Dillian Whyte is the big winner after fantastic heavyweight month of March
The best month for heavyweight boxing in 35 years has passed without a shakeup in the rankings as just about every favored fighter came out on top:
- Yesterday #2 Anthony Joshua turned back an upset bid by #6 Joseph Parker;
- #3 Alexander Povetkin survived a brief scare from #134 David Price to win on a 5th-round KO;
- #4 Deontay Wilder prevailed against #7 Luis Ortiz in a huge battle;
- and #12 Dillian Whyte flattened #10 Lucas Browne last weekend
As a result, there is no change in the top 5, and only Whyte made a big move up to #6. Parker remained in the top ten while Ortiz and Browne are out.
SportsRatings Heavyweight top 11 for April of 2018 (see full top 100)
| -3 Yr |
-1 Yr |
-6 mo |
Mar Rank |
Apr Rank |
Fighter |
Rating
|
Rated Record | March results; •April schedule |
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | TYSON FURY | 51.25 | 15-0-0 | --last rated win -28 months. |
| 34 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ANTHONY JOSHUA | 46.87 | 14-0-0 | UD 12 #6 JOSEPH PARKER |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ALEX POVETKIN | 36.37 | 28-1-0 | KO 5 #134 DAVID PRICE |
| 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | DEONTAY WILDER | 33.43 | 16-0-0 | TKO 10 #7 LUIS ORTIZ |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | WLAD KLITSCHKO | 28.32 | 42-5-0 | --last rated win -35 months. |
| 37 | 19 | 18 | 12 | 6 | DILLIAN WHYTE | 20.33 | 9-1-0 | KO 6 #10 LUCAS BROWNE |
| 16 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | KYOTARO FUJIMOTO | 19.16 | 10-1-0 | --last rated win -14 months. |
| 11 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 | KUBRAT PULEV | 18.35 | 17-1-0 | |
| 25 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 9 | JOSEPH PARKER | 17.44 | 13-1-0 | L UD 12 #2 ANTHONY JOSHUA |
| 63 | 17 | 14 | 11 | 10 | JARRELL MILLER | 16.41 | 6-0-0 | •4/28 vs. #69 JOHANN DUHAUPAS |
| 36 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 11 | LUIS ORTIZ | 14.66 | 12-1-0 | L TKO 10 #4 DEONTAY WILDER |
Long-dormant lineal champ Tyson Fury remains at #1, though he has relinquished the belt due to inactivity; Anthony Joshua retains the interim belt and, unless things change, will be at #1 in about six months or so.
Alexander Povetkin's win wasn't worth much but he remains #3, as he always does. Deontay Wilder's big win over Ortiz moved him a lot closer but there's still a decent-sized gap. Wladimir Klitschko is #5 as he slides during retirement.
Dillian Whyte made the big move into the top 10 for his first time, all the way up to #6, assisted by the losses by Parker and Ortiz. Joseph Parker falls to 9, still young and in good position to make another run. Luis Ortiz falls to #11, just outside the top 10 but with worse prospects than Parker; he's only getting older, and after his ferocious showing against Wilder, the risk/reward for taking him on seems even more prohibitive. Same risk, and less reward since he's lost his undefeated record.
Jarell Miller makes his top ten debut and with Parker, Ortiz, and Browne falling from the ranks of the undefeated he's one of the few left and in position to get some big fights. Kubrat Pulev also slides up a spot to #8 and his path is clear to another eventual title shot. And the overranked Kyotaro Fujimoto might even get a big fight someday; he's stayed active (until recently) and scheduled fighters just weak enough for him to beat. Why someone in Japan hasn't set up a huge Tokyo Dome fight with the country's top heavyweight of all time is beyond me.
Lucas Browne tumbled to #19 as he was finally exposed as slow and plodding against Whyte, whom he couldn't bully like he did most of his other opponents. His prospects are like Ortiz's only worse as beating him will gain no one any cachet. He's probably bound for being a lower-level gatekeeper while Ortiz will be a high-level, much-avoided gatekeeper until retirement.
While there wasn't much of a rankings shakeup, we saw three fighters lose their "0" (Parker, Ortiz, Browne), two fighters keep their record perfect (Joshua, Wilder), and two others keep their record to a single loss (Povetkin, Whyte). Now Joshua can claim three wins over current top 10 fighters (the retired Klitschko, Whyte, and Parker). In the rest of the top ten, only Fury (over Klitschko) and Klitschko (Povetkin, Pulev) have any, and they're both inactive.
When will we see another month with 7 of the top 12 fighters active? If history is any indication, we'll have to wait until 2053. Hopefully it's sooner than that.
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