Bad Left Hook Boxing Rankings (Feb. 18, 2020): Linares returns at 135, Plant holds at 168

Badlefthook.com

By Scott Christ @scblh1

Rankings will be posted each Tuesday at Noon ET.

Ranked fights this week:

Heavyweight: (1) Tyson Fury vs (2) Deontay Wilder, Feb. 22
Featherweight: (9) Ryan Walsh vs Tyrone McCullagh, Feb. 21
Junior Featherweight: (3) Emanuel Navarrete vs Jeo Tupas Santisima, Feb. 22

Upcoming Fights: (1) Tyson Fury vs (2) Deontay Wilder, Feb. 22 … (3) Anthony Joshua vs (8) Kubrat Pulev, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Mairis Briedis vs (2) Yuniel Dorticos, Mar. 21

Upcoming Fights: (1) Artur Beterbiev vs Meng Fanlong, Mar. 28

Notes: I think if you’ve been around here long enough you know that for the most part I work hard to not scream about how everyone actually sucks and nobody’s ever had a good win in their entire careers and “How can anyone compare to fighter who was on top when I was 8? Fuck!” But man, Caleb Plant has fought some dogshit challengers in his first two title defenses. Mike Lee ain’t in the top 150 in any division in boxing and Vincent Feigenbutz was only better in the same way that a baseball team that goes 78-84 is better than one that goes 55-107. Again, the IBF is to blame for Feigenbutz, they absurdly made him nadatory challenger, but Plant’s really gotta fight someone good next, and David Benavidez is the guy to line up, it would seem. I’m not knocking Plant’s ability; I think on the eye test there’s tons to like about his game, and I like his general attitude, but we still have to see him against better opposition. Even Uzcategui was a very limited fighter, if good at what he did. The real trouble now is if Benavidez isn’t next, political issues and the fact that this is a kinda weak division aren’t going to help him find much of an opponent, probably. Anthony Dirrell would be next in PBC’s line as far as making a halfway decent matchup.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Canelo Alvarez vs TBA, May 2

Upcoming Fights: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs TBA, May 2 … (2) Gennadiy Golovkin vs Kamil Szeremeta, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (6) Brian Castano vs (10) Patrick Teixeira, April 25

Upcoming Fights: (9) Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Samuel Vargas, Mar. 28

Upcoming Fights: (1) Josh Taylor vs Apinun Khongsong, May 2 … (2) Jose Ramirez vs (6) Viktor Postol, TBA

Notes: I had Linares tentatively ranked No. 10 as recently as a month ago or whatever, but he got dropped with Davis coming in and what have you. He’s back now after a solid thrashing of Carlos Morales on Saturday, and I’ve slotted him at No. 7. Linares’ loss at 140 to Pablo Cesar Cano a year ago can’t be erased, but that was more evidence of 140 just not being for him, perhaps. Too heavy. And it wasn’t THAT long ago that he gave Vasiliy Lomachenko a real test. Linares is dangerous against anyone here. As for Ryan Garcia, who may be next for Linares, he’s creeping the top 10.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs (2) Teofimo Lopez, May 30 … (4) Luke Campbell vs (7) Javier Fortuna, TBA

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Upcoming Fights: (9) Ryan Walsh vs Tyrone McCullagh, Feb. 21 … (3) Shakur Stevenson vs Miguel Marriaga, Mar. 14 … (7) Jessie Magdaleno vs Sakaria Lukas, Mar. 14

Upcoming Fights: (3) Emanuel Navarrete vs Jeo Tupas Santisima, Feb. 22

Upcoming Fights: (2) Luis Nery vs Aaron Alameda [junior featherweight], Mar. 28 … (1) Naoya Inoue vs (5) John Riel Casimero, Apr. 25 … (8) Jason Moloney vs Joshua Greer, Apr. 25 … (3) Nordine Oubaali vs (4) Nonito Donaire, TBA