Rankings (July 19, 2021): Charlo and Castano both have claim to top spot at 154

Rankings go up on Mondays at 10 am ET.

This week I’m late (and barely even on Monday!) because I spent a wonderful Sunday evening into early Monday morning in the hospital, and spent most of Monday just kind of recovering and shaking things off for the time being.

Ranked fights this week:

• Heavyweight: (7) Joe Joyce vs Carlos Takam, July 24

Upcoming Fights: (7) Joe Joyce vs Carlos Takam, July 24 … (9) Michael Hunter vs Mike Wilson, Aug. 3 … (2) Anthony Joshua vs (6) Oleksandr Usyk, Sept. 25 … (1) Tyson Fury vs (3) Deontay Wilder, Oct. 9

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Upcoming Fights: (3) David Benavidez vs Jose Uzcategui, Aug. 28 … (1) Canelo Alvarez vs TBA, Sept. 18

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Notes: Small but noteworthy change that you might miss on a glance: I’ve decided to rank Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano both at the No. 1 slot after their draw on Saturday. I have not changed and will not change my opinion that the only thing for them to do is an immediate rematch, and I don’t think one of them deserves the No. 1 slot over the other after that fight. I can also do this because it doesn’t really matter, but it’s some sort of Statement, anyway. In the event they don’t rematch next and take different title defenses at 154, I suppose I’d rank the guy who performs better in those fights No. 1 after they both happen, with “strength of schedule” considered.

Upcoming Fights: (7) Sebastian Fundora vs (10) Sergio Garcia, Aug. 21

Upcoming Fights: (1) Errol Spence Jr vs (3) Manny Pacquiao, Aug. 21 … (6) Yordenis Ugas vs TBA, Aug. 21 … (2) Terence Crawford vs Jose Zepeda, Oct. 23 … (10) Mikey Garcia vs Regis Prograis [junior welterweight], TBA

Upcoming Fights: (7) Ivan Baranchyk vs Montana Love, Aug. 29 … (5) Jose Zepeda vs Terence Crawford [welterweight], Oct. 23 … (1) Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall, TBA … (2) Regis Prograis vs Mikey Garcia, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Teofimo Lopez vs (9) George Kambosos Jr, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (7) Shavkat Rakhimov vs Kenichi Ogawa, Aug. 20 … (1) Oscar Valdez vs Robson Conceicao, Sept. 10

Upcoming Fights: (4) Xu Can vs Leigh Wood, July 31 … (3) Kid Galahad vs Jazza Dickens, Aug. 7 … (5) Mauricio Lara vs (6) Josh Warrington, Sept. 4 … (1) Gary Russell Jr vs Rey Vargas, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (2) Stephen Fulton Jr vs (3) Brandon Figueroa, Sept. 11 … (4) Danny Roman vs (10) Ra’eese Aleem, Sept. 11 … (1) Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs (8) Ronny Rios, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (10) Lee McGregor vs Vincent Legrand, Aug. 6 … (3) John Riel Casimero vs (4) Guillermo Rigondeaux, Aug. 14 … (7) Jason Moloney vs Joshua Greer Jr, Aug. 14

Upcoming Fights: (7) Joshua Franco vs (9) Andrew Moloney, Aug. 14 … (2) Kazuto Ioka vs Francisco Rodriguez Jr, Sept. 1 … (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (4) Chocolatito Gonzalez, TBA … (3) Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs Carlos Cuadras, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (3) Junto Nakatani vs (6) Angel Acosta, Sept. 10

Upcoming Fights: (1) Kenshiro Teraji vs Masamichi Yabuki, Sept. 10 … (2) Hiroto Kyoguchi vs (10) Esteban Bermudez, TBA

Notes: Ginjiro Shigeoka moves up a couple spots with another win, stopping Toshiki Kawamitsu inside of two rounds on July 14. He really seems to be charging toward being the next true Japanese standout from the “little” weights, as he’s faced solid competition for experience level and is mostly mowing down the opposition.

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Upcoming Fights: (3) Errol Spence Jr vs Manny Pacquiao, Aug. 21 … (4) Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos Jr, Sept. 11 … (8) Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua, Sept. 25 … (9) Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder, Oct. 9 … (6) Terence Crawford vs TBA, Oct. 23 … (10) Juan Francisco Estrada vs Chocolatito Gonzalez, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (3) Amanda Serrano vs Yamileth Mercado, Aug. 29 … (6) Mikaela Mayer vs (10) Maiva Hamadouche, TBA