WBO’s four new leading contenders: Xander Zayas at 154; Sunny Edwards at 112, and more

The WBO’s latest ratings update includes four new fighters who have been named the number-one contenders in their respective divisions.

At junior middleweight: Tim Tszyu, 24-2 (17 KOs) dropped from first all the way down to 10th following his three-round drubbing at the hands of the IBF titleholder Bakhram Murtazaliev on October 19.

That led to Zayas 20-0 (12 KOs) moving up from third to first on the strength of his decision win on September 27 over the unranked Damian Sosa. Zayas leapfrogged Josh Kelly, who remains second.

The WBO’s junior-middleweight titleholder is Sebastian Fundora. Its interim titleholder is Terence Crawford, who therefore is ahead of Zayas in line for a title shot.

At flyweight: Jonathan Gonzalez dropped from first down to fourth after his fight on October 14 with the WBO titleholder Anthony Olascuaga — initially ruled a “no contest” due to an injury to Gonzalez caused by a clash of heads — was overruled and turned into a first-round TKO for Olascuaga. 

(The Japan Boxing Commission ruled that the ringside physician had decided that Gonzalez could continue, but that Gonzalez declared he couldn’t go on shortly afterward.)

That left the number-one position vacant and meant that Sunny Edwards, previously ranked second, moved up one. Edwards, 21-1 (4 KOs) is fighting Galal Yafai, 8-0 (6 KOs) on November 30 for the WBC’s interim title, and the sanctioning bodies don’t tend to rank fighters who hold other organizations’ belts.

At junior flyweight: The fight on October 13 for the vacant WBO title led to some changes in the rankings at 108lbs. Shokichi Iwata, previously ranked first, defeated Jairo Noriega, previously ranked second, for the belt.

Noriega is now wholly off the list. All of this means that Regie Suganob, 15-1 (5 KOs), previously ranked third, has moved up to first.

At strawweight: Masataka Taniguchi, 19-4 (13 KOS) had been ranked second but moved up to the number-one spot — apparently because of his knockout on October 13 of Phai Pharob. That’s even though Pharob was unranked at 105, and even though the fight took place at flyweight. Taniguchi hasn’t fought at strawweight since losing his title to Melvin Jerusalem in January 2023.

Still, the WBO deigned to have Taniguchi trade spots with Victorio Saludar, 25-6 (15 KOs), who is now second.

The WBO titleholder at 105lbs is Oscar Collazo, 10-0 (7 KOs), who has a unification bout scheduled for November 16 against the WBA titleholder Knockout CP Freshmart 25-0 (9 KOs).

The WBO’s titleholders and number-one contenders in each weight class are:

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

Cruiserweight: Chris Billam-Smith has the world title; Michal Cieslak is his number-one contender. Billam-Smith is scheduled for a unification fight with the WBA titleholder Gilberto Ramirez on November 16.

Light heavyweight: Artur Beterbiev has the world title; Joshua Buatsi is the interim titleholder; Anthony Yarde is the number-one contender.

Super middleweight: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has the world title; Diego Pacheco is his number-one contender.

Middleweight: Janibek Alimkhanuly has the world title; Hamzah Sheeraz is his number-one contender.

Junior middleweight: Sebastian Fundora has the world title; Terence Crawford is the interim titleholder; Xander Zayas is the number-one contender.

Welterweight: Brian Norman Jnr has the world title; Shakhram Giyasov is his number-one contender.

Junior welterweight: Teofimo Lopez has the world title; Arnold Barboza is his number-one contender. Barboza is scheduled to face the fourth-ranked Jose Ramirez on November 16.

Lightweight: Denys Berinchyk has the world title; William Zepeda is his number-one contender. Zepeda is scheduled to face Tevin Farmer on November 16.

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

Featherweight: Rafael Espinoza has the world title; Robeisy Ramirez is his number-one 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 number-one contender. Inoue and Goodman are scheduled to fight on December 24.

Bantamweight: Yoshiki Takei has the world title; David Cuellar is his number-one contender.

Junior bantamweight: Phumelele Cafu has the world title; Roman Gonzalez is his number-one contender. 

Flyweight: Anthony Olascuaga has the world title; Sunny Edwards is his number-one contender

Junior flyweight: Shochiki Iwata has the world title; Regie Suganob is his number-one contender.

Minimumweight: Oscar Collazo has the world title; Masataka Taniguchi is his number-one contender. Collazo is scheduled for a unification fight with the WBA titleholder Knockout CP Freshmart on November 16.

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.