The earlier two weeks had been comparatively quiet, however beginning with tonight’s junior welterweight showdown between No. 1-rated Regis Prograis and No. 3-rated Jose Zepeda there can be loads of motion between Ring-rated fighters till the tip of 2022. (Subsequent Saturday’s anticipated rubber-match between Ring junior bantamweight champ Juan Francisco Estrada and No. 1-rated Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez is nearly as good as boxing will get.)
Nonetheless, there have been two standouts from the Ring’s rankings who had been in motion on Nov. 11 and Nov. 19 – Sunny Edwards and Jaime Munguia.
Sunny Edwards stays undefeated. Picture by George Wooden/Getty Photographs
Edwards (19-0, 4 KOs) defended his IBF flyweight title for the third time with an excellent efficiency towards Felix Alvarado in Sheffield, England. The 26-year-old London native was each ring savvy and gutsy in scoring a aggressive however clear unanimous choice.
Edwards entered the bout as The Ring’s No. 2-rated flyweight. Alvarado (38-3, 33 KOs), a fearsome former 108-pound titleholder from Nicaragua, entered the bout rated No. 9 at 112 kilos. The aggressive 33-year-old veteran had received 20 consecutive bouts relationship again to 2014 and had beforehand been ranked as excessive as No. 1 at junior flyweight.
Anson Wainwright prompt transferring Edwards to the highest spot within the flyweight rankings and the remainder of The Ring Scores Panel gladly co-signed.
Munguia (41-0, 33 KOs) overwhelmed Gonzalo Coria inside three rounds in Guadalajara, Mexico. It was one other stay-busy bout for the unbeaten Tijuana native, who was The Ring’s 2017 Prospect of the 12 months and a former 154-pound beltholder. Munguia has received seven in a row since transferring as much as the middleweight division in 2020, however he’s solely confronted just a few notable opponents (Spike O’Sullivan, Tureano Johnson and Gabriel Rosado).
Though Munguia has solely defeated one Ring-rated middleweight, Kamil Szeremeta (No. 6 on the time), he’s risen to No. 4 within the rankings, partly due to fading veterans – equivalent to Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Ryota Murat – dropping down the highest 10, but in addition due to his continued success.
Stopping unrated Coria didn’t warrant an advance within the rankings, but it surely was sufficient to earn the 26-year-old quantity puncher the Fighter of the Week award.
Now it’s time for Munguia to attempt to earn a second world title in 2023.
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Because it was a sluggish interval and there wasn’t a lot to debate or debate, your favourite Editor-In-Chief proposed that the Scores Panel share their ideas on The Ring’s 2022 Awards.
“I do know there’s extra elite-level boxing scheduled this month and in December, however I’m simply asking for 4 or 5 candidates in every class,” stated Yours Really. “We’re not deciding on any winners but.”
Listed below are The Ring’s annual awards:
Fighter of the 12 months, Struggle of the 12 months, KO of the 12 months, Comeback of the 12 months, Coach of the 12 months, Prospect of the 12 months, Occasion of the 12 months, Spherical of the 12 months, Upset of the 12 months, Efficiency of the 12 months, and Most Inspirational.
Tom Grey was the primary to share his record of nominees:
Fighter of the 12 months
Bivol takes it to Canelo. Picture by Ethan Miller/Getty Photographs
Dmitry Bivol
Devin Haney
Jesse Rodriguez
Kenshiro Teraji
Oleksandr Usyk
Struggle of the 12 months
Leigh Wooden KO 12 Michael Conlan
Sebastian Fundora TKO 9 Erickson Lubin
Jermell Charlo KO 10 Brian Castano 2
Joe Joyce KO 11 Joe Parker
KO of the 12 months
Leigh Wooden KO 12 Michael Conlan
Gervonta Davis TKO 6 Rolando Romero
Richard Torrez KO 1 Marco Antonio Canedo
Tyson Fury TKO 6 Dillian Whyte
Caleb Plant KO 9 Anthony Dirrell
Deontay Wilder KO 1 Robert Helenius
Joe Cordina KO 2 Kenichi Ogawa
Jermell Charlo KO 10 Brian Castano 2
Callum Smith KO 4 Mathieu Bauderlique
Christian Mbilli KO 5 Nadjib Mohammedi
Anthony Dirrell KO 4 Marco Hernandez
Comeback of the 12 months
Kenshiro Teraji
Deontay Wilder
Coach of the 12 months
Derrick James
Mark Ramsay
Occasion of the 12 months
Tyson Fury TKO 6 Dillian Whyte
Oleksandr Usyk SD 12 Anthony Joshua
Upset of the 12 months
Dmitry Bivol UD 12 Canelo Alvarez
Hector Garcia UD 12 Chris Colbert
Jai Opetaia UD 12 Mairis Briedis
Efficiency of the 12 months
Roman Gonzalez UD 12 Julio Cesar Martinez
Shakur Stevenson UD 12 Oscar Valdez
Naoya Inoue TKO 2 Nonito Donaire
Stephen Fulton UD 12 Daniel Roman
Most Inspirational
Usyk and Lomachenko return from preventing in Ukraine
Ladies’s boxing on the upswing
Grey didn’t have any nominees for Prospect of the 12 months or Spherical of the 12 months.
Adam Abramowitz supplied some recommendations for Grey’s nominees.
“Tom, that’s an awesome record. I’d add Bob Santos for Coach of the 12 months. I’d add Taylor-Serrano for Occasion of the 12 months.
“A lot of guys for potential Prospect of the 12 months. I’d counsel Keyshawn Davis and Bruce Carrington to get the ball rolling.”
Replied Grey:
Taylor and Serrano raised ladies’s boxing to unprecedented heights in 2022. Picture by Sarah Stier/Getty Photographs
“Yeah, I contemplated Taylor-Serrano (and Shields-Marshall deserves a shout too), however there are normally separate awards for the ladies.
“That’s been the case in previous years. Perhaps it’s value altering it.”
Ye Ole Editor-In-Chief chimed in:
“I feel the unwritten rule of retaining the female and male annual awards separate is value altering, and I imagine that Taylor-Serrano is worthy of being included as an Occasion of the 12 months candidate AND a FIGHT of the 12 months candidate.”
Added Tris Dixon:
“I like Tom’s record. I’d embrace the IBHOF triple induction weekend in Occasion of the 12 months. Additionally, I do know it’s not the identical vibe, however the (Conor) Benn constructive take a look at was completely a occurring of epic proportions.
“I’m all for leaving the sports activities washing international locations OUT of the Occasion of the 12 months.”
“I’d say Grant Smith is value a point out in Coach of the 12 months… man will get virtually no props. Sunny Edwards and Dalton Smith have each impressed.
“I like Galal Yafai as a Prospect of the 12 months contender.”
“The Liam Paro KO of Brock Jarvis was first rate as a finisher and a substantial upset for a lot of.
“Billy Dib and his outlook taking over most cancers is inspirational to me.
“Jordan Gill’s comeback win over Guerfi was a KO of the 12 months and Struggle of the 12 months contender.
“Honourable point out someplace for Hekkie Budler’s massive win in Mexico. Perhaps not with hindsight, however Magsayo-Russell was an upset.”
Added Abramowitz:
“KO of the 12 months contender – Issac Hardman KO 1 Beau Hartas. Examine this out for those who haven’t seen it. Was on Briedis-Opetaia undercard. Unimaginable shot.”
Senior Editor Brian Harty helped out with Spherical of the 12 months candidates.
“I googled ‘spherical of the 12 months’ and got here up with some fight-report mentions on varied websites from the previous 12 months. Simply meals for thought – all the time looks like a difficult class:
Fundora-Lubin, Spherical 7
Wooden-Conlan, Spherical 12
Spence-Ugas, Spherical 6
Charlo-Castano 2, Spherical 5
Golovkin-Murata, Spherical 9
Kyoguchi-Teraji, Spherical 5
Ellis Zorro-Dec Spelman, Spherical 7 – https://youtu.be/oMkOmFAK79s?t=524
Sam Gilley-Drew Brown, Spherical 8 – https://www.instagram.com/p/CcfT3t-FWS4/
Souleymane Cissokho-Roberto Valenzuela, Spherical 4 – https://youtu.be/a8QcVM8Q66g?t=268 (center edited out)
Jordan White-Derrick Murray, Spherical 8 (can’t discover any video of this one)
“I feel Taylor-Serrano must be within the combine for any award. One of many narratives across the struggle was that it had transcended the male/feminine divide.
Wainwright supplied his record of candidates:
“Fighter of the 12 months: Bivol, Kenshiro, Bam Rodriguez, Fury,
Struggle of the 12 months: Fundora-Lubin, Wooden-Conlan, Charlo-Castano 2
KO of the 12 months: Mbilli-Mohammedi, Wooden-Conlan, Janibek-Dignum, Plant-Dirrell, Wilder-Helenius, Cordina-Ogawa
Comeback of the 12 months: Kenshiro, Teofimo, Loma, Ryan Garcia (ending an extended hiatus), Zolani Tete, Rey Vargas
Coach of the 12 months: Bob Santos, Derrick James, Joel Diaz, Gennadiy Mashyanov (Bivol)
Prospect of the 12 months: Keyshawn Davis, Xander Zayas, David Cuellar, Jared Anderson, Bakhodir Jalolov
Occasion of the 12 months: Usyk-AJ 2, Canelo-GGG 3, Fury-Whyte, Japanese card on Nov. 1 (Kyoguchi-Kenshiro, Gonzalez-Iwata, Nakatani-Rodriguez and Yoshino-Nakatani: A wonderful excessive degree fundamental occasion with a wonderful undercard), GGG-Murata
Spherical of the 12 months: Fundora-Lubin Spherical 7, Wooden-Conlan Spherical 12, Spence-Ugas Spherical 6
Upset of the 12 months: Bivol UD 12 Canelo, Magsayo-Russell Jr., Martinez-Ancajas 1, Garcia-Colbert, Opetaia-Briedis
Efficiency of the 12 months: Bivol-Canelo, Kenshiro-Kyoguchi, Wooden-Conlan, Shakur-Valdez, Beterbiev-Smith, Joyce-Parker, Zepeda-Diaz, Inoue-Donaire 2, Rodriguez-Srisaket
Most Inspirational: Loma, Usyk for what they went via in Ukraine, Kiko Martinez, Roman Gonzalez (two of boxing’s good guys)
Picture by Naoki Fukuda
Added Daisuke Sugiura: “Not rather a lot so as to add to the record of Tom and Anson, however I’d prefer to nominate Golovkin vs. Murata for the Occasion of the 12 months. It took virtually two years for the struggle to lastly materialize. That one was Mr. Honda’s Moby Dick. I heard that Group Teiken spent roughly 300 thousand {dollars} for Golovkin’s bills alone as a result of they needed to lease a flooring of an costly resort in the course of the pandemic. Additionally, the struggle was the primary boxing occasion streamed by Amazon Prime Video in Japan, which is actually epoch-making. We are going to see lots of massive fights in Japan any longer due to them entering into the boxing enterprise. Kenshiro vs. Kyoguchi wouldn’t have occurred with out Amazon Prime.”
RING RATINGS UPDATE (As of Nov. 19):
Picture credit score: BERTRAND LANGLOIS/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Cruiserweight – Arsen Goulamirian, who had been dropped from the rankings because of inactivity, re-enters at No. 7 following a call over unbeaten (11-0) however unrated Alexsei Egorov.
“Goulamirian to re-enter our rankings. He has made Gary Russell Jr. look energetic!” famous Wainwright. “I might see him coming in as excessive as No. 5 however because of his inactivity, possibly No. 7 could be fairer?”
Abramowitz and Diego Morilla agreed with the No. 7 rankings.
“I’ll go along with Goulamirian at No. 7 or decrease,” stated Morilla. “He did look good in that struggle, however there are some nice fighters within the division who deserve extra respect for being extra energetic.”
Gentle heavyweight – Anthony Yarde stays at No. 8 following a stay-busy three-round stoppage of unrated Stefani Koykov.
Middleweight – Munguia stays at No. 4. Janibek Alimkhanuly stays at No. 5 after scoring a 12-round unanimous choice over unrated Denzel Bentley.
“Jaime Munguia stayed energetic with a routine third-round stoppage over Gonzalo Coria,” famous Wainwright. “Hopefully, there’s one thing greater for the Mexican subsequent 12 months. The one factor I took from this was he might nonetheless make 160, having weighed 165 in his earlier struggle.”
Flyweight – Edwards advances to No. 1. Alvarado stays at No. 9.
“Edwards retained his IBF title with a formidable show towards Felix Alvarado, who additionally put up a wonderful struggle,” famous Wainwright. “Edwards to No. 1 and preserve Alvarado the place is ranked. He in all probability would have crushed different fighters on the record. I’d transfer up over (No. 8-rated Jackson) Chauke but it surely was a loss.”
Strawweight – Yudai Shigeoka advances to No. 9 following a third-round stoppage of unrated Tatsuro Nakashima.
E-mail Fischer at [email protected]. Observe him on Twitter and IG at @dougiefischer, and be a part of him, Tom Loeffler, Coach Schwartz and pals by way of Tom’s or Doug’s IG Reside most Sundays.
