The Ring updated their light heavyweight top 10 rankings, and a few fixes are needed to move the more talented fighters from the bottom towards the top.
Undisputed light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol is understandably placed as the division’s King. However, as we’ve seen with other weight classes, being the four-belt champion isn’t what it’s cracked it to be.
Rethinking 175
We’ve got to ignore champions, especially the carefully maneuvered undisputed champions. Instead, focus on the actual talent, the contenders, who haven’t been given a chance to fight for titles because they are swerved by the sly promoters, who find ways to bypass them. David Benvidez is clearly the true King of the 175-lb division, and Bivol just one of the underlings beneath his royalty.
King: Dmitry Bivol
- Artur Beterbiev
- David Benavidez
- Callum Smith
- Joshua Buatsi
- Anthony Yarde
- Albert Ramirez
- Oleksandr Gvozdyk
- David Morrell
- Willy Hutchinson
- Imam Khataev
We’ve got to throw out the undisputed as part of the ranking system for fighters because it doesn’t mean that fighter is the best. It only means they have powerful promoters and in some cases, they win questionable decisions in fights that should have been scored as a draw. Bivol is NOT the King of the 175-lb division.
Bivol’s recent fight against Artur Beterbiev was seen as a draw by too many fans for him to be viewed as a king of the light heavyweight division. Moreover, I don’t see Bivol defeating David Benavidez or David Morrell. You can argue that Bivol is just a well-promoted fighter, who has Eddie Hearn as his promoter, and isn’t the true King. He’s just well-manuevered and got very, very, very lucky with the scoring of his rematch with Artur Beterbiev on February 22nd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
My List
King: David Benavidez
- Artur Beterbiev
- Dmitry Bivol
- David Morrell
- Callum Smith
- Joshua Buatsi
- Willy Hutchinson
- Anthony Yarde
- Albert Ramirez
- Oleksandr Gvozdyk
- Imam Khataev
Last Updated on 03/01/2025
