4 July 2022

Happy 4th of July to our American friends and allies! 

Record-keeper Ken Pollitt (US) recommended that the chairs and oversight end the “extended inactivity” allowance that went from 20 months early during the COVID pandemic to 18, 16, and then to 14-months-which is where it stood until this week. It has officially returned to the Charter-determined 12-month cut-off. This means that all contenders inactive for 12 months with no scheduled fight risk losing their ranking.   

We have a new Cruiserweight Champion of the World and he took the crown despite having both sides of his jaw broken in the 2nd and then in the 6th round of a 12-round struggle against the now-former champion, Mairis Briedis. Jai Opetaia showed the kind of toughness that was taken for granted in the 1920s when iron men like Harry Greb fought with broken bones and Kid Norfolk and Sam Langford fought blind. A jaw broken in two places? Benny Leonard fought with a busted jaw. So didn’t Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali. But in two places? Opetaia is an iron man. But Lawrence Okolie, who wants him next, has iron fists. 

Briedis drops to #1, though several members argued that he should be #2, under Okolie. Chris Billam-Smith is bumped out.

Billy Joe Saunders exits his #8 ranking at Super Middleweight due to inactivity. Azizbek Abdugofurov takes #10 after a good win against former contender Fedor Chudinov.

Gervonta Davis, #6 at Jr. Welterweight, also exits due to inactivity, albeit in the division. The board votes in Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela, who lost a competitive contest against #7-ranked Montana Love recently. Valenzuela took the spot by one vote over several other suggestions including Danielito Zorrilla and Shohjahon Ergashev.

Zolani Tete returns to the rankings, this time at Jr. Featherweight after a vicious KO of Jason Cunningham. Tete was last seen ranked in June of 2021, at bantamweight before getting bounced for extended inactivity. Angelo Leo exits due to inactivity. 

Moruti Mthalane, #5 at Flyweight, also exits due to inactivity. Cristofer Rosales returns to #10. 

The Strawweight division gave us an entertaining shoot-out where Daniel Valladares took a well-earned split decision over Rene Mark Cuarto, who was #6 and is now #7. Valladares? He’s #6, predictably. Melvin Jerusalem -who has been ranked consistently or damn near consistently since January 2017- is bumped out.        

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Every member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board is a volunteer. We are on the following continents:

1. Asia
2. Australia
3. Europe
4. North America
5. South America

We represent 21 countries, including:  Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, England, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, the United States, Vietnam, and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico. ra