I know it might seem like Adames should be higher, but I also thought Derevyanchenko looked a lot like a 36-year-old fighter whose best days are just behind him now. That said, I split the difference, because beating Derevyanchenko is better than most of these guys have done. I still have serious reservations about how long Adames will be in this company, but he earned his spot, and you could argue higher.

Derevyanchenko drops to No. 9. I thought it was an even fight, but if I had to pick a winner I’d have probably gone with Adames, so I have no issue with the result. Erislandy Lara drops out because while he’s a good fighter and I think could be trouble for anyone, the extent of his 160 resume is Thomas “Cornflake” Lamanna, which was an absurd fight.

Upcoming Fights: (5) Chris Eubank Jr vs (8) Liam Williams, Jan. 29 ... (1) Gennadiy Golovkin vs (5) Ryota Murata, TBA

Notes: Sebastian Fundora doesn’t move after his workmanlike win over Sergio Garcia, but it was a solid win all in all, Garcia is a good fighter who we had No. 10 last week. Magomed Kurbanov comes in at No. 10, and while I still have some doubts about him, he’ll have a chance this weekend to solidify his spot against former titlist Patrick Teixeira. Fundora (and Tim Tszyu) might get leapfrogged soon by the winner of the Madrimov-Soro fight on Dec. 17.

Upcoming Fights: (10) Magomed Kurbanov vs Patrick Teixeira, Dec. 11 ... (8) Michel Soro vs (9) Israil Madrimov, Dec. 17 (1) Jermell Charlo vs (2) Brian Castano, Feb. 19

Upcoming Fights: (9) Kudratillo Abdukakhorov vs Cody Crowley, Dec. 11 ... (10) Conor Benn vs Chris Algieri, Dec. 11 ... (3) Yordenis Ugas vs Eimantas Stanionis, TBA

Notes: Montana Love won without much trouble on the weekend, stopping Carlos Diaz, but he’s dropping a spot because he didn’t even come close to making weight, and everyone involved just kind of went, “That’s OK, though, who cares,” which is a little absurd. I think he’s a very good fighter and has looked really sharp in his last two. If he’d made weight, I might have moved him up to No. 8, but I don’t know, consider this an impotent little protest that means nothing, really.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Jose Ramirez vs (7) Jose Pedraza, Feb. 5 ... (1) Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall, Feb. 26

Notes: A bit more movement as this division starts to shake out some, but I think this is going to keep being a weirdly moving division, too. Teofimo Lopez says he’s going up to 140 next, so he’s just kind of holding a spot at the moment. Isaac Cruz is in at No. 10; I know he lost to Gervonta Davis, and I thought Davis won the fight fair, but Cruz also showed his quality. I had him at No. 11 already, barely outside the top 10, and I think he showed more in that loss than the previous No. 10, Javier Fortuna, has really shown at 135.

Davis moves up from No. 7 to No. 5, but I still do wonder just how good he is over 130 lbs. He hasn’t been super impressive, hasn’t seemed truly special, in his three fights over 130 (wins over Yuriorkis Gamboa, Mario Barrios, and Isaac Cruz). At the same time, he’s won them all and deserved the wins. He can obviously fight, he’s at least “good” all the way up to 140. Has he been handled carefully? Yes. So have a lot of fighters. Most fighters.

Devin Haney bumps up to No. 4 with a really solid win over JoJo Diaz, who does not budge from the No. 9 spot. Diaz is still a good fighter, can fight at 135. Haney doesn’t overly impress most of the time, but he has always gotten the job done so far.

Ryan Garcia dips to No. 6 because he hasn’t fought in about a year and the other guys are doing something, and despite his protests of Davis’ competition, Garcia has all of one win that might belongs in the conversation with Davis’ four best. Not “hating,” I’ve said repeatedly I believe in Garcia’s talent, but glass houses, etc.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs (7) Richard Commey, Dec. 11 ... (8) Jorge Linares vs Michel Rivera, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (6) Shavkat Rakhimov vs Rilwan Oladosu, Dec. 11 ... (7) Chris Colbert vs (8) Roger Gutierrez, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (2) Gary Russell Jr vs Mark Magsayo, TBA ... (6) Leigh Wood vs Michael Conlan, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs (8) Ronny Rios, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (2) Nonito Donaire vs Reymart Gaballo, Dec. 11 ... (3) John Riel Casimero vs Paul Butler, Dec. 11 ... (1) Naoya Inoue vs Aran Dipaen, Dec. 14 ... (9) Lee McGregor vs Narek Abgaryan, Dec. 18

Upcoming Fights: (9) Donnie Nietes vs Norbelto Jimenez, Dec. 11 ... (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (4) Chocolatito Gonzalez, TBA ... (2) Kazuto Ioka vs (5) Jerwin Ancajas, TBA ... (3) Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs Carlos Cuadras, TBA

Notes: Ricardo Sandoval won on Saturday, as Golden Boy got him a prelim spot on Matchroom’s Haney-Diaz card. It’s good he got out and fought, and he got a decent won over Carlos Buitrago.

Upcoming Fights: (2) Sunny Edwards vs Jayson Mama, Dec. 11

Upcoming Fights: (3) Masamichi Yabuki vs (5) Kenshiro Teraji, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Knockout CP Freshmart vs Robert Paradero, Dec. 14 ... (4) Wilfredo Mendez vs Masataka Taniguchi, Dec. 14 ... (9) Vic Saludar vs Erick Rosa Pacheco, Dec. 21 ... (2) Petchmanee CP Freshmart vs (3) Wanheng Menayothin, Jan. 25

Upcoming Fights: (7) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs Richard Commey, Dec. 11 ... (3) Naoya Inoue vs Aran Dipaen, Dec. 14 ... (6) Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall, Feb. 26 ... (9) Juan Francisco Estrada vs Chocolatito Gonzalez, TBA ... (10) Kazuto Ioka vs Jerwin Ancajas, TBA

Notes: McCaskill pretty much dominated against late sub opponent Kandi Wyatt on Saturday, but it was also not the greatest performance, if that makes sense. I looked at that fight and while I still think a lot of McCaskill as a fighter, we’re talking pound-for-pound here, and man, when I started comparing that to what we’ve seen from Mikaela Mayer and Seniesa Estrada, I just couldn’t see ranking McCaskill over them. Also, we are talking pound-for-pound here, everyone on this list is good, among the best out there.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Katie Taylor vs Firuza Sharipova, Dec. 11 ... (7) Seniesa Estrada vs Maria Santizo, Dec. 18 ... (2) Claressa Shields vs Ema Kozin, Jan. 29 ... (10) Chantelle Cameron vs Kali Reis, TBA