WBO Ranking updates for July

On July 14th the WBO issues their latest world rankings which, as they do every month, featured a number of changes effecting various fighters form around the boxing world.

Minimumweight:
The first change we see is in the Minimumweight division where former Japanese Light Flyweight champion Ryoichi Taguchi (#5) enters the rankings. For Taguchi this place was a reward for his victory over Florante Condes (#7) though it was fought above the 105lb limit and we'd be very interested to see how Taguchi actually looks at 105lbs a weight that we'd be amazed to see him make safely. Whilst Taguchi is a new entry we did see Pigmy Koietgym drop out following his loss, in a WBA title fight with Hekkie Budler.

Light Flyweight:
At 108lbs we've see Filipino Jonathan Taconing (#7) move up a place to go above Mexico's Raul Garcia (#8) in what appears to be the only change in the division.

Flyweight:
In the packed Flyweight division we've seen Filipino fighter Froilan Saludar (#11) drop 7 places following his loss to McWilliams Arroyo (#10). The drop for Saludar has helped moved a number of fighters up the rankings including Kwanpichit 13 Rien Express (#4) and Suguru Muranaka (#5) who are now on the verges of a title fight. 

Super Flyweight:
At 115lbs we've seen some pretty interesting developments. Firstly we've seen the WBO re-assess their view on Koki Kameda (#4) who has dropped 2 places with both Arthur Villanueva (#2) and Mark Anthony Geraldo (#3) over-taking the former 3 weight world champion who is now coming up to a year of inactivity. In the middle of the rankings we've seen a small promotion of Hong Kong's popular Rex Tso (#7) who has been moved up at the expense of Oleydong Sithsamerchai (#9) who drops 2 places. I the lower section of the rankings we've seen Thai pair Tepparith Kokietgym (#12) and Noknoi Sitthiprasert (#13) both move up a single place.

Bantamweight:
In the Bantamweight division, where Tomoki Kameda defended his belt in impressive fashion against mandatory challenger Pungluang Sor Singyu (#13, previously #1), we've seen a lot of changes and movement. Due to Pungluang's loss we would have expected a lot of fighters moving up a single place though that idea was bucked by Marlon Tapales (#3) who moved up 3 places and Ryo Akaho (#8) who moved up 5 places.

Super Bantamweight:
In the Super Bantamweight division there no changes that affected a single Asian fighter.

Featherweight:
Featherweight was possibly the division with the biggest shake up. At the top was saw a new champion crowned with Vasyl Lomachenko beating Gary Russell Jr for the previously vacant title. As a result of the title bout Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (#1) has been moved up and taken the top spot in the rankings moving a single place, Russell Jr's loss and Lomachneko becoming a champion also helped out Filipino Marvin Sonsona (#4) who climbed a single place. Another fighter who benefited was Japan's Hiashi Amagasa (#9) who also moved up a single place.

Super Featherweight:
In the Super Featherweight division we've seen Russia's Andrey Klimov (#6) move up one place whilst Filipino Juan Martin Elorde (#7) has moved up 2 places to move into contention for a world title fight.

Lightweight:
The Lightweight division has seen a small shake up which has benefited several fighters including former 2-weight world champion Takahiro Ao (#6) move up 2 places just like Spanish based Russian Petr Petrov (#7). Lightweight is also the only division where we see an Indonesian ranked with Roy Mukhlis (#13) retaining his position from last month.

Light Welterweight:
In the 140lb division we've seen no change to the position of Ruslan Provodnikov (#2) or Jason Pagara (#4) though we are pleasantly surprised to see Shinya Iwabuchi (#13) move up a place ahead of his exciting upcoming encounter with the unranked Keita Obara.

Welterweight:
In the Manny Pacquiao lead Welterweight division we've lost South Korean Ji-Hoon Kim (previously #14) who appears to have been dropped due to a lack of activity. Despite being Kim fan's we're shocked that he lasted in the rankings as long as he did, especially at 147lbs.

Light Middleweight:
There are no Asian's ranked at 154lbs, just like last month.

Middleweight:
In the Middleweight division we've seen no changes though we do believe that Matt Korobov (#1) has become the mandatory contender for Peter Quillin and we hope that bout gets made sooner rather than later.

Super Middleweight:
There have been no changes at Super Middleweight for us to night.

Light Heavyweight:
In the Light Heavyweight division we've seen Dmitry Sukhotsky (#6) drop one place in the only change of note.

Cruiserweight:
There are no changes to report at Cruiserweight.

Heavyweight:
Russia's Alexander Povetkin (#12) re-enters the rankings having been unranked last month.

(Image courtesy of WBO Boxing)

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