Just after Nicolay Valuev took over the #3 spot in the SportsRatings Heavyweight Top 100, Samuel Peter will claim the #3 slot at the end of the month when the official list comes out. Here is an interim result based on the outcome of the Peter-Maskaev bout, and some speculation as to what will result from any upcoming fight with either of the Klitschkos.
Interim (unofficial) rankings for March 9, 2008
old num Fighter record rating
1 1. WLAD KLITSCHKO (34- 3- 0) 57.27
2 2. RUSLAN CHAGAEV (10- 0- 0) 46.11
5 3. SAMUEL PETER (16- 1- 0) 38.09 W6 #6 OLEG MASKAEV
3 4. NICOLAY VALUEV (20- 1- 0) 35.14
4 5. ALEX POVETKIN (10- 0- 0) 32.89
7 6. TONY THOMPSON (14- 0- 0) 26.25
8 7. DAVID TUA (28- 3- 1) 25.65
10 8. VLADIMIR VIRCHIS (12- 1- 0) 24.62
9 9. VITALI KLITSCHKO (20- 2- 0) 24.34 inactive 39 months.
11 10. CHRIS ARREOLA ( 9- 0- 0) 23.20
12 11. CHRIS BYRD (24- 4- 1) 22.85
13 12. JUAN C GOMEZ ( 8- 1- 0) 22.01
15 13. JOE MESI (15- 0- 0) 21.47
16 14. HASIM RAHMAN (17- 6- 2) 21.40
17 15. TYE FIELDS (11- 1- 0) 20.27
18 16. OLEG PLATOV ( 5- 0- 0) 19.69
19 17. SULTAN IBRAGIMOV ( 9- 1- 1) 19.66
6 18. OLEG MASKAEV (20- 6- 0) 19.65 L6 #5 SAMUEL PETER
Peter will reclaim the #3 spot he held at the end of 2007, after which Povetkin rose to #3 upon beating Eddie Chambers, then Valuev took over after beating Lyakhovich. Oleg Maskaev stumbles to #18 with his sixth defeat.
Peter's next fight will likely be against Vitali Klitschko, who is still in the top ten despite not fighting for over three years. There is a small change he will face Wladimir Klitscho, but this seems unlikely. Assuming the former happens, a win by Peter would probably not cause him to pass Ruslan Chagaev for the #2 slot, as Vitali's ranking will have declined further by the time the fight takes place. If Vitali defeats Peter, he will ascend into the top 5, probably to #3 or #4, all of this depending on what other fighters do between then and now, of course.
A loss by Peter would drop him to #5 or #6, while Vitali would probably drop from the top 25.
None of the top 20 fighters have any major bouts officially scheduled at this time, so after a flurry of big bouts in the last few months, it may be quite a wait before anyone in the top ten sees action.
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