WBC Ranking updates for March

Earlier this week the WBC issued their most recent rankings. As is the usual case when rankings are issued we've had a good look at them and tried to spot the notable changes.

At Minimumweight, where of course we start these things, Ryuji Hara (#11) has dropped a single place pushing him out of the top 10. Althoug Hara's not in the top 10 he is one of 4 fighters ranked in the top 15 alongside Wanheng Menayothin (#1), Xiong Zhao Zhong (#4) and Pigmy Kokietgym (#5).

In the Light Flyweight division we've seen Thailand's Nethra Sasiprapa (previously #7) drop out of the rankings completely. The absences of the Thai Rey Loreto (#8) climb 3 places whilst an opening has been made for Japanese national champion Yu Kimura (#15). We're hoping to see big changes here next as well as Naoya Inoue (#4) fights for the title against reigning champion Adrian Hernandez.

The Flyweight division, whilst Akira Yaegashi is preparing for a world title defense, has seen only one relevant change with Takuya Kogawa (previously #14) dropping out of the top 15 following his unsuccessful bout with WBA interim champion Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep. 

In the very interesting looking Super Flyweight division, we've seen a notable shake up with Malcolm Tunacao (#5), Ryo Akaho (#6), Toshiyuki Igarashi (#7) and Rex Tso (#11) have all improved their rankings by 2 places. The movements have also allowed Arthur Villanueva (#15) back in to the top 15 after having been dropped to #16 last month. Of course the champion here is Srisaket Sor Rungvisai who will be defending his belt soon against #1 contender Carlos Cuadras.

At the Bantamweight division, headed by champion Shinsuke Yamanaka, we've seen no changes and as a result Ryosuke Iwasa (#1) remains the top challenger.

Some of the most notable changes have come at Super Bantamweight. The rankings this month no longer include Nonito Donaire (previously #4) or Hozumi Hasegawa (previously #7). This is because Donaire has moved up a division andgot himself a WBA title fight whilst Hasegawa has inked himself an IBF title fight. The removal of those two big name fighters has helped Shingo Wake (#7) climb 2 places, Yasutaka Ishimoto (#9) climb 3 places and China's Qiu Xiao Jun (#15) has entered the rankings. Interestingly former OPBF champion Yukinori Oguni (#17) is on the verge of a top 15 position.

The huge mover at Featherweight is Marvin Sonsona (#4) who climbed a remarkable 12 places following his stoppage of Akifumi Shimoda. Although Sonsona is a big mover Hisashi Amagasa (#11) has remained where he was.

Despite having seen a high profile bout with Aber Mares go up in smoke Takashi Miura is still the Super Featherweight champion. Behind Miura is only one Asian in the top 15, Ryan Sermona (#13) who is where he was. Strangely Miura is looking likely to be fighting another Mexican challenger later this year with 3 of the top 5 challengers coming from Mexico.

A notable change in the Lightweight division has seen Jorge Linares (#2) climbing 3 places courtesy of his victory over Nihito Arakawa (#7) who has dropped 5 places. The fall of Arakawa has seen Linares's Teiken stable mate Takahiro Ao (#5) move up a place whilst Rustam Nugaev (#6) has managed a leap of 6 places. The only other change relevant to us is that Masayoshi Nakatani (#13) has climbed one place.

At Light Welterweight we find the only ranked Korean, Min Wook Kim (#9), remain where he was whilst Anton Novikov (#14) has dropped a single place. Their also isn't much to talk about at Welterweight, where Yoshihiro Kamegai (#14) remains where he was. Notably though at Light Middleweight Charlie Ota (#7) and Dennis Laurente (#14) have both moved up 2 places, pushing Laurente into the top 15.

At Middleweight there is only one top 15 ranked fighter, Andrey Meryasev (#10). However if we go out to the top 25 we find Matt Korobov (#18), Ryota Murata (#23) and Akio Shibata (#24).

Unfortunately things at Super Middleweight are bleak with only Maxim Vlasov (#5) being ranked in the top 20. Vlasov might be alone but he does keep his ranking from a month ago. 

Things aren't much better at Light Heavyweight despite the fact Denis Grachev (#6) moved one place and Dmitry Sukhotsky (#9) stayed where he was. Despite Grachev's slight move this month we expect he'll fall next month following his loss to Isaac Chilemba this past weekend.

In the very exciting Cruiserweight division we still find Rakhim Chakhkiev (#1) as the top challenger though oddly Grigory Drozd (#4) drops a place. Murat Gassiev (#13) has remained where he was whilst it appears Alexander Alexeev (#15) has been given a world ranking despite reports that he's retired.

The only ranked Heavyweight is Manuel Charr (#6) who is as he was a month ago.

(Picture courtesy of http://wbcboxing.com)

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