April 2021 Ratings – Updates
*A fighter is typically removed from our ratings, if she has been inactive from her weight class for 12 months, and still has no fight scheduled. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, few fights have been taking place, so extra allowances have been given.
Atomweight
Following her majority draw with Rie Matsuda, Saemi Hangata retired from boxing, as per Joe Koizumi, writing for FightNews.com. Bytqi and Ikeyama each move up a place, and Matsuda enters at #5.
Strawweight
Seneisa Estrada moved to the top of the division after dominating Anabel Ortiz over 10 rounds on March 20th, taking the Mexican’s WBA title. Katia Gutierrez exits, and Ortiz drops to #5.
Bantamweight
Prior to losing to Serrano at featherweight last month, Daniela Bermudez relinquished her WBO title at 118lbs, but seems likely to return to 122lbs to defend her WBO belt there. Bermudez therefore exits the ratings, resulting in last month’s #2 - #5 all moving up a place. The decision to put Yulihan Avila – who dominated long reigning bantamweight titlist, Mariana Juarez, last year- in the #1 spot, was unanimous in the opinions of all voting panellists.
Some panel members voted to move Shannon O’Connell into the #5 spot, but the consensus went with Britain’s Shannon Courtenay, after her close, grueling, points win over Australian, Ebanie Bridges, for the vacant WBA belt. Writing for The Prize Fighters, David Avila acknowledged that Shannon Courtenay had been the solid favorite beforehand, but after the fight was also impressed with Bridges, commenting: “It was quite a surprise to see the fighter known as the Blonde Bomber keep steadfast in pursuit of a knockout and her assortment of punches behind a tight guard showed skill.” At the completion of ten hotly contested rounds, Courtenay/Bridges had raised the stock of both women.
Incidentally, Argentina’s Debora Dionicius (who fights for the vacant WBO belt in June) was considered, but her only victory at bantamweight in the last four years was a points win over Aixa Adema, 3-3-4 - not enough to warrant placing her above Courtenay, or O’Connell.
Junior featherweight
Jackie Nava picked up a solid win over Karina Fernandez, however, it’s worth noting that, Yamileth Mercado (ranked above Nava), also outpointed Fernandez back in June 2019. Thorslund is scheduled to fight for a WBO bantamweight belt on June 25th, so may soon be exiting the rankings, if she decides to stay there. P4P ranked, Bermudez, lost to Serrano, but that was up at featherweight, and appears likely to return to 122lbs to defend her WBO belt.
Junior Welterweight
The Lineal World Championship at 140lbs is now vacant. On March 16th, when asked if Jessica McCaskill was staying at 147lbs and if the Lineal Championship was now vacant, Rick Ramos told Lineal Boxing Champion, “Yes. We are now staying at 147lbs.”
Middleweight
Savannah Marshall made short work of late replacement, Maria Lindberg, knocking her out in the second round of their clash on April 10th. Aside from the occasional higher weight bout, Lindberg, 44 years old, is a career junior middleweight, but had never been halted previously, and had twice taken Hammer the 10-round distance. This was the sixth consecutive KO victory for Marshall, and together with Hammer’s inactivity at the weight, was enough for the majority of the panel to vote in favor of moving her above Hammer in the ratings.
Shields is still the reigning lineal champion at 160lbs, and has reiterated multiple times that she ready and willing to fight Marshall for the right price.
Pound-For-Pound:
No changes. Seniesa Estrada defeated Anabel Ortiz, winning the WBC strawweight belt, and moved to #1 in our 118lbs rankings. One of our panelists voted to place Estrada in the P4P top 10, but the consensus felt she hasn’t quite done enough to knock the likes of McCarter or Fujioka, out of the list, just yet.
Our overall Pound-for-Pound top 10 is now worked out by allocating points to each panelist’s top 10, and totaling the figures – so, 10 points for each panelist’s #1, 9 points for #2...1 point for #10.
Ratings Panel
David Avila: 2019 Inductee IWBHF. Journalist at The Sweet Science. California, USA. @AvilaBoxing
Anthony Cocks: Journalist for Max Boxing, and previous contributions for Boxing Monthly. Australia. @el_pollo_loco
Daniel Yanofsky: Boxing journalist, including articles for FIGHT SPORTS and The Scrap. New York/Florida, USA. @DanYanofskyMMA
Ireneusz Fryszkowski: Boxing Journalist. Poland. @RingBlogpl
Julian Haramoure: Boxing journalist, including articles for Argentina Amateur Deporte and ElRoundFinal.com. Argentina. @JulianFunky
Yuriko Miyata: Boxing journalist, including articles for The Ring and ThePrizeFighters.com. Japan. @Yuriyuri0803
GM Ross: Boxing journalist. Host of Pugilistically Inclined podcast. Canada. @punchingprof
Blanca Gutierrez: Creator of Beautiful Brawlers. 2019 Inductee IWBHF. 2018 Inductee WCBHOF. USA. @bbrawlersboxing
Inaky Arzate: Boxing journalist, including articles for TUDN. Mexico. @inaky_arzate
Adam McMeeking: Member of the International Boxing Research Organisation, and Editor of LinealBoxingChampion.com. United Kingdom. @LinealBoxChamp