Vitali Klitschko strengthened his hold on the #2 spot in the monthly SportsRatings heavyweight boxing rankings. Brother Wladimir still has a large lead in points.
Vitali, who easily beat former #7 Cristobal Arreola in a referee stoppage after the 10th round, has defeated three opponents since taking nearly four years off from fighting. Sam Peter, Juan Carlos Gomez, and Arreola were all ranked in the top ten at the time of the fight, and all are currently in the top fifteen. Arreola dropped just three spots to #10.
| Sept. Rank | Oct. Rank |
Fighter | Rating |
Rated Record | September Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | WLAD KLITSCHKO | 64.62 |
31-3-0 |
|
| 2 | 2 | VITALI KLITSCHKO | 40.10 |
20-2-0 |
TKO 10 #7 CHRIS ARREOLA |
| 3 | 3 | NICOLAY VALUEV | 35.07 |
21-1-0 |
|
| 4 | 4 | ALEX POVETKIN | 31.94 |
12-0-0 |
|
| 5 | 5 | RUSLAN CHAGAEV | 29.72 |
11-1-0 |
|
| 6 | 6 | EDDIE CHAMBERS | 28.61 |
13-1-0 |
|
| 8 | 7 | DAVID TUA | 19.45 |
24-3-1 |
inactive 25 months. |
| 9 | 8 | OLEG PLATOV | 18.92 |
6-0-0 |
|
| 18 | 9 | FRANCESCO PIANETA | 18.90 |
5-0-1 |
TKO 8 #54 MATT SKELTON |
| 7 | 10 | CHRIS ARREOLA | 18.74 |
12-1-0 |
L TKO 10 #2 VITALI KLITSCHKO |
Slots three through six remain the same: #3 Nicolay Valuev will face David Haye (#23) in November; #4 Alex Povetkin is next in line for #1 Wladimir Klitscho when Wlad recovers from an arm injury; #5 Ruslan Chagaev's next fight is unknown and he may still have problems getting licensed outside Germany; and #6 Eddie Chambers is the top-ranked American and is for a title fight soon.
Jumping into the top ten is Italian Francesco Pianeta who bested Matt Skelton to land at #9. Pianeta (19-0-1) leaves behind #19 Albert Sosnowski, with whom he fought to a controversial draw earlier this year. Sliding up a notch to #8 is Oleg Platov (28-1-0), a Ukrainian like the Klitschkos (Valuev and Povetkin are Russian, Chagaev is from Uzbekistan).
At #7 David Tua (49-3-1) moves up a notch despite being inactive for more than two years. At that time Tua's rating was several points higher but he sat at #13, and has floated around since then. But during those years the top ten has been cleared out by the Klitschkos, leaving inactive fighters like Tua and Joe Mesi (who drops to #13) poking in and out of the top ten.
There is very little else to report in the top 100, as the rest of the top 50 is barren of action. At #68 Shawn McLean makes his debut after handing Faruq Saleem his first lost. Saleem (now 38-1) boasted one of the best records in boxing today, in fact one of the best records ever, but it was clearly illusory as he ranked just #146 despite it. Even Tye Fields nearly made the top ten with his cupcake slate. McLean is just 4-4 and the 34-year-old former actor dominated the fight.
Some other notable moves:
- Tony Grano jumps from #147 to #74 after beating ex-#64 Travis Kauffman in a controversial KO. Grano was pummelled for most of four rounds before a low blow and spitting out his mouthpiece bought him time. He rang a punched-out Kauffman's bell and knocked him to the canvas just before the end of the round.
- Tyson Fury (9-0-0) finally makes the top 100 at #85, edging in from #102 after beating John McDermott in another controversial fight. Many thought McDermott won handily but the sole judge called it 98-92 for Fury.
- Devin Vargas (18-1) also joins the top 100, rebounding from his loss to Kevin Johnson to beat Terrell Nelson in eight rounds. Vargas suffered a broken hand in the first round but unanimously took all rounds but one despite it.
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