WBO’s five new No. 1 contenders: Dmitry Bivol at 175, Keyshawn Davis at 135, plus more

The WBO’s latest ratings update — released November 23 — includes five new fighters who have been named the #1 contender in their respective divisions.

At light heavyweight: Dmitry Bivol, 23-1 (12 KOs), is now ranked No. 1 after losing the WBA title last month to 21-0 (20 KOs) Artur Beterbiev in a fight for the undisputed championship. With Bivol no longer holding another sanctioning body’s belt, the WBO is now recognizing him within its own rankings.

That pushed the 26-3 (24 KOs) Anthony Yarde down one spot, from No. 1 to No. 2.

Beterbiev remains the WBO titleholder and the undisputed champion altogether.

At middleweight: The WBO had mandated a fight between unified titleholder Janibek Alimkhanuly (who also has the IBF belt) and mandatory challenger Hamzah Sheeraz. But with Sheeraz, 21-0 (17 KOs), deciding not to pursue the fight with Alimkhanuly, 16-0 (11 KOs), Sheeraz has been removed from the WBO’s ratings.

That means Denzel Bentley, 20-3-1 (17 KOs), was upgraded from No. 2 to No. 1. Bentley has won two straight since dropping a majority decision to Nathan Heaney in November 2023. Both of those victories came via second-round TKO against a pair of unrated opponents: Danny Dignum in May and Derrick Osaze in August.

The WBO has not yet ordered a fight between Alimkhanuly and Bentley. They first met in November 22; Alimkhanuly won a unanimous decision.

At lightweight: William Zepeda, 32-0 (27 KOs), deciding to fight Tevin Farmer earlier this month for the WBC’s interim title led to Zepeda being removed from the WBO’s ratings.

Although Raymond Muratalla, 22-0 (17 KOs), was already at No. 2, he didn’t move up to the top spot. Instead, the 12-0 (8 KOs) Keyshawn Davis leapfrogged Muratalla, going from No. 3 to No. 1. Earlier this month, Davis impressed with a second-round knockout of Gustavo Lemos, who at the time was 29-1 (19 KOs) and rated No. 13. 

The WBO’s titleholder is Denys Berinchyk, 19-0 (9 KOs).

At bantamweight: Christian Medina, 23-4 (16 KOs), has moved from No. 2 to No. 1 for some reason, even though his last performance was in May, when he scored a seventh-round TKO of the unrated 7-7-2 Victor Trejo Garcia.

That pushed David Cuellar, 28-0 (18 KOs), from No. 1 down to No. 2.

The WBO’s titleholder is the 10-0 (8 KOs) Yoshiki Takei.

At flyweight: With Sunny Edwards, 21-1 (4 KOs), fighting Galal Yafai, 8-0 (6 KOs), this weekend for the WBC’s interim title, Edwards is now out of the WBO’s rankings.

That led to Francisco Rodriguez Jnr, 39-6-1 (27 KOs), moving from No. 2 to No. 1. Rodriguez has fought at flyweight only once in the past six years, outpointing the 13-6-2 Joel Cordova in January 2023. Since then, Rodriguez has scored a pair of quick victories at junior bantamweight against unrated opponents Jose Javier Torres and Jorge Ignacio Villalobos.

The WBO’s titleholder is the 8-1 (6 KOs) Anthony Olascuaga.

The WBO’s titleholders and #1 contenders in each weight class are:

Heavyweight: Oleksandr Usyk has the world title; Joseph Parker has the interim belt; Tyson Fury is the #1 contender. Usyk and Fury are scheduled to have a rematch on December 21.

Cruiserweight: Gilberto Ramirez just defeated Chris Billam-Smith earlier this month to unify the WBA and WBO world titles; Michal Cieslak is his #1 contender. 

Light heavyweight: Artur Beterbiev has the world title; Joshua Buatsi is the interim titleholder; Dmitry Bivol is the #1 contender.

Super middleweight: Canelo Alvarez has the world title; Diego Pacheco is his #1 contender.

Middleweight: Janibek Alimkhanuly has the world title; Denzel Bentley is his #1 contender.

Junior middleweight: Sebastian Fundora has the world title; Terence Crawford is the interim titleholder; Xander Zayas is the #1 contender.

Welterweight: Brian Norman Jnr has the world title; Shakhram Giyasov is his #1 contender.

Junior welterweight: Teofimo Lopez has the world title; Arnold Barboza is his #1 contender. 

Lightweight: Denys Berinchyk has the world title; Keyshawn Davis is his #1 contender. 

Junior lightweight: Emanuel Navarrete has the world title; Oscar Valdez is the interim titleholder; Charly Suarez is the #1 contender. Navarrete and Valdez are scheduled to have their rematch on December 7.

Featherweight: Rafael Espinoza has the world title; Robeisy Ramirez is his #1 contender. Espinoza and Ramirez are scheduled to have their rematch on December 7.

Junior featherweight: Naoya Inoue has the world title; Sam Goodman is his #1 contender. Inoue and Goodman are scheduled to fight on December 24.

Bantamweight: Yoshiki Takei has the world title; Christian Medina is his #1 contender.

Junior bantamweight: Phumelele Cafu has the world title; Roman Gonzalez is his #1 contender. 

Flyweight: Anthony Olascuaga has the world title; Francisco Rodriguez Jnr is his #1 contender

Junior flyweight: Shokichi Iwata has the world title; Regie Suganob is his #1 contender.

Minimumweight: Oscar Collazo has the WBO world title and just defeated Knockout CP Freshmart to unify with the WBA belt; Masataka Taniguchi is his #1 contender.

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.