Divisional rankings: Light heavyweight

Dan Rafael
ESPN Senior Writer

Check out my rankings within each division by clicking on the links below. If there is a lineal champion in the weight class he is ranked No. 1.

Who is the best fighter regardless of weight class? See ESPN’s pound-for-pound rankings.

For a list of the current champions in all weight classes, click here.

Note: Results through Aug. 8. In an effort to provide the most up-to-date rankings, ESPN.com’s division-by-division boxing rankings will be updated every Tuesday.

More divisional rankings

Heavyweight – Cruiserweight – Light heavyweight – Super middleweight

Middleweight – Junior middleweight – Welterweight – Junior welterweight

Lightweight – Junior lightweight – Featherweight – Junior featherweight

Bantamweight – Junior bantamweight – Flyweight – Junior flyweight/Strawweight

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (UP TO 175 POUNDS)

1. Adonis Stevenson (28-1)
Adonis Stevenson Stephanie Trapp/Showtime
Quebec’s Stevenson burst onto the scene to win the world title with a 76-second knockout of Chad Dawson in 2013, but he has disappointed many by not fighting the top opponents available, such as Sergey Kovalev and Jean Pascal. Nonetheless, since bailing on a deal to face Kovalev, Stevenson has faced Andrzej Fonfara in a life-and-death struggle, followed by three mismatches against Dmitry Sukhotsky, Sakio Bika and Tommy Karpency. The Karpency fight in September was a pointless match, as Stevenson smoked him in two rounds in a result as predictable as the sun rising. At least when he defended the title July 29, he did so against a deserving challenger in Thomas Williams Jr., whom he drilled in the fourth round.
Next: TBA

2. Sergey Kovalev (30-0-1)

Kovalev, a punching machine from Russia, beat down the great Bernard Hopkins in a one-sided decision in November 2014 to unify three belts and followed with a similarly one-sided eighth-round knockout of former champion Jean Pascal in March 2015. Still unable to get champion Adonis Stevenson to fight him, Kovalev then crushed mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi and Pascal in a rematch in January. Now he has his biggest fight on deck, a fall HBO PPV showdown against former super middleweight champion Andre Ward (29-0) after Kovalev secured his place in the bout by dropping contender Isaac Chilemba and winning a clear decision in his Russian homecoming fight July 11.
Next: Nov. 19 vs. Ward

3. Andre Ward (30-0)

The tuneup fights are finally over and the big fall HBO PPV fight against unified titleholder Sergey Kovalev (30-0-1) is finally on after Ward, the former super middleweight world champion, rolled to easy wins in a pair of showcase bouts as he got used to his new weight class. First was a lopsided decision against Sullivan Barrera on March 26 and then the final hurdle, a shutout decision against overmatched Alexander Brand of Colombia, in a horrible fight on Aug. 6.
Next: Nov. 19 vs. Kovalev

4. Juergen Braehmer (48-2)

Germany’s Braehmer made the sixth defense of his secondary world title on March 12 and won a clear unanimous decision — 118-110, 116-111 and 116-111 — against Eduard Gutknecht in a rematch of Braehmer’s similar decision win to claim the European title in 2013. Defense No. 7 will come on home turf against former titleholder Nathan Cleverly (29-3) of Wales.
Next: Oct. 1 vs. Cleverly

5. Artur Beterbiev (10-0)

Beterbiev, a two-time Russian Olympian, is on the fast track as a pro and seemingly on his way to a world title shot. However, his quick move was slowed when he suffered a right shoulder injury and had to pull out of a November title eliminator for the right to challenge Sergey Kovalev, whom Beterbiev defeated in the amateurs. Beterbiev had surgery and was out for one year until returning on June 4 and destroying Argentina’s Ezequiel Maderna in the fourth round of a one-sided fight.
Next: TBA

6. Eleider “Storm” Alvarez (20-0)

Alvarez, a 2008 Olympian from Colombia fighting out of Montreal, earned a mandatory shot against world champion (and fellow Montreal fighter) Adonis Stevenson by virtue of his close decision win against Isaac Chilemba in their title eliminator in November. Alvarez was due to return against faded former world titleholder Chad Dawson on the Spike-televised undercard of Stevenson’s next fight as they build up their likely meeting later in the year. However, Dawson suffered a shoulder injury, leaving Alvarez to face New Zealand’s Robert Berridge, whom he easily outpointed in a dreadful fight.
Next: TBA

7. Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (16-0)
A native of Ukraine based in Los Angeles, Shabranskyy is a powerful puncher with a good amateur background. He got his first high-profile fight when he headlined on HBO Latino against tough Cuban contender Yunieski Gonzalez on Dec.19 and won a hard-fought, action-packed majority decision. Shabranskyy returned on April 15 and hammered journeyman Derrick Findley in a third-round knockout win. Next up he will face Oscar Riojas (10-5-1) on Golden Boy’s “LA Fight Club” series.
Next: Aug. 19 vs. Riojas

8. Joe Smith Jr. (22-1)

In a shocking upset, New Yorker Smith, a construction worker by trade, had his Rocky moment in his first televised fight on June 18. That’s when he went to Polish contender Andrzej Fonfara’s turf in Chicago and scored two heavy knockdowns in a first-round knockout victory. Fonfara never saw the shots coming.
Next: TBA

9. Isaac Chilemba (24-4-2)

Although Chilemba was coming off a decision loss (a very questionable one) to Eledier Alvarez in a November title eliminator, he still got a world title shot against Sergey Kovalev thanks to the fact that they share a promoter, Main Events. But Chilemba acquitted himself very well. Although he suffered a seventh-round knockdown in the July 11 fight in Russia, Chilemba forced Kovalev to go the distance in a performance far better than most expected.
Next: TBA

10. Andrzej Fonfara (28-4)

Fonfara, born in Poland and based in Chicago, made his name in a surprisingly close decision loss challenging Adonis Stevenson for the title in May 2014 and then by dropping Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for the first time in his career in the ninth round and making him quit in April 2015. Fonfara scored another excellent win in October, outpointing former titlist Nathan Cleverly in a wildly entertaining fight that was so action-packed that they broke several division CompuBox records. But when Fonfara met untested and unknown Joe Smith Jr. on June 18 on NBC in prime time, he suffered a stunning first-round knockout loss.