(Originally posted on the Monthly Ratings page on March 14th, 2021)
March 2021 Ratings – Updates
*A fighter is typically removed from our ratings, if she has been inactive from her weight class for 12 months, and still has no fight scheduled. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, few fights have been taking place, so extra allowances have been given.
Atomweight
Fabiana Bytyqi, who outpointed Judit Hachbold on February 27th, moves to #4, switching places with Nao Ikeyama.
Flyweight
Seniesa Estrada, scheduled to fight Anabel Ortiz on March 20th, exits the flyweight ratings. Arely Mucino also exits, due to nearly two years of inactivity. Naoko Fujioka, Marlen Esparza and Leonela Yudica each move up, making room for Ibeth Silva and Maria Salinas, who enter at #4 and #5 respectively.
Bantamweight
Diana Fernandez exits the bantamweight rankings, as she appears to be focusing on the junior bantamweight division (she has not weighed above 116lbs since 2016).
Lightweight
Estelle Mossely moves to #2, switching places with Amanda Serrano, after outpointing Verena Kaiser on March 5th.
Welterweight
#1 rated Jessica McCaskill defeated #2 rated Cecilia Braekhus on March 13th, on points over 10 rounds, to fill the lineal vacancy at 147lbs. Zambia’s Lolita Muzeya, 16-0 (8 KOs), enters at #5
Junior middleweight
Claressa Shields filled the lineal vacancy by defeating Marie-Eve Dicaire over ten rounds, in what was a fight between the best two women in the weight class. Shields became the first two-weight Lineal Champion in the modern, post-Olympic era of women’s boxing (amazingly, just one week later, McCaskill matched this feat by beating Braekhus). Hannah Rankin exits the junior middleweight ratings after making a move to welterweight. Raquel Miller and Abril Vidal enter at #4 and #5 respectively.
Heavyweight
Danielle Perkins is now #2 following her victory over Monika Harrison. Perkins had previously beaten Harrison in a 4-rounder last year, but on March 5th repeated the win, this time over 8 rounds. The division is shallow, but Perkins is a breath of fresh air – 6 feet tall and weighing nearly 200lbs, she is a true heavyweight, who stays in shape, and is willing to fight regularly. Hafner, Meknouzi and Meleisea each move down a place.
Pound-For-Pound:
Claressa Shields regains her position at the top of the P4P rankings after completing a shut-out points victory over the #1 rated junior middleweight, Marie-Eve Dicaire. Our ratings panel were torn between Shields and Katie Taylor for the #1 spot, but while both fighters have beaten P4P-level opponents (Hammer was rated #10 at the time of the Shields fight, and Persoon was ranked #6 at the time of the Taylor rematch), Shields dispatched of hers more decisively, and while Taylor is fresh off a dominant win (versus Miriam Gutierrez, who was ranked #5 at lightweight), Shields was similarly as dominant in beating Marie-Eve Dicaire (who was rated at #1 at junior middleweight, and was unbeaten in 17 fights), in what was a fight to crown a true, lineal champion at 154lbs. Panellist, Daniel Yanofsky, commented: “Beating Marie-Eve Dicaire to unify the light-middleweight division, Shields, the middleweight queen, has proven to be a dominant force anywhere she goes.”
It should be noted that although Taylor defeated Jessica McCaskill over 3 years ago, at that time, the American was not considered remotely close to being a top P4P fighter. McCaskill has vastly improved since then, with wins which have included beating both Erica Farias and Cecilia Brakehus twice – as such, McCaskill has climbed to #3 in our P4P rankings. Braekhus has fallen from #5 to #8.
The top 10 now reads as follows: Shields, Taylor, McCaskill, Serrano, Bermudez, Bopp, Persoon, Braekhus, McCarter, Fujioka.
Our overall Pound-for-Pound top 10 is now worked out by allocating points to each panellist’s top 10, and totalling the figures – so, 10 points for each panellist’s #1, 9 points for #2...1 point for #10.
Ratings Panel
David Avila: 2019 Inductee IWBHF. Journalist at The Sweet Science. California, USA. @AvilaBoxing
Anthony Cocks: Journalist for Max Boxing, and previous contributions for Boxing Monthly. Australia. @el_pollo_loco
Daniel Yanofsky: Boxing journalist, including articles for FIGHT SPORTS and The Scrap. New York/Florida, USA. @DanYanofskyMMA
Ireneusz Fryszkowski: Boxing Journalist. Poland. @RingBlogpl
Julian Haramoure: Boxing journalist, including articles for Argentina Amateur Deporte and ElRoundFinal.com. Argentina. @JulianFunky
Yuriko Miyata: Boxing journalist, including articles for The Ring and ThePrizeFighters.com. Japan. @Yuriyuri0803
GM Ross: Boxing journalist. Host of Pugilistically Inclined podcast. Canada. @punchingprof
Blanca Gutierrez: Creator of Beautiful Brawlers. 2019 Inductee IWBHF. 2018 Inductee WCBHOF. USA. @bbrawlersboxing
Inaky Arzate: Boxing journalist, including articles for TUDN. Mexico. @inaky_arzate
Adam McMeeking: Member of the International Boxing Research Organisation, and Editor of LinealBoxingChampion.com. United Kingdom. @TripleJabBoxing