SportsRatings: Boxing/MMA

Anthony Joshua vs. Alexander Povetkin Live Round-by-Round Scoring, Results

Anthony Joshua and Alexander Povetkin attempt to claim the outright SportsRatings Heavyweight Championship for the first time. For over a year Joshua held the interim belt while Tyson Fury was inactive, and he remains #2 after Fury reclaimed his belt last month.

Alex Povetkin has been #3 for around eight years; he was #2 for a month before Joshua beat Wlad Klitschko and pushed Povetkin back to #3. Before that was interim champ for one month, when Fury and Klitschko delayed their (eventually cancelled) rematch. But he's never been outright champion on our site, and neither has Joshua.

That will end with this fight; the winner will pass Fury at #1 and be considered our undisputed heavyweight champ, only the third champion since Lennox Lewis' reign.

The fight is ready to begin.

Round-by-round scoring for Joshua vs. Povetkin:

• Round One: Both men start fighting at distance, lunging with jabs; Povetkin going to the body. Hook by Povetkin misses. Nothing connecting early, some big punches missing now. Both very cautious. Body by Povetkin, jab by Joshua. Quick clinch breaks. Povetkin ends round with overhand right that makes Joshua stumble. Povetkin 10-9
• Round Two: Joshua busier right from the start; Joshua's nose is bleeding. More work this round, more jabs, Joshua going to the body. Jab backs Povetkin to the ropes, Povetkin going for the bloody nose. Tight round, good work from both; 10-10; Povetkin 20-19.
• Round Three: Interior fighting with Povetkin scoring. Joshua now holding him back with jabs. Holds him off for most of the round landing jabs, decent combo near the end. Joshua 10-9; 29-29.
• Round Four: Povetkin jumps in, gets hit by Joshua counter. Povetkin's eye is cut. Joshua looking better now using jab. Joshua clinching when Povetkin leaps forward. Povetkin looking for big uppercut, misses, Joshua continues jabbing, controls the round. Joshua 10-9; Joshua 39-38.
• Round Five: Big hook by Joshua misses as he peppers jabs. Povetkin's own hook whiffs too, as he looks to land a big one; he wants a KO while Joshua looks like he wants to win a decision. Good left by Povetkin. Joshua backs up, dodges, clinches to avoid Povetkin. Fairly even round, 10-10; Joshua 49-48.
• Round Six: Respect shown by fighters as they touch gloves following a minor foul. Joshua finally unloading a bit, scores in combos. Povetkin jumps in with good combos himself. Both look tired, Povetkin whiffs a few times. Another close round, both men had their moments, rested at end. 10-10; Joshua 59-58.
• Round Seven: Tentative start early in round 7, both men measuring their energy. Big right from Joshua rocks Povetkin; a few more hits and he's DOWN. Povetkin up with a minute left; Joshua pours it on, the fight is stopped! Anthony Joshua wins by TKO.

Anthony Joshua has captured the SportsRatings Heavyweight Championship! And it looks like Alexander Povetkin, now 39, will never reach our #1 spot.

The end kind of came out of nowhere; Joshua's right hook was so unheralded that it was hard to tell it connected until Povetkin reacted with a stumble. It was very close at that point, with either fighter ahead on the cards, and no one really taking charge of the ring completely. But Joshua did exactly what Povetkin was hoping to do—score a game-changing shot and capitalize on it. The knockdown punches were a brutal 1-2; Povetkin barely made it up in time, and he was weak-legged after that.

AJ's reign could be short; with the announcement of Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder for December 1st, Fury could retake our title within a couple of months. And whoever wins that fight, it sets up a great match with Joshua among undefeated fighters.

Anyone who says heavyweight boxing isn't great today is crazy; a practical tournament among the top 4 heavyweights, with three of them undefeated? That's probably never happened before. Tell your friends: the boring Klitschko-dominant days are over, we're in a new era and it is fantastic.

Anthony Joshua vs. Joseph Parker round-by-round scoring

Anthony Joshua defends his interim SportsRatings Heavyweight championship belt, as well as the lesser WBA and IBF belts too, of course :) against Joseph Parker, who is #6 in the March rankings and holds the WBO belt currently. The fight takes place in Cardiff, Wales (Wales being part of the United Kingdom for the geographically-challenged).

Joshua (20-0, 20 KO) is the 2012 Olympic super-heavyweight gold medalist and a solid favorite over Parker (24-0, 18 KOs). Joshua is around a 6-1 favorite, down from nearly a 10-1 favorite overall early on. 

Combined with Deontay Wilder's win over Luis Ortiz early this month, and Dillian Whyte's KO of Lucas Browne, this fight marks the 3rd big intra-top-12 bout of the month, making March of 2018 the best month for Heavyweight boxing since May of 1983. In addition, another fight on the undercard pits perennial #3 Alexander Povetkin vs. a comeback-attempting David Price (currently outside the top 100), the 2004 gold medalist vs. 2008 bronze medalist.

Coverage on Showtime in the U.S. begins at 5pm eastern time. Sky Box Office covers the bouts in the UK. It looks like Showtime might air the Povetkin bout, too, as it is about to start just a few minutes before Showtime picks things up. We'll see.

Bonus: Povetkin vs. Price round-by-round scoring: Povetkin's nose looks red pre-bout, as if he got hit during sparring. Price looks big but fairly good. Round 1: Povetkin staying out of range of Price's jab, closing in to punch. Price connects with his only decent shot at the end, but it's Povetkin's round 10-9. Round 2: Price jabbing stronger to open round 2; Povetkin moving in with combos but Price covers up well. Close round, but 20-18 Povetkin. Round 3: Price scores early but Povetkin FLATTENS Price with a counter right. He's up with 2 minutes left, with a cut but looks ok considering. Decent combo from Price. Price connects, too, sending Povetkin stumbling backward into the corner and the ref gives him a count! 9-9 round, 29-27 Povetkin. Round 4: Povetkin still looks slow, both fighters active yet tentative. Povetkin normally gets a second wind after 4 rounds, but that was possibly with some PED help...will we see the same Povetkin? 10-10; Povetkin 39-37. Round 5: Povetkin connects with a right which stops Price dead in his tracks, and follows by hitting the wide-open Price with a finishing left hook. Povetkin wins via 5th round KO. He will retain his #3 ranking for the umpteenth month (about 8 years' worth, now) regardless of the Joshua-Parker outcome.

Parker has entered the ring, Joshua is following. Then the national anthems, and fight should start in 15-20 minutes, a little before 6pm ET, 11pm UK.

Round-by-round scoring for Joshua vs. Parker:

• Round One: Jab-fest early, most just out of range. Joshua holding his guard a lot higher than Parker. Joshua might have done a little more, but it was very close and I hate it when a nothing-doing first round has an effect on things. 10-10
• Round Two: Both fighters try jab combos early, then long period of tentativeness from both to middle of round. Lots more of nothing, then a few exchanges, and the first clinch of the fight. Another tough round, mostly dead air. 20-20
• Round Three: Joshua controlling the ring, throwing jabs and gets first good combo of night. Caught in ropes, Parker clinches with a minute left. Heads clash late, Parker gets in a hook. Joshua 10-9; 30-29
• Round Four: Joshua again controls the ring early, using jab well. Big whiff left hook from Joshua. Parker just out of range with jabs, clinches again. Joshua being very conservative as he stalks Parker, backs him up to end the round. Still very close rounds, not much real is connecting. Joshua 10-9, 40-38.
• Round Five: Joshua jabs then follows with decent left hook. Parker finding it hard to close into range, but he is defending better than he has in the past. Still keeping guard low though. Parker comes off ropes charging at Joshua, they clinch. Solid combo by Parker surprises Joshua with less than a minute left. Joshua whiffs with big 1-2. Close round, we'll give it to Parker though for finishing stronger. 10-9; Joshua 49-48.
• Round Six: Joshua connects, then Parker, then HUGE brawl in clinch broken up by ref. Joshua lunging in to conect, Parker lunges in too. Fighters are toe-to-toe now, both visibly tired at midpoint of round. Joshua gets in good punch while Parker tries to brawl more. Parker hooks during clinch. Exciting if sloppy round. Joshua 10-9; 59-57
• Round Seven: Big clinch midway through round, Parker keeps punching, so Joshua throws huge uppercut before break, ref cautions both of them. Joshua jab prompts Parker lunge for clinch and more in-fighting. Stiff jab from Joshua ends the round. Joshua 10-9; 69-66.
• Round Eight: Joshua's lead is pretty tentative, not doing anything spectacular from him yet, he might have a bit more urgency. Parker looks like he has the urgency. He's jumping in the way Povetkin did against Klitschko, trying to get inside. Parker holding his own in middle of round, dodging with head movement. Flurry from Joshua, Parker survives, ref jumps in for no reason? Weird. Parker's best round in a while, no more than a draw though 10-10; Joshua 79-76
• Round Nine: Lots of dull posturing this round. Parker rushes in, heads clash, Joshua's tape is finally fixed, why didn't they do that between rounds? Awkward fight as Joshua won't let his hands fly completely. Joshua defends Parker flurry very well. Another b.s. round. 10-10; Joshua 89-86
• Round Ten: We're now at the point where a biased scorer could have Parker ahead, or Joshua very far ahead. Joshua chasing Parker with the jab, Parker has a cut now. Joshua quick to clinch when he's chasing, for some reason. Joshua attempts uppercut from clinch. Parker on ropes, jumps to clinch. Glove has dangling tape yet again for Joshua. Joshua keeps grabbing back of Parker's neck in clinch in frustration. Joshua 10-9; 99-95
• Round Eleven: Another jab-fest round, little connecting with damage, for 2 minutes; Joshua gets an uppercut then clinches for some reason. Joshua generally winning the battle of jabs. Combo by Joshua, Parker returns fire; only action the whole round. Joshua 10-9; 109-104
• Round Twelve: More awkward clinching, over and over, amidst the jabbing. Good body shot by Joshua. Another good jab sequence by Joshua, who fires back recklessly to keep Joshua off him. 30 seconds left, no urgency by either fighter, though Parker looks pretty tired. Joshua 10-9; 119-113

So we score the bout 119-113 for Joshua, which with the FOUR 10-10 rounds, could be anything from 115-113 Joshua to 119-109 Joshua. So we expect a unanimous decision for Joshua, but the results could range from very close to very wide.

Official scorecards: Well, they went wide: 118-110 x 2, and 119-109 for Joshua. That matches our widest possible result (all close rounds to Joshua), so those are defensible scores if you look at who controlled the ring and the action. Either way, the result is correct, as Joseph Parker didn't really do much in most rounds other than survive and avoid taking damage.

Joshua remains the interim SportsRatings heavyweight champion, looking to eventually become our official champ as Tyson Fury remains inactive.

Wladimir Klitschko vs. Anthony Joshua round-by-round scoring

Wladimir Klitschko takes on Anthony Joshua for the interim SportsRatings Heavyweight title, as well as the IBF and WBA belts, at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

1996 Olympic gold medalist Klitschko (64-4, 53 KO), ranked #2 by SportsRatings currently, is a slight underdog to #5-ranked Joshua by the oddsmakers. Klitschko hasn't fought since losing his title to Tyson Fury in November of 2015, and hasn't won a fight since beating Bryant Jennings in April, 2015.

Joshua (18-0, 18 KO), the 2012 Olympic super-heavyweight gold medalist, has won 4 times since Klitschko lost his belt, beating Dillian Whyte, Charles Martin, Dominic Breazeale, and Eric Molina. None are among the biggest names in the division, but note that 3 of the 4 were undefeated before facing Joshua.

Either 41-year-old Klitschko will make a huge comeback win and re-establish himself as the man to beat at heavyweight, or the torch will be passed to the 27-year-old Joshua, who most believe is the future of the division.

Klitschko weighed in at a relatively light 240 1/4 pounds, with Joshua tipping the scales at 250. Both fighters are giants, standing 6' 6" apiece.

The fight is set to begin sometime around 5pm eastern U.S. time. Both fighters have entered the ring. Arnold Schwarzeneggar is in the crowd. Vitali Klitschko's wife is the performer for the Ukranian national anthem. 

Round-by-round scoring follows:

• Round One: Klitschko jabbing hurredly at the start. Joshua gets a few decent right hands in. Wlad wary of Joshua's punches. Rare fight where Klitschko doesn't dwarf his opponent and have a huge reach advantage. Wlad jabbing less as the round goes on. Wlad finds his way in but clinches. Interesting first round with no clear winner but Joshua landed the only punches that mattered. Joshua 10-9.
• Round Two: BIG right from Klitshko to start round 2, Joshua takes it well and is using his jab more early. Joshua doing better controlling ring space in round 2. Fighters still testing each other. Not much else happening this round, less action as the round continues. If we gave Joshua r1 for bigger punches, we can give this to Wlad for that opening punch, as neither round was dominant. 10-9 Klitschko, 19-19.
• Round Three: A lot of action early in the round from both. Joshua pushing forward missing with big punches. Klitschko trying to hold a bit but isn't going to be able to do it. So far Klitschko hasn't folded from big pressure, and Joshua hasn't backed down from Wlad's jab at all. Ref is separating the clinch quickly. Both fighters having trouble with the other's style, lots of misses. We punt on this one. 10-10, 29-29. 
• Round Four: Another big right from Klitschko to start the round! Joshua takes it well again. Joshua connects with a not-as-big right hand. Clinch and Joshua warned for hitting on break, no big deal. Wlad whiffs as Joshua ducks. Good body shots by Joshua. Klitschko has been lighter on his feet as Joshua stays planted but Joshua moving more now. Jab by Joshua who probably did better in the 2nd half of the round but overall hard to score as Joshua missed on his biggest shots. Fuck it, 10-10, 39-39.
• Round Five:  Joshua explodes out of the gate with a flurry and puts Wlad down! Klitschko holding on with 2 minutes left in round and a bad cut. Now at midpoint of round Joshua is looking tired, as is Klitschko. Big shots from Klitschko but Joshua battling back too!! Joshua is dead tired and Klitschko is hitting him with everything he's got! Round ends, should be 10-8 for Joshua but did Klitschko battle back enough to make it just 10-9? Joshua never went down, so 10-8 Joshua, 49-47.
• Round Six: Cut on Wlad's eye is bad. Fighters start where they left off but not as exhausted. Pause while Joshua's mouthpiece is put in. Klitschko right puts Joshua down!! Now both are clinching and punching, Joshua is ducking low and is in trouble.  Klitschko keeps missing with crosses as Joshua ducks, but then landing uppercuts. Incredible fight. Klitschko 10-8; 57-57.
• Round Seven: Wow, here we go. Klitschko walking down Joshua, who looks uncertain but recovered mostly. Klitschko looks confident but still has that bad cut. Klitschko scoring but not threatening Joshua at this point, taking his time while Joshua is trying to rest and recover his confidence. Joshua is still TALKING to Klitschko, seems foolish at this point. Klitschko is being conservative, picking off jabs when possible. Wlad clinches and Joshua looks happy for the chance to rest, and he comes alive for this first time in the round with less than 30 seconds left. Round was all Klitschko, 10-9; 67-66.
• Round Eight: Joshua comes to the center early, looking more recovered now. Klitschko still confident. Joshua decent body shot with left hand. Huge right from Klitschko whiffs! Joshua throwing heat, for first time in 3 rounds. Klitschko jabbing well again, and moving well. Decent punches from both connect. Wlad clinches with 20 seconds left. Another close round, we'll keep it even: 10-10; Klitschko 77-76.
• Round Nine: Again both look to start fast, this is great. Joshua is fully recovered and Wlad's cut isn't an issue anymore. Wlad misses with a right while Joshua goes to the body. Two are tangled up. Joshua makes Wlad miss again, Wlad backs up to avoid body shot. Joshua connects with two shots with a minute left. Action pause as both tire a bit. Right hand from Joshua, and two quick body shots. Joshua 10-9; 86-86.
• Round Ten: Joshua jumps in quickly with 1-2, Klitschko bouncing, dancing away. Two collide jumping in, clinch, separate. Jab from Klitschko, Joshua answers. Again the action slows later in the round. Both fighters dodging the big shots well. Joshua clubbed with right hand late. Another close round. 10-10; 96-96. This is going to be a close decision assuming it makes it that far. Should be an amazing final 2 rounds.
• Round Eleven: Joshua hurts Wlad early with 3 big punches. Klitschko running away for his life in the 11th. Klitschko returns fire but eats another punch before clinching. A huge uppercut from Joshua how did Klitschko stay up! Now he's down!!! 1:30 left in round...now Joshua puts him down again and that might be it...no he's up with 1 minute left!!! Fight is stopped with 30 seconds left, ANTHONY JOSHUA WINS

That was the best heavyweight fight I've seen in a long time. The final stoppage was a bit quick I think, but after being down twice, there was no leeway to protest, and Klitschko has not protested.

Unlike Tyson Fury, who "beat" Klitschko by barely engaging, Anthony Joshua took it to him, almost suffered the consequences himself, but held on and came back with a huge 11th round.

Gold medalist Joshua really looks like the future of the heavyweight division, and tonight was the true passing of the torch, in epic fashion in one of the great heavyweight fights of all time. Wlad Klitschko has nothing to be ashamed of putting on this performance at age 41 after one of the great careers in boxing history. 

And, if there was ever a fight that was going to renew interest in heavyweight boxing, this was it. We shall see.

Tony Bellew upsets David Haye in first HW fight, debuts in top 20

Tony Bellew did the completely unexpected Saturday, beating David Haye when Haye's corner threw in the towel in the 11th round.

Haye had been knocked down for the 2nd time in the fight and fell between the ropes; he had climbed his way back in and stood up, seemingly beating the count, before the towel came flying in.

Haye fought for six rounds with a badly injured ankle—the announcers seemed to think it was a torn Achilles' tendon, but it seems unlikely he could have even moved if that were the case. Whatever the problem, Haye got in big trouble in the 6th round where he fell down twice and was knocked down once as Bellew smelled blood. Haye weathered that storm and fought on, but was greatly diminished.

Even in the early rounds Haye didn't dominate. Bellew won the first round with a good shot or two, and the next four rounds were slightly in Haye's favor as he stalked Bellew, unable to connect with the big shot he wanted. He whiffed several times on looping punches as Bellew did a great job dodging and eluding Haye's best efforts.

After the 6th round the scorecards were basically even, and Bellew built a lead after that. Haye was still dangerous, though, as he hobbled on the ankle, trying to score the KO that would salvage the fight. Bellew fought smart and avoided trouble for the most part, and waited for his own opportunities. It finally happened in the 11th.

Bellew, a cruiserweight who moved up (or fattened up) to 215 pounds for his first heavyweight fight, will debut in our Top 100 around #16 or so, while Haye—formerly #17—will drop out of the top 50.

SportsRatings projected top 20 for April, 2017:

Mar Apr Fighter           Record    Rating
1    1. TYSON FURY       (15- 0- 0) 60.09  last rated win -16 months.
2    2. WLAD KLITSCHKO   (42- 4- 0) 48.73  last rated win -23 months.
3    3. ALEX POVETKIN    (25- 1- 0) 33.78
4    4. DEONTAY WILDER   (14- 0- 0) 28.72
5    5. ANTHONY JOSHUA   (11- 0- 0) 26.40
6    6. JOSEPH PARKER    (11- 0- 0) 22.64
7    7. LUIS ORTIZ       (12- 0- 0) 21.63
8    8. LUCAS BROWNE     (10- 0- 0) 20.82  last rated win -12 months.
9    9. KYOTARO FUJIMOTO (10- 1- 0) 19.78
10  10. KUBRAT PULEV     (16- 1- 0) 18.32
12  11. CHRISTIAN HAMMER (10- 1- 0) 17.77
13  12. CHARLES MARTIN   ( 5- 1- 0) 16.64  last rated win -14 months.
11  13. VITALI KLITSCHKO (27- 2- 0) 16.55  last rated win -54 months.
15  14. LARON MITCHELL   ( 2- 0- 0) 15.11
14  15. VYACH GLAZKOV    (10- 1- 1) 14.92  last rated win -24 months.
new 16. TONY BELLEW      ( 1- 0- 0) 13.91  RET 11 #17 DAVID HAYE
16  17. JARRELL MILLER   ( 4- 0- 0) 13.70
18  18. MICHAEL HUNTER   ( 3- 0- 0) 13.47  last rated win -17 months.
20  19. DILLIAN WHYTE    ( 7- 1- 0) 13.22
19  20. BERMANE STIVERNE ( 7- 2- 1) 13.20  last rated win -16 months.

Top Ten Boxing: Wilder KOs Szpilka, Glazkov hurts knee, loses to Martin

The Heavyweight boxing "title" double-header was of mixed results, as the first fight ended in a fluke and the 2nd ended in spectacular fashion. Deontay Wilder destroyed Artur Szpilka with a massive right hand in the 9th round after Vyachaslav Glazkov went down in the 3rd to Charles Martin due to a knee injury.

The Wilder fight was close through the 8th as Szpilka's movement caused Wilder problems. The WBC belt holder lived up to his name, swinging wildly early in the fight trying to land one big shot. For his part, Szpilka made Wilder look bad but didn't generate a lot of offense of his own. After flustering Wilder for 8 rounds he paid the price going after a left hook and ran right into Wilder's right, which spun Szpilka's neck around and his body followed to the canvas. He never got up and was carried off on a stretcher.

In the battle for the vacant IBF belt, Glazkov managed to leave on his own power after possibly tearing an ACL during the fight. The first two rounds were very preliminary as Glazkov tried to deal with Martin's size. After the referee warned the fighters about their feet—Martin is a 6'5" southpaw so his right foot and Glazkov's left were inches apart—Martin stepped on Glazkov's foot during an exchange and Glazkov appeared to twist his right knee and slipped to the ground. After that he seemed very tentative and during the next exchange—where Martin's punch didn't land—Glazkov crumbled to the ground and informed the referee he couldn't continue. It was a similar result to the Klitschko-Solis fight except Glazkov walked out of the ring.

What happens in our rankings? Here's a preview of next month's top ten:

-3 Yr	-1 Yr	-6 mo	Jan Rank	Feb Rank	Fighter	Rating	Rated Record	January results
4	4	4	1	1	TYSON FURY	64.56	15-0-0
1	1	1	2	2	WLAD KLITSCHKO	57.16	42-4-0
3	3	3	3	3	ALEX POVETKIN	33.60	24-1-0
2	2	2	4	4	VITALI KLITSCHKO	30.99	27-2-0	last rated win -40 months.
20	6	6	6	5	DEONTAY WILDER	26.29	12-0-0	KO 9 #22 ARTUR SZPILKA
--	12	12	13	6	CHARLES MARTIN	24.83	5-0-0	TKO 3 #5 VYACH GLAZKOV
9	9	7	7	7	RUSLAN CHAGAEV	20.92	18-2-0
23	11	9	8	8	ANDY RUIZ JR	18.38	9-0-0	last rated win -13 months.
67	16	10	10	9	ERKAN TEPER	18.33	7-0-0
25	31	37	11	10	LUIS ORTIZ	18.18	9-0-0

A win is a win, and Charles Martin takes advantage of that fact to fly up to #6 as Glazkov falls from #5 to #12. Wilder moves up a notch to #5, his highest ranking ever on our Top 100. He's still below the retired Vitali Klitschko (inactive over 3 years) due to a generally weak schedule despite a 36-0 record. He also rates below mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin (#3), as well as of course Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko.

Though most fans would like to see Wilder face one of those above him, we have a feeling that Martin will be his next opponent. Martin didn't look bad in the first few rounds but his win was a fluke and he would be a much less daunting challenge than Povetkin.

Wladimir Klitschko vs. Tyson Fury Live Round by Round Scoring

World champion Wladimir Klitschko takes on SportsRatings #4 ranked Tyson Fury in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Wladimir Klitschko
64-3-0 (53 KO)
6'-6"
246 lbs.

Tyson Fury
24-0-0 (18 KO)
6'-9"
246 lbs.

Fury and Klitschko have entered the ring.

National anthems and introductions have commenced, along with obligatory "let's get ready to rumble."

Round-by-round scoring:

• Round One: The boxers both look very tall in the ring, both fighting at distance early, nothing landing, pawing at each other. Left hook from Fury comes close, a few jabs from Klitschko. Fury's guard is low, throwing jabs from low trajectory. Lots of nothing going on, first clinch of the fight. Fury is hyperactive, leads with left again, gets in a jab. Exchange at end of round. Who won the round? Hard to say. Punting on this one. 10-10
• Round Two: Fury and Klitshchko exchange jabs....Fury keeping guard very low, staying at distance. Fury rushes in for attack and lands with the left. Fury trying to knock Klitschkos arms away, takes short hit from Klitschko. Round ends with Fury maybe the more successful with very little again, no damage done. Fury 10-9; Fury 20-19.
• Round Three: Klitschko likely playing the long game, waiting for Fury to slow down his activity. For now he's being very careful. His jabs are very tentative as Fury stays far back. Fury doing almost nothing at midpoint of round. Big swing from Klitschko misses, Fury now in southpaw. Two clinches, Fury hits the back of the head in clinch. Fury didn't connect with anything else this round, give this one to Klitschko for actually trying something. Klitschko 10-9; 29-29.
• Round Four: Klitschko more agressive at the start with jabs. Fury counters with sloppy left hook. Near middle of round both have slowed down and are back to early output. More clinching. Two big swings from Fury hit Klitschko's gloves. Good exchange but both miss. Another exchange and both connect. Another too-close round. 10-10; 39-39.
• Round Five: Quick clinch as fighters are closer together. Fury ducking low into clinches. More back of head punches in clinch. Fury connects with jabs, moves out of range. Fury looking confident in middle of round, dancing. Another low duck clinch from Fury. Fury misses big and spins out. Klitschko actually has cut on his face, probably from heads connecting. Fury 10-9; Fury 49-48.
• Round Six: Fury continues movement at range. Solid left jab from Fury. Klitschko still looks tentative. Good left jab from Fury again. Klitschko stalking him down but not letting fists go. Fury mocks him with hands behind back. Jab again from Fury, attempts rare combo. Klitschko jab. Fury ducks jabs. Fury 10-9; Fury 59-57.
• Round Seven: Left hook from Fury misses, Fury backfist punch connects after another miss. Fury jumping in and attacking. Klitschko is looking very annoyed. Fury connects with close combo. Klitschko's counters not as effective as usual. Fury backs up Klitschko, another clinch. Fury puts hands behind back again, another clinch. Another round for Fury 10-9; Fury 69-66.
• Round Eight: Klitschko's corner seems to know he may be behind on cards, and at some point he will have to take chances. Fury backed into corner, clinch again. Fury hangs back, another clinch. Fury jumps in again with arms swinging. Klischko's jab connects. Fury bodyshots at break of clinch. Fury ducks into clinch again. Klitschko trying to get jab working. Klitschko jumps in this time, clinch again. That was just a clinchfest. 10-10; Fury 79-76.
• Round Nine: More action early, but both fighters quick to clinch. Klitschko lands two solid rights. Fury warned again for rabbit punches. Klitschko misses with right. Huge left by Fury after having his back turned. Jab from Fury. Did Fury win the round with that punch? Punting again, dammit. 10-10; Fury 89-86;
• Round Ten: Jabs from both fighters, Fury swinging away. Fury staying at distance, Klitschko hasn't got his rhythm yet. Big swing from Fury coming off clinch misses. Both wrestle in corner. Klitschko gets in close, and he goes for the clinch? Fury 10-9; Fury 99-95.
• Round Eleven: Corner pleading for Klitschko to throw the right hand. Klitscho does start more aggressive. Klitschko moves in, then backs out. More clinching. Doesn't seem to reflect the urgency that his corner had. He looks resigned to whatever the cards say. One minute to go in the round. Wladimir looks tentative again. Solid left hook by Fury. Fury hits him again. Fury hits the side of Wlad's head in the clinch, and Fury gets a point deducted for rabbit punch. 9-9 with deduction; Fury 108-104.
• Round Twelve: Fury hits the back of head in the clinch again, another warning for both boxers. Fury gets in a good punch as the two wrestle. Big right hand from Klitschko, best of the night. Left from Klitschko. Big clinch, then Fury is hurt again. Fury hit again, and hanging on with one minute left. Fury still keeping guard low at the one time he needs to keep them high. Huge right from Klitschko again. Big round from Wladimir but it might not be enough. Almost a 10-8 round but Fury stayed up. Klitschko 10-9; Fury 117-114.

The scores could go either way, especially in Germany. Did Fury really "take away" the title? Not really, but he probably outpointed him on the cards. The point deduction could conceivably be the difference in a fight where neither fighter did much of anything, which might mean Klitschko keeping his title.

115-112; 115-112; 116-111; winner: Tyson Fury. Amazing.

The cards basically reflected what we saw, winning by a narrow decision—two judges matching our 3-point win, and one with a 5-point win. Wladimir Klitschko has no one to blame but himself—he really only woke up in the last round; if he had opened up even a couple rounds earlier he could have knocked Fury out, or managed to win a decision. Instead he remained tentative for 11 rounds and lost the fight.

Now Tyson Fury is singing a song, so we will sign out.

Fabricio Werdum submits Cain Velasquez: Where should he rank all-time?

There's no question, after Fabricio Werdum's dismantling of Cain Velasquez, that he ranks as the #1 heavyweight in the world right now. But where should he rank among mixed martial artists all-time?

UFC 188 - Werdum takes over as #1 heavyweight

After losing a surprisingly close first round, Fabricio Werdum stayed focused and won the standup in round 2, rocking an increasingly sluggish Cain Velasquez. Werdum continued to win exchanges in the third round before administering a tight guillotine choke from the guard for the victory.

SportsRatings Heavyweight rankings updated through UFC 188

June 1 Rank	June 14 Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	June Results
2	1	Fabricio Werdum	HW	83.10	19-5-1	Beat #1 Cain Velasquez
1	2	Cain Velasquez	HW	52.50	10-2-0	Lost to #2 Fabricio Werdum
3	3	Andrei Arlovski	HW	34.23	22-10-0
4	4	Junior dos Santos	HW	32.80	11-2-0
5	5	Fedor Emelianenko	HW	25.40	27-4-0	last win -36 months.
7	6	Ben Rothwell	HW	23.46	25-9-0	Beat #44 Matt Mitrione
6	7	Alistair Overeem	HW	23.11	32-14-0
8	8	Vitaly Minakov	HW	19.91	3-0-0	last win -14 months.
9	9	Travis Browne	HW	19.51	7-3-1
10	10	Stipe Miocic	HW	18.00	7-2-0

Even though he held the UFC belt due to Velasquez's inactivity, he was not considered the "real" champ—until now.

But looking long term at Werdum's career, he has defeated the men considered the consensus top three heavyweights of all time: Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and now Cain Velasquez. When you've defeated the top three all-time, where does that put you?

According to our All-Time Rankings, it puts Werdum at #3 himself, knocking Velasquez to #4 among heavyweights. He and Velasquez switch positions at #7 and #9 among all fighters.

SportsRatings All-Time Mixed Martial Arts Rankings through June 13, 2015:

January Rank	June 13 rank	Fighter	Rating	Rated Record	Peak month; highest-rated win
1	1	Fedor Emelianenko	93.90	27-4-0	peak rating: 11/2009  top win: 3/2003 #5 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
2	2	Georges St. Pierre	91.39	23-2-0	peak rating: 11/2013  top win: 11/2006 #19 Matt Hughes
3	3	Jon Jones	84.81	15-1-0	peak rating: 1/2015  top win: 3/2011 #21 Mauricio Rua
4	4	Anderson Silva	78.50	31-6-0	peak rating: 10/2012  top win: 8/2001 #35 Hayato Sakurai
5	5	Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira	73.77	32-9-1	peak rating: 12/2002  top win: 9/2001 #39 Mark Coleman
8	6	Chris Weidman	72.82	9-0-0	peak rating: 5/2015  top win: 7/2013 #4 Anderson Silva
9	7	Fabricio Werdum	72.36	19-5-1	peak rating: 6/2015  top win: 6/2010 #1 Fedor Emelianenko
6	8	Lyoto Machida	71.94	19-6-0	peak rating: 10/2009  top win: 3/2005 #18 B.J. Penn
7	9	Cain Velasquez	70.76	10-2-0	peak rating: 10/2013  top win: 12/2012 #26 Junior dos Santos
10	10	Wanderlei Silva	65.88	34-12-1	peak rating: 10/2004  top win: 12/2000 #14 Dan Henderson

Our All-Time chart is made by formula, making it completely objective but also a product of its algorithm's whim. Still, it gives an idea of what Werdum has accomplished when you note he has defeated the #1, #5, and #9 fighters on the list.

All three of those fights had interesting circumstances. Werdum beat Fedor by a triangle choke when Emelianenko rushed in foolishly to Werdum's guard; some say it was a fluke result. Werdum fought Nogueira late in Big Nog's career, when he was much less effective. And the fight with Velasquez came after Cain had a long layoff, and he was clearly gassed by the high altitude in Mexico City.

And Werdum has had some bad losses, for example the one-sided loss to Alistair Overeem that followed the Fedor win. In that fight Werdum dropped to the ground after every punch, hoping to draw Overeem in the way he did Fedor. It made for a laughable fight and was the reason many dismissed the Fedor win and Werdum's chance for realistic title contention in the UFC.

But Werdum's skill set continued to develop. He went from a one-dimensional jiu-jitsu specialist to a very well-rounded fighter over the course of 5 UFC wins. He beat the dangerous and iron-chinned Roy Nelson, punched out Mike Russow, and submitted Nogueira. Then came a surprise win over the surging Travis Browne, after which he KOed Mark Hunt with a knee.

He was a 4-1 underdog against Velasquez but he used his height advantage to good effect, leaning on Cain when against the cage and scoring with long jabs and front kicks out in the open. He survived the first round fairly unscathed and won the 2nd round very clearly. In the third he had Velasquez so tired it was anybody's fight, and he took advantage of a scramble to force a tap-out that no one expected.

Werdum's next opponent may be Junior dos Santos, which would make a very good fight. Stipe Miocic also ranks high in the UFC rankings, as does the rebounding Andre Arlovski, who like dos Santos holds a win over Werdum from several years ago. Whether or not Werdum can hold on to the top spot very long, he certainly has made things more interesting in the division.

#5 Tyson Fury vs. #11 Dereck Chisora: The Rematch; live round-by-round scoring

Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora in a rematch of the previous bout won by Fury in 2011.

Fury weighed in heavy, 20 pounds heavier than Chisora in full clothing.

• Round; Description

1.  Chisora ducking, moving in on Fury. Fury tags Chisora with a good uppercut. Fury using his height well in the early part of the first round, Chisora swings wildly but misses. Good body shot from Chisora but hits low, Fury warned about hitting the back of the head. Chisora moves in while covering up peek-a-boo style. Fury jabbing, Chisora goes to the body and hits low again. Fighters tie up near the end of the round. Fury 10-9
2. Fury jabbing to keep distance, Chisora swinging for the fences again and missing. Fury ties up Chisora when he gets close, similar to Klitschko strategy. Combo by Fury when Chisora parks within distance. Jab from Fury, another whiff from Chisora. Good body shot by Fury. Jabbing from southpaw stance. Chisora is having trouble with distance and Fury's size so far. Fury now pushing Chisora back and peppering him with jabs. Round solidly to Fury 10-9; 20-18.
3. Fighters trading jabs early, Chisora has more head movement. Chisora connects with his overhand right from within the clinch, his best punch of the fight so far. Fury backing away with right-hand jabs. Chisora not closing in, finally does and gets clinched. Fury stays southpaw late in round, clinches Chisora again, gets warned for pressure on the neck. Still Fury's round, 10-9; Fury 30-27
4. Fury peppers away again to start the 4th, Chisora rushes in to no effect. Clinch, and Chisora tries overhand smash again but misses. Fury switches to lefty jabs and dodges a few wild Chisora hooks. Fighters tie up against the ropes halfway through round. At close range, Fury launches mild uppercuts, then hits him with a solid left that has Chisora a bit stunned for the first time. Late in the round Chisora is trying to unleash a big punch but can't. Fury 10-9; 40-36
5. Fury moving slowly but Chisora unable to get inside, Fury controlling the ring. More jabs, this time left hand. Fury backed into corner and takes a shot to the face, comes back out and jabs some more. Chisora tries it again and eats a punch in the face himself. Fury's punches aren't hurting Chisora but they are frustrating him and one eye is a bit swollen. Right hand jabs from Fury. Double jab combo, Chisora not doing much at all late in the round. Fury 10-9; 50-45.
6. Chisora not a happy camper in his corner between rounds. Sixth round featuring more infighting at close range for first minute, Chisora connecting only on wide body shots, but Fury not doing much either. Fury jabs vs. Chisora wide body punches. Fury's jabs look weak, Fury stretches out his right arm as if it's slightly injured, but he's still using it for jabs. Chisora whiffs again with big right, Fury working with jabs and occasional uppercut. Closest round yet, but still Fury 10-9; 60-54.
7. Chisora needs a big punch to turn things around since he can't really win on points. Chisora backs Fury into corner again but no breakthroughs. Fury throws hard right, Chisora whiffs by a mile with a right. Ref warns Fury for backhanding jabs. Fury backed against ropes, ducks away from punches. Fury isn't doing anything spectacular, but he's taken Chisora out of his game completely. Fury 10-9; 70-63
8. Now Fury seems to be playing it safe, jabbing a bit but keeping more of a distance. Slow workrate from both fighters. Fury switches to orthodox stance, good left hand connects after switching back to southpaw. Chisora keeps moving in but doesn't seem to have much of a plan except for hope of a random shot to change the fight. Fury still tagging him at will, though. Fury 10-9; 80-72
9. Lots of tie-up early as Chisora tries to get inside. Fighters walking around to their next clash, crowd boos. Chisora is actually bouncing on his toes, trying to get something going, but gets jabbed in the face a few times again. They trade some decent body shots, Chisora lunges again at Fury against the ropes but misses. Fury blocks another windmill, backs up to avoid yet another. Chisora ends round against ropes. Fury 10-9; 90-81.
10. Fury establishes jab yet again to start 10th round. Fury in no hurry to try to force a stoppage, using his strength only to keep Chisora away with the jab and very occasional harder shot. Under a minute left, Fury is in full control and has Chisora hurt, but Chisora isn't about to go down. Fury 10-9, 100-90. Chisora's corner is pulling him, however.

Tyson Fury basically pitched a shutout against Chisora which is pretty impressive. But it's hard to tell how much credit to give since Chisora didn't show much skill; sometimes Chisora has poor fights, and this was certainly one of them.

This result, combined with #4 Kubrat Pulev's loss to Wlad Klitschko, should move Fury back into the #4 spot in our Heavyweight top 100. Chisora, who has been all over our rankings with high-profile wins mixed in with several losses, will drop to the lower reaches of the top 25 at 20-5. Fury moves to 23-0.

#1 Wladimir Klitschko vs. #4 Kubrat Pulev live round-by-round scoring, results

Two heavyweight boxers, one the champion of the world, the other a top-ranked undefeated challenger. Wladimir Klitschko (62-3-0, 52 KO) vs. Kubrat Pulev (20-0-0, 11 KO), from Hamburg, Germany. Here is our live round-by-round scoring and description of the fight.

The fight is just about to start. Interestingly, Pulev outweighs Klitschko by 1 kilogram.

• Round - Description

1. Klitschko holds almost immediately. Pulev connects with a jab, more holding. Pulev looks nearly as tall as Klitschko. Klitschko puts Pulev down with a strong left while Pulev is ducking, he is almost out!!! Pulev down again, fight is almost over. Pulev is nearly out on his feet with a minute left. Pulev is holding on with seconds left in the round...he survives. Klitschko 10-7
2. Pulev looks steadier to start the 2nd round, but Klitschko is completely fresh. More holding by both fighters in the first half of the round, hitting the back of the head. Lots of arm-fighting as both fighters try to get their respective jabs through. Confusing round, but Pulev looks like he'll make it a while, which wasn't certain in the first round. Draw, 10-10. Klitschko 20-17
3. Fighters trade jabs early, less locking up than before. They're doing a lot of nothing, then locking up. Klitschko connects with a huge right, then tries to smother Pulev...Pulev pushed down again, but gets the 8 count. Klitschko is pummeling Pulev now but he survives...cut under his eye. First time in a long time we've seen full swinging punches from Klitschko. Klitschko 10-8, 30-25.
4. Pulev with a good flurry early. Klitschko responds and they tie up. More gamesmanship with arm-fighting, Pulev jumps in with a good right but it wasn't damaging. Pulev jumps in to connect but doesn't quite get there before the tie-up. Pulev's style is leaving him open to Klitschko shots. Pulev did pretty well this round but it was at best a draw. 10-10 Klitschko 40-35
5. Great left by Klitschko, who is dancing while Pulev stands still. Klitschko punching from within the tie-up. Klitschko again punches, ties-up. Good shot by Pulev, but Klitschko delivers a killer left hook and Pulev is out!!! Flat on his back, he can't beat the count.

The fight was pretty good, and how good might it have been if Pulev hadn't been hurt in the first round? The problem with Pulev's style is how far he held his hands apart looking for the jab—it left him wide open for Klitschko's straight punches. He avoided those for the most part but once he got dodging or ducking, Wladimir could hit him in other ways.

Pulev showed a lot of toughness and certainly brought the fight to Klitschko, unlike Haye and others, but his style wasn't good for defending against Wladimir's speed and accuracy. Klitschko responded well to Pulev's aggressiveness and didn't crumble like the "old" Wladimir from the early 2000's—he took control of the fight early and had Pulev hurt, and after that it looked just like a matter of time. Either it was going to be a very wide decision or at some point, a knockout. Pulev took a high-risk strategy and Klitschko neutralized that threat.

So once again, there will be no change at the top of the SportsRatings Heavyweight rankings—Wladimir Klitschko remains #1 for about 8 years running now.

Huge Upset: Chris Weidman shuts down Anderson Silva taunting with KO win

Anderson Silva did a little too much clowning and not enough fighting and defending, and the price he paid was his UFC middleweight belt. Chris Weidman took advantage of Silva's taunting tactics, delivering a knockout blow as Silva pretended to be stunned by a previous punch.

Silva wasn't even really ahead in the fight at the time, having probably lost the first round. But he assumed he had taken Weidman's best shot—on the ground—and began his taunting soon thereafter. The end came just over a minute into the 2nd round.

Weidman's win will cause a big shakeup in next month's SportsRatings MMA Power Ratings, starting with the overall or "pound-for-pound" rankings, where Silva was formerly #2:

Projected August 1st Pound-for-pound MMA Rankings

July Rank	Aug Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	UFC 162 Results
1	1	Georges St. Pierre	WW	95.74	22-2-0
3	2	Jon Jones	LH	86.38	12-1-0
4	3	Cain Velasquez	HW	74.26	9-1-0
5	4	Benson Henderson	LW	72.07	11-1-0
25	5	Chris Weidman	MW	69.06	6-0-0	Beat #2 Anderson Silva
2	6	Anderson Silva	MW	61.91	30-5-0	Lost to #25 Chris Weidman
6	7	Fabricio Werdum	HW	55.66	16-5-1
7	8	Lyoto Machida	LH	53.96	16-3-0
8	9	Daniel Cormier	HW	53.15	9-0-0
9	10	Johny Hendricks	WW	49.29	11-1-0
10	11	Jose Aldo	FW	47.30	14-1-0

Weidman (now 10-0-0 overall, 6-0-0 in rated fights) will take a huge jump from #25 to #5, one spot ahead of Silva, who falls to #6 with his 5th career loss.

And of course, Silva also loses the top Middleweight spot to Weidman, though he only falls to #2. The two fighters are miles ahead of the rest of the field, as Silva was before the bout.

Middleweight - 185 lb. limit - August 1st projection

July Rank	Aug Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	UFC 162 Results
3	1	Chris Weidman	MW	69.06	6-0-0	Beat #1 Anderson Silva
1	2	Anderson Silva	MW	61.91	30-5-0	Lost to #3 Chris Weidman
2	3	Vitor Belfort	MW	30.76	22-10-0
4	4	Ronaldo Souza	MW	25.64	13-2-0
5	5	Costas Philippou	MW	25.02	5-1-0
6	6	Yushin Okami	MW	24.77	19-6-0
7	7	Tarec Saffiedine	MW	24.00	4-1-0
13	8	Mark Munoz	MW	23.72	8-2-0	Beat #11 Tim Boetsch
8	9	Alexander Shlemenko	MW	23.15	14-2-0
9	10	Ronny Markes	MW	21.55	3-0-0

Mark Munoz's impressive win should put him back in the top 10 in the division. If Silva's post-fight vow to not rematch Weidman or fight for the belt again is true (we'll see what Dana White thinks of that), then Vitor Belfort might be Weidman's next opponent (licensing issues withstanding).

In any case, the middleweight division—probably the weakest and least competitive in the UFC—just got a whole lot more interesting.