Rankings (Nov. 28): Is Prograis the top dog at 140? Whyte, Valle, more

Rankings go up on Mondays.

Ranked fights this week:

• Heavyweight: (1) Tyson Fury vs Derek Chisora, Dec. 3
• Junior Bantamweight: (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (3) Chocolatito Gonzalez, Dec. 3
• Flyweight: (2) Julio Cesar Martinez vs Samuel Carmona, Dec. 3

Notes: Dillian Whyte got the W over Jermaine Franklin last week, but more than Whyte putting himself into, say, a small second-tier, I think we just added Franklin to the larger third tier, where Whyte resides. It was a close fight; I had it even, but don’t really have a problem with Whyte getting the win.

2023 will hopefully bring about someone like Martin Bakole or Frank Sanchez, or Filip Hrgovic or Daniel Dubois, separating themselves and joining the upper tier. Some chances would be better than others. Some will get (or take) opportunities, some won’t. For the moment, Whyte and Parker are kind of a wall — they’ve proven a bit more and they aren’t getting beaten by anyone but the top tier. And it is, admittedly, an uninspiring wall.

Regarding Dubois, he fights Kevin Lerena on the Fury-Chisora card on Saturday. Going to keep a close eye on that one; if Dubois really impresses, he has a sound argument for one of those back end slots.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Tyson Fury vs Derek Chisora, Dec. 3

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Upcoming Fights: (2) Artur Beterbiev vs (8) Anthony Yarde, Jan. 28

Notes: John Ryder’s win over Zach Parker was kind of fluky, a stoppage after four rounds on a broken hand. It matters for Ryder, because it might land him a May fight with Canelo Alvarez, but I can’t see moving him or Parker based on a truncated fight that was stopped on a hand injury.

Lerrone Richards did not wind up fighting on Sunday, if you’re wondering about that, same with Craig Richards at 175 on Saturday.

Upcoming Fights: (10) Christian Mbilli vs Vaughn Alexander, Dec. 17 … (2) David Benavidez vs (3) Caleb Plant, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (10) Felix Cash vs TBA, Dec. 10 … (4) Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Smith, Jan. 21 … (1) Gennadiy Golovkin vs Esquiva Falcao, TBA

Notes: Charles Conwell didn’t look outstanding or anything on Saturday, but he got a clearer win than the majority decision might tell you if you didn’t tune in yourself. Again, he needs to get moving with better fights next year. He has talent, but he feels like he’s stalled.

Upcoming Fights: (5) Liam Smith vs Chris Eubank Jr [middleweight], Jan. 21 … (1) Jermell Charlo vs (4) Tim Tszyu, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (2) Terence Crawford vs (9) David Avanesyan, Dec. 10

Notes: Hey, hey, some mild controversy!

I know Josh Taylor has a win over Regis Prograis. That was three years ago. Since then, Taylor has run over Apinun Khongsong, who shouldn’t have been there but mandatory challengers are what they are sometimes, fully unified with a great win over Jose Ramirez, and then he absolutely should have lost to Jack Catterall earlier this year. He’s vacated three of his four belts since then, and will rematch Catterall, finally, in early 2023.

Prograis has rather famously been sort of semi-lost in the wilderness those last three years, but he has fought and won three fights. None of the wins were as good as beating Ramirez was for Taylor, until Saturday, when Prograis beat Jose Zepeda, dominating the majority of the fight, looking like a clear level above, and then getting the stoppage in the 11th round.

In 2019, I scored Taylor vs Prograis even. Officially, it was a majority decision win for Taylor. It was an extremely close, competitive, hard-hitting fight.

Maybethe best fighter in the world at 140 is actually Jack Catterall. We’ll revisit this in February. But at the moment, to me, Prograis looks like the guy.

Zepeda dips a spot; he’s got a very loose hold on where he is at the moment, and it could be time for some younger guns to ascend toward the top of the division next year.

Upcoming Fights: (8) Teofimo Lopez vs Sandor Martin, Dec. 10 … (1) Josh Taylor vs (2) Jack Catterall, Feb. 4 … (7) Ryan Garcia vs Gervonta Davis, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (10) Michel Rivera vs Frank Martin, Dec. 17 … (3) Gervonta Davis vs Hector Luis Garcia, Jan. 7

Upcoming Fights: (4) Hector Luis Garcia vs Gervonta Davis [lightweight], Jan. 7

Upcoming Fights: (7) Josh Warrington vs Luis Alberto Lopez, Dec. 10

Upcoming Fights: (7) Takuma Inoue vs Jake Bornea, Dec. 13

Upcoming Fights: (1) Naoya Inoue vs (8) Paul Butler, Dec. 13

Upcoming Fights: (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (3) Chocolatito Gonzalez, Dec. 3 … (8) Kosei Tanaka vs Yanga Sigqibo, Dec. 11 … (2) Kazuto Ioka vs (5) Joshua Franco, Dec. 31

Upcoming Fights: (2) Julio Cesar Martinez vs Samuel Carmona, Dec. 3

Upcoming Fights: (7) Masamichi Yabuki vs Ronald Chacon, Jan. 28

Upcoming Fights: (3) Masataka Taniguchi vs Melvin Jerusalem, Jan. 6 … (4) Ginjiro Shigeoka vs (9) Daniel Valladares, Jan. 6

Notes: With a win over Evelyn Bermudez, Yokasta Valle is in, and Jessica McCaskill is out. I like McCaskill, I have great respect for her, I love the way she fights, I think she’s a warrior. But there’s only 10 spots in a top 10, and Valle is just fighting extremely well right now, has two belts in two different divisions — I think she’s earned the spot.

Upcoming Fights: TBA