Category: Rankings

Pound-for-pound: Mikey Garcia drops off the list after upset loss

Mikey Garcia dropped off Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound list after his upset loss to Sandor Martin on Saturday.

Mikey Garcia didn’t look like Mikey Garcia against Sandor Martin last Saturday.

The 33-year-old former four-division titleholder, who had been out of the ring for almost 20 months, was outboxed by the obscure Spaniard en route to losing a stunning majority decision.

That’s two losses in three fights for Garcia, who was shut out by Errol Spence Jr. in March 2019.

As a result, Garcia, No. 11 on the Boxing Junkie list, drops out. He has been replaced by veteran 115-pound titleholder Kazuto Ioka of Japan, who enters as an Honorable Mention.

Here’s how the new list looks:

BOXING JUNKIE
POUND-FOR-POUND

  1. Terence Crawford – Scheduled to defend his WBO welterweight title against Shawn Porter on Nov. 20 Las Vegas.
  2. Canelo Alvarez – Scheduled to fight Caleb Plant to unify all four major 168-pound titles on Nov. 6 in Las Vegas.
  3. Naoya Inoue – No fight scheduled.
  4. Oleksandr Usyk – Expected to fight Anthony Joshua a second time but no deal is in place.
  5. Errol Spence Jr. – No fight scheduled.
  6. Teofimo Lopez – Tentatively scheduled to defend his undisputed lightweight championship against George Kambosos as soon as next month but no date has been locked in.
  7. Tyson Fury – No fight scheduled.
  8. Vasiliy Lomachenko – Expected to fight Richard Commey on Dec. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York City but the deal hasn’t be finalized.
  9. Juan Francisco Estrada – In talks to defend his WBA and WBA junior bantamweight titles in what would be a third fight against Roman Gonzalez in November.
  10. Gennadiy Golovkin – In talks to fight Ryota Murata in a middleweight title-unification fight on Dec. 28 in Japan.
  11. Jermell Charlo – No fight scheduled.
  12. Josh Taylor – Scheduled to defend his undisputed junior welterweight championship against mandatory challenger Jack Catterall on Dec. 18 in Glasgow, Scotland.
  13. Artur Beterbiev – Scheduled to defend his light heavyweight titles against Marcus Browne on Dec. 17 in Montreal.
  14. Gervonta Davis – Scheduled to face Rolando Romero in a lightweight bout on Dec. 5 in Los Angeles.

Honorable mention (alphabetical order): Mairis Briedis (scheduled to fight Artur Mann on Oct. 16 in Riga, Latvia), Jermall Charlo (no fight scheduled), Kazuto Ioka (in talks to face Jerwin Ancajas in a junior bantamweight title-unification bout in December);  Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (Sor Rungvisai is expected to meet Carlos Cuadras as part of a junior bantamweight tournament but nothing is official), Yordenis Ugas (no fight scheduled) and Oscar Valdez (no fight scheduled).

Cardinals finally atop new Touchdown Wire power rankings

Despite being the only undefeated team in the league for the last two weeks, only now do the Cardinals make it to the No. 1 spot for TD Wire.

The Arizona Cardinals are the only undefeated team in the NFL and have been for the last two weeks. However, despite their big wins, in Touchdown Wire’s weekly power rankings, they were never ranked at the top.

That changed this week. With a big win over the Cleveland Browns and the Buffalo Bills falling to the Tennessee Titans Monday night, Touchdown Wire’s Nick Wojton basically had no choice but to put the Cardinals No. 1, where they belong.

They moved up from No. 3 to the top spot.

It’s been hard to keep the Cardinals out of the top spot considering they’re the only undefeated team remaining in the NFL. But after beating any NFL team with COVID-19 keeping a healthy chunk of your locker room at home? It doesn’t much more impressive than that… And not only beating a team, dominating the Browns, 37-14.

The Cardinals have scored more than 30 points in five of six games. They have allowed 20 or fewer points in five of six games. They have won four games on the road. They have beaten three playoff teams from last season.

They blew out the Titans, who beat the Bills. They blew out the Rams, who beat the Buccaneers.

Kyler Murray is playing at an MVP level.

They are seventh in scoring offense. They are second in scoring defense. They have allowed only 33 second-half offensive points in their six games.

They scored 37 points against the Browns’ No. overall defense in the league.

There really has been no weakness to this team.

In Week 7, they will play the last-ranked Houston Texans, which won’t help their cause to stay at No. 1, but then they can solidify their status as the best team in the NFL in Week 8 when they host the Green Bay Packers.

But this really was a no-brainer. Anyone who doesn’t have the Cardinals at No. 1 right is just hating. No one is better in the league right now or since the start of the season.

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Cardinals remain No. 1 in new USA TODAY power rankings

It seems that the only thing that can beat the Cardinals right now is COVID-19.

The Arizona Cardinals are 6-0 and are still the only undefeated team in the NFL right now. As such, after an impressive 37-14 road win over the talented Cleveland Browns, they remain atop the latest power rankings from USA TODAY’s Nate Davis.

It seems the only thing that can beat the Cardinals thus far this season is COVID-19.

The league’s only unbeaten team is struggling on COVID-19 scoreboard. Though Arizona reported its roster was fully vaccinated last month, Cards have NFL-high 24 coronavirus cases within organization entering Week 7. The schedule is being far kinder than the pandemic, serving up Houston next, but the scalding Packers come to desert after that.

They have handled every team they have faced. They return home for two games now and need to take care of business against a bad Texans team but then will have a Thursday night showdown against the Packers, who might be the league’s next-hottest team right now.

The Los Angeles Rams are right behind the Cardinals at No. 2 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right behind them.

The rest of the NFC West is fading. The Seahawks and the 49ers are 19th and 20th this week in these rankings.

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Pound-for-pound: Tyson Fury moves up a notch after epic KO

Heavyweight titleholder Tyson Fury turned in a special performance in his third fight with Deontay Wilder on Saturday in Las Vegas, stopping the former champ in the 11th round of a classic battle. Was it enough to lift Fury (No. 8 going into last …

Heavyweight titleholder Tyson Fury turned in a special performance in his third fight with Deontay Wilder on Saturday in Las Vegas, stopping the former champ in the 11th round of a classic battle.

Was it enough to lift Fury (No. 8 going into last Saturday) higher on Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound list?

Well, the process of making a decision on that was tricky. You have to imagine how Fury might fare against those ahead of him on the list if they were the same size.

Could Fury, with his impressive skill set and grit, defeat Nos. 1-7 Terence Crawford, Canelo Alvarez, Naoya Inoue, Oleksandr Usyk, Errol Spence Jr., Teofimo Lopez and Vasiliy Lomachenko if weight weren’t a factor?

We have our doubts.

At the same time, Fury has had great success at the highest level of the sport, including back-to-back knockouts of arguably the second best heavyweight in the world. He’s proving what he’s made of in the ring, for which he deserves credit.

Thus, we decided to move Fury up one notch on the list — from No. 8 to No. 7, meaning he trades places with Lomachenko (No. 7 previously).

Lomachenko is coming off a ninth-round knockout of Masayoshi Nakatani in June but gave a shaky performance eight months earlier against Lopez, who defeated the Ukrainian star by a unanimous decision.

Here’s how the new list looks:

BOXING JUNKIE
POUND-FOR-POUND

  1. Terence Crawford – Scheduled to defend his WBO welterweight title against Shawn Porter on Nov. 20 Las Vegas.
  2. Canelo Alvarez – Scheduled to fight Caleb Plant to unify all four major 168-pound titles on Nov. 6 in Las Vegas.
  3. Naoya Inoue – No fight scheduled.
  4. Oleksandr Usyk – Expected to fight Anthony Joshua a second time but no deal is in place.
  5. Errol Spence Jr. – No fight scheduled.
  6. Teofimo Lopez – Tentatively scheduled to defend his undisputed lightweight championship against George Kambosos next month but no date has been locked in.
  7. Tyson Fury – No fight scheduled.
  8. Vasiliy Lomachenko – Expected to fight Richard Commey on Dec. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York City but the deal hasn’t be finalized.
  9. Juan Francisco Estrada – In talks to defend his WBA and WBA junior bantamweight titles in what would be a third fight against Roman Gonzalez in November.
  10. Gennadiy Golovkin – In talks to fight Ryota Murata in a middleweight title-unification fight on Dec. 28 in Japan.
  11. Mikey Garcia – Scheduled to fight Sandor Martin on Oct. 16 in Fresno, Calif.
  12. Jermell Charlo – No fight scheduled.
  13. Josh Taylor – Scheduled to defend his undisputed junior welterweight championship against mandatory challenger Jack Catterall on Dec. 18 in Glasgow, Scotland.
  14. Artur Beterbiev – Scheduled to defend his light heavyweight titles against Marcus Browne on Dec. 17 in Montreal.
  15. Gervonta Davis – Scheduled to face Rolando Romero in a lightweight bout on Dec. 5 in Los Angeles.

Honorable mention (alphabetical order): Mairis Briedis (scheduled to fight Artur Mann on Oct. 16 in Riga, Latvia), Jermall Charlo (no fight scheduled), Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (Sor Rungvisai is expected to meet Carlos Cuadras as part of a junior bantamweight tournament but nothing is official), Yordenis Ugas (no fight scheduled) and Oscar Valdez (no fight scheduled).

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Pound-for-pound: Tyson Fury moves up a notch after epic KO

Heavyweight titleholder Tyson Fury turned in a special performance in his third fight with Deontay Wilder on Saturday in Las Vegas, stopping the former champ in the 11th round of a classic battle. Was it enough to lift Fury (No. 8 going into last …

Heavyweight titleholder Tyson Fury turned in a special performance in his third fight with Deontay Wilder on Saturday in Las Vegas, stopping the former champ in the 11th round of a classic battle.

Was it enough to lift Fury (No. 8 going into last Saturday) higher on Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound list?

Well, the process of making a decision on that was tricky. You have to imagine how Fury might fare against those ahead of him on the list if they were the same size.

Could Fury, with his impressive skill set and grit, defeat Nos. 1-7 Terence Crawford, Canelo Alvarez, Naoya Inoue, Oleksandr Usyk, Errol Spence Jr., Teofimo Lopez and Vasiliy Lomachenko if weight weren’t a factor?

We have our doubts.

At the same time, Fury has had great success at the highest level of the sport, including back-to-back knockouts of arguably the second best heavyweight in the world. He’s proving what he’s made of in the ring, for which he deserves credit.

Thus, we decided to move Fury up one notch on the list — from No. 8 to No. 7, meaning he trades places with Lomachenko (No. 7 previously).

Lomachenko is coming off a ninth-round knockout of Masayoshi Nakatani in June but gave a shaky performance eight months earlier against Lopez, who defeated the Ukrainian star by a unanimous decision.

Here’s how the new list looks:

BOXING JUNKIE
POUND-FOR-POUND

  1. Terence Crawford – Scheduled to defend his WBO welterweight title against Shawn Porter on Nov. 20 Las Vegas.
  2. Canelo Alvarez – Scheduled to fight Caleb Plant to unify all four major 168-pound titles on Nov. 6 in Las Vegas.
  3. Naoya Inoue – No fight scheduled.
  4. Oleksandr Usyk – Expected to fight Anthony Joshua a second time but no deal is in place.
  5. Errol Spence Jr. – No fight scheduled.
  6. Teofimo Lopez – Tentatively scheduled to defend his undisputed lightweight championship against George Kambosos next month but no date has been locked in.
  7. Tyson Fury – No fight scheduled.
  8. Vasiliy Lomachenko – Expected to fight Richard Commey on Dec. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York City but the deal hasn’t be finalized.
  9. Juan Francisco Estrada – In talks to defend his WBA and WBA junior bantamweight titles in what would be a third fight against Roman Gonzalez in November.
  10. Gennadiy Golovkin – In talks to fight Ryota Murata in a middleweight title-unification fight on Dec. 28 in Japan.
  11. Mikey Garcia – Scheduled to fight Sandor Martin on Oct. 16 in Fresno, Calif.
  12. Jermell Charlo – No fight scheduled.
  13. Josh Taylor – Scheduled to defend his undisputed junior welterweight championship against mandatory challenger Jack Catterall on Dec. 18 in Glasgow, Scotland.
  14. Artur Beterbiev – Scheduled to defend his light heavyweight titles against Marcus Browne on Dec. 17 in Montreal.
  15. Gervonta Davis – Scheduled to face Rolando Romero in a lightweight bout on Dec. 5 in Los Angeles.

Honorable mention (alphabetical order): Mairis Briedis (scheduled to fight Artur Mann on Oct. 16 in Riga, Latvia), Jermall Charlo (no fight scheduled), Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (Sor Rungvisai is expected to meet Carlos Cuadras as part of a junior bantamweight tournament but nothing is official), Yordenis Ugas (no fight scheduled) and Oscar Valdez (no fight scheduled).

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Cardinals stand pat, don’t rise to No. 1 in new power rankings with 5-0 start

The Cardinals don’t move up in Touchdown Wire’s power rankings but have earned some respect.

The Arizona Cardinals remain the only undefeated team in the NFL at 5-0, but with probably their toughest game of the season in Week 5, their 17-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers, it was going to be a question of how publications view the win, as to where they stand in new power rankings.

In the latest power rankings from Touchdown Wire’s Nick Wojton, the Cardinals don’t move up. They remain at No. 3 behind the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

However, it appears they have earned some respect.

The Cardinals are amongst the best teams in the NFL. At this point, it’s just splitting hairs. All three of these teams in our top-three ranking are Super Bowl-caliber.

The Cardinals offense had a bit slower outing than usual, but it turned into an opportunity for the defense to step up… and they certainly did.

Clearly, the hard-earned win over a division rival because of the play of the defense earned them some respect. It was just a week ago that people wondered about the legitimacy of their success.

The Cardinals have another big test. They travel to take on the 3-2 Cleveland Browns in Week 6 and could be short a few starters. The status of center Rodney Hudson and his rib injury, linebacker Chandler Jones and being on the COVID list, and cornerbacks Byron Murphy and Marco Wilson, both of whom have rib injuries, is up in the air still.

6-0 could be a real possibility. Each will they get puts them in a better place to potentially have a playoff run.

Time will tell.

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Cardinals remain atop USA TODAY power rankings after 5-0 start

The Cardinals are No. 1 in USA TODAY’s power rankings for the second week in a row.

The Arizona Cardinals remain the NFL’s only undefeated team after a Week 5 17-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers. In USA TODAY’s NFL power rankings by Nate Davis last week, they moved up to the No. 1 spot.

With their fifth win in a row, they remain at the top of Davis’ latest power rankings.

The last time they were 5-0 was 1974, which is also the last time the Cards were the league’s lone unbeaten team. Also noteworthy of this century-old franchise? It’s broken from the gate 5-0 on four previous occasions, but those hot starts have never been followed by a postseason victory. Could that happen again? Arizona is currently clean, but this team hardly feels head and shoulders above the competition and has to prove it won’t spiral into yet another second-half fade under coach Kliff Kingsbury.

Perhaps a 17-10 win over a division rival starting a rookie quarterback and playing without their best offensive player (TE George Kittle) is not impressive after four wins with more than 30 points and 400 yards, but it shows that the Cardinals are more than just an offensive juggernaut.

They can also win tough, physical defensive games and did so on Sunday without two of their starting cornerbacks.

They have blown out one division leader in the Tennessee Titans. They blew out the L.A. Rams.

Their next big test is this coming weekend on the road against a Cleveland Browns team that scored 42 points and had over 500 yards of offense and still lost.

But as long as the Cardinals keep winning, they should continue to be at the top of these rankings.

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Cardinals not No. 1 team in new TD Wire power rankings

Despite being undefeated and coming off a dominant win against the previously No. 1 Rams, the Cardinals rank behind the Bills and the Bucs.

The Arizona Cardinals are the only undefeated team in the NFL currently. They beat the team that beat the defending champs last week. They are No. 1 in USA TODAY’s power rankings. However, in new power rankings from Touchdown Wire’s Nick Wojton, the Cardinals do not get the same amount of love.

Previously ranked 10th, the Cardinals moved up to No. 3.

The Cardinals have arrived in our top three. They needed a convincing win and they got it, on the road, in Los Angeles against the Rams. And it wasn’t even just a win, it was a statement victory, putting up 465 total yards on a good Rams defense.

They are behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Buffalo Bills.

Absurd.

There is no way they should be behind the Bucs. Tampa lost to the Rams, whom the Cardinals beat down. Tom Brady or not, the Cardinals look better right now. Tampa barely beat a lesser New England Patriots team.

The Bills? That is at least worth a debate. They are playing extremely well. However, they lost to the struggling Pittsburgh Steelers and their Week 4 win came against a hapless Houston Texans team. The Bills are good.

However, the Cardinals lead the NFL in offense and scoring. They have held three of their four opponents to 20 points or less. Their hiccup game was one they won.

The Bills have an argument, but the Cardinals have now beaten two playoff teams handily.

Give them their due and put them at No. 1. They are only power rankings and ultimately mean nothing, but there shouldn’t be a question. No team is better than the Cardinals right now.

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USA TODAY reluctantly put Cardinals at No. 1 in new power rankings

USA TODAY’s Nate Davis puts the Cardinals as the top team in the league despite making it seem he didn’t want to do it.

Following the Monday night win by the Los Angeles Chargers over the previously unbeaten Las Vegas Raiders meant that the Arizona Cardinals remain the only undefeated team in the entire NFL. As such, the Cardinals now find themselves atop this week’s NFL power rankings from USA TODAY’s Nate Davis.

However, it would appear he didn’t want to move them all the way up to No. 1. They were previously ranked fifth.

Are they really the best team in the NFL? It feels a little dubious for a club that deserved a loss to Minnesota in Week 2. But Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells is famous for saying, “You are what your record says you are,” and Arizona is the only 4-0 team in the league and coming off a dominant performance of the previously top-ranked Rams. The Cards have also posted at least 30 points and 400 yards in each of their first four games for the first time in eight decades. So let’s give them their due … at least for now.

What else do the Cardinals need to do? Yes, they were fortunate to win the game against the Vikings. However, they are the league’s top-scoring team and have a quarterback playing at an MVP level.

The defense could be better, but they have allowed only 23 second-half points all season.

They have convincing road wins against two playoff teams from last year who are both favored to win their respective divisions this year.

There should be no reluctance to put them at No. 1. Will they stay there? Who knows?

But they are undefeated. They have played three of their first four games on the road. They have scored over 30 points in every game.

What more can people want from a No. 1 team?

They clearly are the best team in the league right now. Let’s just enjoy and respect it.

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New Touchdown Wire power rankings have Cardinals in top 10

Entering Week 4, the Cardinals move up one spot after their win in Florida.

Power rankings always vary. In fact two publications in the same family think two different things of the Arizona Cardinals. They come in at No. 5 in USA TODAY’s NFL power rankings entering Week 4.

In the latest rankings from Touchdown Wire’s Nick Wojton, the Cardinals barely crack the top 10, coming in 10th after their Week 3 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

A win and 3-0 for the first time since 2015 for the Cardinals. But it did take a bit of a rally effort against the Jaguars. Good teams do still win during tough games and the Cards pulled that off.

Of the nine teams ranked ahead of them, only No. 1 — the Los Angeles Rams, whom the Cardinals in Week 4 — is unbeaten.

Even the 1-2 Kansas City Chiefs are ahead of the Cardinals.

It might be hard to believe in the Cardinals after winning in Week 2 because of a missed field goal and after beating the lowly Jaguars, but if they pull off a win against the Rams this weekend or even lose in a close game, they will have to get more love in these rankings next week.

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