Junior Welterweight Division Rankings

Top 10 Junior Welterweight Contenders

1. Terence Crawford – Crawford made a very impressive debut at 140 lbs, dispatching of Thomas Dulorme for a vacant title strap. Unfortunately, Crawford vs. Dulorme fell just short of meeting our qualifications for a vacant championship fight. Still, he’s the top dog in this division already.
2. Lucas Matthysse – Matthysse had been blasting a hole through the division until he encountered Garcia. The swollen eye slowed him down, but really, once Garcia was able to prove that he could take some of those incoming shots, it changed the fight, and enabled Garcia to turn things around. Had to get up off the canvas to defeat the always-rugged John Molina, but came on strong and gave Molina a beating by the end. Got past Ruslan Provodnikov via Majority Decision in an expected bloody affair.
3. Lamont Peterson – It’s been a wild ride for Peterson. The win over Amir Khan. The failed drug test and the long layoff. The resounding victory over Kendall Holt. The crushing knockout loss against Matthysse. The return to form against Dierry Jean in front of his hometown faithful once again. Just needed to work a bit more against Garcia, but couldn’t quite get it done.
4. Thomas Dulorme – Dulorme proved a lot of folks wrong by defeating Karim Mayfield. Many people wrote him off after he lost to Luis Carlos Abregu, but he has a better team behind him now, and he’s at a better division. Clearly the better guy in the ring that night against Mayfield. After calling everyone out, he fought another guy who was calling everyone out, Hank Lundy, and outclassed him. Faces Terence Crawford next.
5. Mauricio Herrera – Since 2011, Herrera has faced Ruslan Provodnikov, Mike Alvarado, and Danny Garcia. He defeated Provodnikov, and was arguably on the wrong end of a decision against Swift. Lost to Alvarado, and lost to Karim Mayfield, but also has defeated Mike Dallas, Johan Perez and Ji-Hoon Kim. Crazy opposition. Should have just won against Jose Benavidez, but was jobbed again. Somebody give this guy a break! Faces Hank Lundy next.
6. Rances Barthelemy – At 5’11”, Barthelemy was always outsized for 130 lbs, where he had been a titleholder. Now he’s up at 140 lbs, and coming off an easy win against the outclassed Antonio DeMarco.
7. Viktor Postol – Best wins for the unbeaten Postol came against Hank Lundy and Selcuk Aydin. Hasn’t gotten a ton of exposure though, and seems to be on the outside looking in when big fights are discussed.
8. Ruslan Provodnikov – The Siberian Rocky was part Rocky, part Ivan Drago, saying of Mike Alvarado that he “must break him”. After jumping around divisions a bit and coming up short against Timothy Bradley, Provodnikov was looking for a marquee fight when he forgot he had to defeat Chris Algieri first. We all know Provodnikov can be out-boxed, but whoever tries to do so will likely pay a steep price. Came up short against Matthysse, but certainly made him earn it, too.
9. Omar Figueroa – The unbeaten Figueroa has moved up to 140 lbs after struggling with the lightweight limit. Got the clear win against Ricky Burns, not that it means much at junior welterweight, or at this stage of Burns’ career.
10. Antonio Orozco – Orozo is coming off the most significant win of his career, a unanimous decision over Emanuel Taylor. Hopefully we start to see all of these unbeatens in the bottom portion of the top 10 squaring off against one another.

More Contenders

Adrien Broner, Jose Benavidez, Hank Lundy, Humberto Soto, John Molina, Khabib Allakhverdiev, Emanuel Taylor, Ricky Burns,  Karim Mayfield, Ajose Olusegun, Cesar Rene Cuenca, Andriy Kotelnik, Mercito Gesta, Antonio DeMarco