The second weekend of December was a busy one across three continents, with two world titles changing hands and needle-moving victories for many ranked contenders elsewhere. <\/p>\n
Noel Mikaelian<\/a> regained the WBC cruiserweight strap with a 12-round points win over three-division champion Badou Jack in Los Angeles<\/a>, leaving the latter to ponder the possibility of retirement aged 42 seven months after their first meeting. Scroll down to see the various moves across three weight categories:<\/p>\n *Bold\/italics denotes movement in the division.<\/p>\n Cruiserweight<\/p>\n Mikaelian rises two spots to No. 4, while Jack drops a place to sixth after his maiden loss at 200-pounds and first since consecutive 12-round decision defeats at light heavyweight in 2019.<\/p>\n C JAI OPETAIA Australia 29-0-0 (23 KOs)<\/p>\n 1 GILBERTO RAMIREZ Mexico 48-1-0 (30 KOs)<\/p>\n 2 CHRIS BILLAM-SMITH U.K. 21-2-0 (13 KOs)<\/p>\n 3 MICHAL CIESLAK Poland 28-2-0 (22 KOs)<\/p>\n 4 NOEL MIKAELIAN Armenia 28-3-0 (12 KOs)<\/p>\n 5 RYAN ROZICKI Canada 20-1-1 (19 KOs)<\/p>\n 6 BADOU JACK Sweden 29-4-3 (17 KOs)<\/p>\n 7 LEONARDO MOSQUEA France 17-0-0 (10 KOs)<\/p>\n 8 ROBIN SIRWAN SAFAR Sweden 19-0-0 (13 KOs)<\/p>\n 9 VIDDAL RILEY U.K. 13-0-0 (7 KOs)<\/p>\n 10 BRANDON GLANTON U.S. 21-3-0. (18 KOs)<\/p>\n Middleweight C (vacant)<\/p>\n 1 CARLOS ADAMES Dom. Rep 24-1-1 (18 KOs)<\/p>\n 2 YOENLI HERNANDEZ Cuba 9-0-0 (8 KOs)<\/p>\n 3 ERISLANDY LARA U.S. 32-3-3 (19 KOs)<\/p>\n 4 CONOR BENN U.K. 24-1-0 (14 KOs)<\/p>\n 5 TROY ISLEY U.S. 15-0-0 (5 KOs)<\/p>\n 6 ETINOSA OLIHA Italy 21-0-0 (9 KOs)<\/p>\n 7 AARON MCKENNA Ireland 20-0-0 (10 KOs)<\/p>\n 8 AUSTIN WILLIAMS U.S. 19-1-0 (13 KOs)<\/p>\n 9 CHRIS EUBANK JR. U.K. 35-4-0 (25 KOs)<\/p>\n 10 JESUS RAMOS JR. U.S. 24-1-0 (19 KOs)<\/p>\n
In Mexico City, Jose Salas<\/a> scored a seventh-round stoppage of Landile Ngxeke to win the IBF bantamweight crown left vacant by The Ring’s No. 7 pound-for-pound operator Junto Nakatani<\/a>, who makes his 122-pound debut against Sebastian Hernandez on Dec. 27<\/a>.
The Ring’s No. 7-rated light heavyweight contender Imam Khataev<\/a> returned to winning ways after his contentious points loss by David Morrell in July<\/a>, stopping former title challenger Adam Deines in three rounds. Meanwhile former IBF world featherweight champion and The Ring’s No. 5-rated 126-pound contender Luis Alberto Lopez<\/a> brutally beat down Miguel Arevalo Mejia, also stopping him in three one-sided rounds during their Mexicali matchup.
Elsewhere, The Ring’s No. 5-rated super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco<\/a> endured adversity and a career-first knockdown before outpointing Kevin Lele Sadjo<\/a> in Stockton, California.
On the same card, newly-minted WBO lightweight beltholder Abdullah Mason’s next foe was all but set in stone after Joe Cordina’s gritty points win over Gabriel Flores<\/a> while former WBC featherweight queen Skye Nicolson<\/a> won interim world title honours down at 122-pounds with a 10-round decision win over former world champion Yuliahn Luna Avila<\/a>.
The evening prior, former unified cruiserweight beltholder Murat Gassiev’s one-punch knockout of Kubrat Pulev<\/a> for the WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title stole headlines in Dubai.<\/p>\n
Unified champion and No. 1-rated Janibek Alimkhanuly<\/a> is out after testing positive for banned substance meldonium<\/a> before his proposed three-belt unification against Erislandy Lara earlier this month, meaning there’s a new divisional leader in WBC beltholder Adames.
WBC interim titleholder Ramos, fresh from his 12-round points win over Shane Mosley Jr<\/a>, is the new entrant at No. 10 while everyone else rises a spot.<\/p>\n