March 2024
The voters: Scott Christ, Wil Esco, John Hansen, Patrick Stumberg, and Lewis Watson
Dropped Out: Gervonta “Tank” Davis (10)Others Receiving Votes: Jaron “Boots” Ennis 5, David Benavidez 2, Geronta “Tank” Davis 1
Scott Christ
(1) Naoya Inoue, (2) Terence Crawford, (3) Oleksandr Usyk, (4) Dmitry Bivol, (5) Artur Beterbiev, (6) Devin Haney, (7) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, (8) Junto Nakatani, (9) Kenshiro Teraji, (10) Canelo Alvarez
I’ve had some adjustments in coronary heart the final couple months. Final month, I dropped Tank Davis a number of spots. This month, Tank Davis is out. My subject is cut up. One factor is Tank simply isn’t doing something, and albeit exhibits no ambition to go after the very best fights he can. Hey, that’s his prerogative, and if this have been the dollar-for-dollar checklist, he’s high tier. Nevertheless it isn’t. Sufficient protection of boxing is compelled to be in regards to the short-sighted carny enterprise side.
For as soon as, I simply need to discuss what’s taking place within the ring.
And that’s the place you get to the opposite stuff: Guys like Bam Rodriguez, Junto Nakatani, and Kenshiro Teraji are simply going on the market and doing it. You can argue Canelo Alvarez is slipping into the present Tank territory, however Canelo has far larger historical past and accomplishments, too, and that’s what retains him hanging on at No. 10 for me, for now.
However Canelo’s on comparatively skinny ice, too. I feel Tank is an amazing expertise, I feel Canelo remains to be an excellent fighter, however there are different folks on the market who’re elevating their inventory whereas these guys sit stagnant.
That is additionally why Terence Crawford has slipped to No. 2 for me. I form of had (and have) Inoue and Crawford as 1A and 1B in my thoughts, as a result of I feel Crawford is genuinely nice. However so is Inoue, and Inoue is the man on the market preventing. Inoue will struggle once more on Might 6, making it three fights since final July, the final time Crawford fought, and the one time he fought in 2023. So if one or the opposite deserves a tiebreaker, I’m going with Inoue at this level.
Nakatani is available in for me, profitable world titles in three divisions the way in which he has is genuinely spectacular and he’s a terrific fighter.
Wil Esco
(1) Terence Crawford, (2) Naoya Inoue, (3) Oleksandr Usyk, (4) Dmitry Bivol, (5) Artur Beterbiev, (6) Jaron “Boots” Ennis, (7) Canelo Alvarez, (8) Devin Haney, (9) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, (10) Kenshiro Teraji
Been giving this some thought and whereas I do suppose Gervonta Davis is an especially proficient fighter, I simply can’t regularly give him a cross contemplating his normal stage of opposition, with no actual want to even contend for the key world titles which might entail the most important threats to him. He drops off and Kenshiro Teraji is in.
John Hansen
(1) Naoya Inoue, (2) Terence Crawford, (3) Oleksandr Usyk, (4) Dmitry Bivol, (5) Artur Beterbiev, (6) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, (7) Devin Haney, (8) Kenshiro Teraji, (9) David Benavidez, (10) Junto Nakatani
Actual bummer shedding Usyk vs Fury from the February calendar. Not rather a lot else to shake up the standings this month. Nakatani appeared good, however I moved him in final month to look intelligent earlier than the opposite guys did, however nonetheless hopefully early sufficient that individuals gained’t keep in mind Stumberg did it first out of us all.
So, no adjustments for me, however I’m curious to see what number of colleagues maintain Canelo of their high 10 this month. Justice for David Benavidez!
Patrick Stumberg
(1) Naoya Inoue, (2) Terence Crawford, (3) Oleksandr Usyk, (4) Canelo Alvarez, (5) Dmitry Bivol, (6) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, (7) Artur Beterbiev, (8) Junto Nakatani, (9) Devin Haney, (10) Kenshiro Teraji
What did I say? What did I say about Junto Nakatani?
In all seriousness, torching Santiago like that went above even my expectations. There’s little doubt in my thoughts that, given the chance, Nakatani will run roughshod over all his fellow bantamweight champs.
As for the remaining, we’re in all probability not going to see a lot motion for the subsequent couple of months except Ryan Garcia in some way flips the script on Devin Haney in April. Kosei Tanaka’s getting near the perimeter, however he’ll want a number of extra good wins earlier than I’m able to rank him along with his countrymen.
Lewis Watson
(1) Naoya Inoue, (2) Terence Crawford, (3) Oleksandr Usyk, (4) Devin Haney, (5) Artur Beterbiev, (6) Dmitry Bivol, (7) Canelo Alvarez, (8) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, (9) Kenshiro Teraji, (10) Gervonta Davis
No motion in February within the month that we should always have seen Fury vs Usyk. Nakatani was the star of the month and is the closest to breaking into the highest 10. Junto seems to be a particular fighter, underlining that in his pummeling of Santiago final week and at 26 has the world at his toes.
