CLASSY Cuban Luis Ortiz maintained his No 6 ranking in our heavyweight top order with a dominant win over Tony Thompson.
The dangerous southpaw dropped Thompson in the first, third and sixth rounds, rendering him unable to beat referee Malik Waleed’s count.
Currently in possession of the WBA’s farcical Interim title, Ortiz is on the hunt for the big names at heavyweight.
Unbeaten Australian Lucas Browne comes in at No 10, replacing Vyacheslav Glazkov, after his emphatic stoppage win over Ruslan Chagaev in Russia. It is the first time Browne has entered our rankings.
Plucky Las Vegas native Jessie Vargas bounced back from his decision reverse to No 2 ranked Tim Bradley last June with a stunning ninth round stoppage win over highly-touted Sadam Ali.
He picked up the vacant WBO world title, previously held by Bradley, in the process. He leapfrogs Robert Guerrero, who lost to Danny Garcia in his last outing, into ninth place.
Jessie has now moved himself into a viable position as an opponent for the Manny Pacquiao v Bradley (who fight on April 9) winner.
Japan’s Shinsuke Yamanaka rose from two heavy knockdowns to retain his WBC world title and No 1 spot against Venezuelan Liborio Solis.
Yamanaka has sat atop the bantamweight rankings for some time but has looked vulnerable in his last two outings. Prior to beating Solis, Shinsuke squeezed past Anselmo Moreno on a contentious split decision.
Ganigan Lopez shakes things up upsetting WBC champion Yu Kimura. Lopez outpointed Kimura to take his belt and No 2 spot in the rankings. That means Jesse Espinas (previously at 10th) moves out of the ratings and everyone else drops down a space.
Strawweight
Thailand’s Wenhang Menayothin – still battling for supremacy in the smallest weight with No 1 ranked Hekkie Budler – defended his WBC world title with a fifth-round stoppage of Go Odaira.
Menayothin is now unbeaten in 41 contests and sits in second, but has not beaten the same level of opposition as Budler.
