Rankings (Sept. 26): Joyce, Stevenson, more

Rankings go up on Mondays. There’s nothing much happening this coming week, so the next update will be in two weeks.

Ranked fights the next two weeks:

• Middleweight: (4) Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn, Oct. 8
• Middleweight: (6) Carlos Adames vs Juan Macias Montiel, Oct. 8
• Middleweight: (10) Felix Cash vs Connor Coyle, Oct. 8
• Junior Middleweight: (3) Sebastian Fundora vs Carlos Ocampo, Oct. 8
• Welterweight: (7) Conor Benn vs Chris Eubank Jr [middleweight], Oct. 8
• Junior Featherweight: (4) Luis Nery vs Jesus Ruiz Garcia, Oct. 1
• Junior Bantamweight: (6) Fernando Martinez vs (9) Jerwin Ancajas, Oct. 8

Notes: Joe Joyce pops up to No. 4, jumping over Andy Ruiz Jr. I know Ruiz has the good win against AJ, but that was over three years ago now, and he’s gone 2-1 since with a loss to Joshua in a rematch where his performance was pathetic, and two wins over fairly elderly lads, though Luis Ortiz is still pretty good.

Joyce just demolished Joseph Parker, who doesn’t move from his No. 7 spot because I thought he actually fought well, he was just the second-best guy in an actual good fight. Would I pick Joyce over Joshua right now? Yeah, I think I would. But I don’t think it’s clear-cut. Joyce is a threat to anyone; I think the only guy I’d be, like, really certain beats him is Tyson Fury, who I think is on his own level in this division, even if he’s technically not active, even though he is. (Again, we’ll put Fury back from his retirement when he announces a fight, which could come today!)

Upcoming Fights: (2) Deontay Wilder vs Robert Helenius, Oct. 15 … (9) Frank Sanchez vs Carlos Negron, Oct. 15

Upcoming Fights: (10) Aleksei Papin vs Damir Beljo, Oct. 29

Upcoming Fights: (1) Dmitry Bivol vs Zurdo Ramirez, Nov. 5

Upcoming Fights: (3) Caleb Plant vs Anthony Dirrell, Oct. 15 … (8) Zach Parker vs Demetrius Andrade, Nov. 5

Notes: Golovkin has been ordered to face Erislandy Lara, which could be a fun seniors tour matchup if it actually happens.

Upcoming Fights: (4) Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn, Oct. 8 … (6) Carlos Adames vs Juan Macias Montiel, Oct. 8 … (10) Felix Cash vs Connor Coyle, Oct. 8 … (3) Janibek Alimkhanuly vs TBA, Nov. 12

Upcoming Fights: (3) Sebastian Fundora vs Carlos Ocampo, Oct. 8 … (1) Jermell Charlo vs (4) Tim Tszyu, Jan. 28

Upcoming Fights: (7) Conor Benn vs Chris Eubank Jr [middleweight], Oct. 8 … (1) Errol Spence Jr vs (2) Terence Crawford, Nov. 19

Upcoming Fights: (8) Teofimo Lopez vs (10) Jose Pedraza, Dec. 10 … (3) Regis Prograis vs (5) Jose Zepeda, TBA … (6) Subriel Matias vs Jeremias Ponce, TBA

Notes: Maxi Hughes bumps up a couple spots; edging past a former featherweight titleholder jumping two divisions may not seem like a lot to move in rankings, but Hughes’ run continues, and it’s at the least very bit as good as what Rivera or Nakatani have been doing.

Sometimes people will wonder about things like that, or how Ryan Garcia or Teofimo Lopez can be ranked with “minimal” wins at 140, but the argument against it puts us in a fantasy where there are lots of people with all these good, quality wins of recent note. There usually just are not. “Eye test” like stuff means a lot pretty frequently; I wish it didn’t, and you can certainly go with your own code of rankings morals that remove it, which I suppose would lead you to believing Sandor Martin is better than Regis Prograis and stuff like that.

That said, you do have to fight in the division before I just chuck you in willy nilly. See you after your next one, Shakur Stevenson.

Upcoming Fights: ( (1) Devin Haney vs (3) George Kambosos Jr, Oct. 15 … (2) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs Jamaine Ortiz, Oct. 29 … (6) JoJo Diaz vs William Zepeda, Oct. 29 … (9) Masayoshi Nakatani vs Shuichiro Yoshino, Nov. 1

Notes: Shakur Stevenson is out, missing weight before beating Robson Conceicao, who keeps his slot at No. 5, with Hector Garcia jumping over him and everyone else bumped up a notch.

Oscar Valdez takes the No. 1 spot back for the moment by way of doing nothing, really, but if the Cordina vs Rakhimov winner on Nov. 5 really looks great and it’s not some horrid non-fight (I don’t think it will be), I think he’ll probably take the spot by force.

Albert Bell takes the No. 10 spot. This is not a great division at the moment, but there is a lot of talent here, including those back-end guys, none of whom I’d totally count out against any of the top guys. Bell and Top Rank split and he’s been out in the wilderness for his past four, but he is at least staying active and out there trying to do what he can. He’s a six-foot tall guy with a 73-inch reach and he’s not afraid to be dull and win rounds, I don’t know that there’s anyone listed here who has an easy time with him.

Upcoming Fights: (2) Joe Cordina vs (3) Shavkat Rakhimov, Nov. 5

Upcoming Fights: (7) Josh Warrington vs Luis Alberto Lopez, Dec. 10 … (2) Maurico Lara vs (4) Leigh Wood, TBA … (3) Rey Vargas vs (8) Leo Santa Cruz, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (4) Luis Nery vs Jesus Ruiz Garcia, Oct. 1

Upcoming Fights: (5) Emmanuel Rodriguez vs (8) Gary Antonio Russell, Oct. 15 … (1) Naoya Inoue vs (8) Paul Butler, Dec. 13

Upcoming Fights: (6) Fernando Martinez vs (9) Jerwin Ancajas, Oct. 8 … (8) Francisco Rodriguez Jr vs Junto Nakatani, Nov. 1 … (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (3) Chocolatito Gonzalez, Dec. 3

Upcoming Fights: (9) Giemel Magramo vs Taku Kuwahara, Oct. 25 … (2) Junto Nakatani vs Francisco Rodriguez Jr [junior bantamweight], Nov. 1

Upcoming Fights: (1) Hiroto Kyoguchi vs (2) Kenshiro Teraji, Nov. 1 … (3) Jonathan Gonzalez vs Shokichi Iwata, Nov. 1

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Notes: Amanda Serrano’s win over Sarah Mahfoud was as uninspired a performance as you’ll see from Serrano, but she still won. Fighters, even the best, have off-nights, and the best ones can get through them. That’s what we saw from Amanda, I think.

We’ll have some busy times with the women’s top 10 coming, as Shields-Marshall and Mayer-Baumgardner are back on for Oct. 15, Katie Taylor fights Oct. 29, and we’ll get Cameron-McCaskill on Nov. 5, which will indeed be for undisputed at 140 as Matchroom advertised, because Kali Reis has given up her two belts, perhaps to focus on her budding life outside of boxing.

Upcoming Fights: (2) Claressa Shields vs (8) Savannah Marshall, Oct. 15 … (5) Mikaela Mayer vs (10) Alycia Baumgardner, Oct. 15 … (1) Katie Taylor vs Karen Elizabeth Carabajal, Oct. 29 … (7) Jessica McCaskill vs (9) Chantelle Cameron, Nov. 5 … (4) Seniesa Estrada vs TBA, Nov. 12