RANKINGS: Is Tank Davis boxing’s best lightweight? Plus Paro, Billam-Smith, more

Is Gervonta “Tank” Davis the top lightweight in boxing today?

Next update will come on Monday, July 1.

Ranked fights this period:

• Welterweight: (9) Lewis Crocker vs Conah Walker, June 22
• Super Lightweight: (3) Teofimo Lopez vs Steve Claggett, June 29
• Super Featherweight: (10) Andres Cortes vs Abraham Nova, June 21
• Featherweight: (2) Rafael Espinoza vs Sergio Chirino, June 21
• Featherweight: (6) Robeisy Ramirez vs Brandon Benitez, June 29
• Super Flyweight: (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (3) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, June 29
• Flyweight: (1) Sunny Edwards vs Adrian Curiel, June 29

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Upcoming Fights: (8) Jared Anderson vs (10) Martin Bakole, Aug. 3 … (1) Oleksandr Usyk vs (2) Tyson Fury, Dec. 21

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Notes: Had some notable activity since last time. Chris Billam-Smith beat Richard Riakporhe in their rematch, and Billam-Smith is just fully established as the No. 2 guy at the weight right now, trailing only Opetaia. Riakporhe tumbles a few spots. It wasn’t a pretty fight, but CBS got the job done.

Yuniel Dorticos is active again, and could be really dangerous against just about anyone. Jack Massey is in after his win over Isaac Chamberlain, who drops out along with Yamil Peralta, who was more squeezed out by the return of Dorticos. For the moment, the division now sits and waits for everyone’s next moves.

Upcoming Fights: TBA

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Notes: I didn’t think David Benavidez was overwhelmingly impressive in his move up to 175, but he was good, and I’ve also never once thought, say, Joshua Buatsi or Anthony Yarde were overwhelmingly impressive, either, and Gvozdyk — even this 37-year-old version — would absolutely stand out on either of their records.

Gvozdyk dips a bit but stays in for now; David Morrell Jr is also headed to the division in about six weeks, so there will be some reassessing soon enough. He hung around in that fight far more than tried to win it, really, but he was never totally blown away by a younger guy with a lot of momentum, either.

Upcoming Fights: (10) Radivoje Kalajdzic vs David Morrell, Aug. 3

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Upcoming Fights: (3) Christian Mbilli vs (5) Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Aug. 17

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Notes: Elijah Garcia is out due to his loss to Kyrone Davis, and Shane Mosley Jr is out because he’s going back to 168 for his next fight. That leaves the door open for Andrei Mikhailovich and a return for Austin “Ammo” Williams, who lost his most recent fight, yes, but to a good fighter because he actually dared to fight one.

Carlos Adames predictably beat Terrell Gausha without much trouble on Saturday, too. He stays at No. 2.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Janibek Alimkhanuly vs (9) Andrei Mikhailovich, July 13

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Notes: Xander Zayas replaces Caoimhin Agyarko in the No. 10 spot. Clearly a talented fighter, solid and convincing win over Patrick Teixeira on June 8, and that edges him past Agyarko for me. But they’re both really promising young fighters.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Israil Madrimov vs Terence “Bud” Crawford, Aug. 3

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Notes: Cody Crowley is out, unfortunately, on inactivity, as he will not be fighting Jaron Ennis on July 13 due to not passing an eye exam. Hopefully Crowley will heal up and be able to get back in the ring. David Avanesyan, replacing Crowley against Boots Ennis, pokes his head back in. You could pick any combination in whatever order after, like, No. 3 here, between the people I have listed and several more I don’t. There is no separation in there.

Upcoming Fights: (9) Lewis Crocker vs Conah Walker, June 22 … (1) Jaron “Boots” Ennis vs (10) David Avanesyan, July 13

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Notes: Liam Paro’s upset win over Subriel Matias is obviously a game-changer for the rankings. I couldn’t figure out anything any better, other than including levels of fame as a key attribute, than putting Paro in at No. 1. That win is more impressive than what the others have done recently. And I’m switching Matias down to Paro’s old No. 8, so they just trade spots.

I guess Matias vs Prograis is looking more reasonable now.

I may not agree with Devin Haney that Gary Antuanne Russell is “sum dog s—t,” but Russell took his first L against Alberto Puello on Saturday. He barely hangs on at the end of the top 10, because Puello is a good fighter and legit contender in this division.

Russell simply has to be more active and ambitious if he wants to become what he was thought to be capable of becoming. He never managed to figure Puello out entirely, and having less than a round of live fight time in two years isn’t ideal. I still think there’s untapped potential in him, although he’s not, like, 21 anymore, either. But being more active just fixes that part. The “ambitious” part would come entirely from within Russell and is either there and possible to produce, or isn’t. We’ll see how he responds to losing.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Teofimo Lopez vs Steve Claggett, June 29 … (7) Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz vs Jose Valenzuela, Aug. 3

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Notes: Tank Davis takes over the top spot, because say what you will about Frank Martin, but that was a top five-ish lightweight — still is, I think, for the moment — and Tank did what Tank does, figuring things out and then knocking someone out. It’s not that I think Lomachenko is less than a terrific boxer still, it’s just that I think Davis is as good as he’s supposed to be. What I’d really like, and it’s been floated, is Tank vs Loma next to just settle it. I think it’s past its due date a little, but it’s not rotten yet or anything. To me the tougher fight is likely Tank vs Shakur, but they have more time to get that in, too.

As for Martin, he’s staying put. Let Andy Cruz or Keyshawn Davis or someone really make their move. Basically, what I thought of Martin and the field last time has not changed. Tank vs Martin went about how I anticipated.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Shakur Stevenson vs Artem Harutyunyan, July 6 … (4) William Zepeda vs Giovanni Cabrera, July 6 … (8) Keyshawn Davis vs Miguel Madueno, July 6 … (6) Andy Cruz vs Antonio Moran, Aug. 3

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Upcoming Fights: (10) Andres Cortes vs Abraham Nova, June 21 … (1) O’Shaquie Foster vs (6) Robson Conceicao, July 6

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Notes: Raymond Ford is out now that he’s officially decided to move up to 130. Angelo Leo comes in for now.

Upcoming Fights: (2) Rafael Espinoza vs Sergio Chirino, June 21 … (6) Robeisy Ramirez vs Brandon Benitez, June 29 … (8) Ruben Villa vs Sulaiman Segawa, July 13 … (1) Luis Alberto Lopez vs (10) Angelo Leo, Aug. 10

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Upcoming Fights: (6) Sam Goodman vs Thachtana Luangphon, July 10 … (7) Liam Davies vs Shabaz Masoud, July 20

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Junto Nakatani vs (10) Vincent Astrolabio, July 20

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (3) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, June 29 … (2) Kazuto Ioka vs (4) Fernando Martinez, July 7 … (10) Suzumi Takayama vs Isao Aoyama, July 18 … (5) Kosei Tanaka vs Jonathan Rodriguez, July 20

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Upcoming Fights: (1) Sunny Edwards vs Adrian Curiel, June 29 … (4) Angel Ayala vs (8) Dave Apolinario, TBA

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Notes: Looks like Kenshiro Teraji will be moving up to flyweight, but we’ll wait for that to be somewhat more official.

Upcoming Fights: (9) Shokichi Iwata vs Jahzeel Trinidad, July 6 … (3) Carlos Canizales vs Ivan Garcia, July 19

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Notes: Another win on June 7 for Oscar Collazo, and he keeps his top spot.

Upcoming Fights: (2) Ginjiro Shigeoka vs (9) Pedro Taduran, July 28

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Upcoming Fights: (4) Chantelle Cameron vs Elhem Mekhaled, July 20 … (1) Claressa Shields vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, July 27 … (2) Katie Taylor vs (5) Amanda Serrano, Nov. 15

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