Ring Ratings Update: Jean Pascal climbs light heavyweight rankings

Former light heavyweight champ Jean Pascal made a large leap up THE RING’s 175-pound rankings following his unanimous decision over Lucian Bute. The magazine’s Ratings Panel also saw fit to update and reshuffle the light heavyweight top 10.

Here is the summary of this weekend’s ratings:

Light heavyweight: No. 10-rated Pascal (29-2-1, 17 knockouts) mostly dominated Bute, the No. 3-rated super middleweight, for the first 11 of the 12 rounds of their Montreal showdown. Pascal, who was dropped from the ratings due to inactivity caused by injuries, re-entered at the bottom of the top 10 late last year, following a victory over a journeyman. However, with a good performance against a world-class fighter (Bute), his history – such as winning THE RING title from Chad Dawson, scoring two victories over former contender Adrian Diaconu and being competitive in two bouts vs. Bernard Hopkins – merited a move up the rankings. Pascal landed at No. 3, while Nathan Cleverly, Dawson and Tavoris Cloud – the previous Nos. 3-, 4- and 5-rated contenders – all of whom suffered KO losses in their last bouts, were dropped several spots. The new ratings in the light heavyweight division are as follows:

Champion: Adonis Stevenson (23-1, 20 KOs)

1. Bernard Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 KOs)
2. Sergey Kovalev (23-0-1, 21KOs)
3. Jean Pascal  
4. Beibut Shumenov (14-1, 9 KOs)
5. Juergen Braehmer (42-2, 31 KOs)
6. Chad Dawson (31-3, 17KOs)
7. Tavoris Cloud (24-2, 19 KOs)
8. Nathan Cleverly (26-1, 12 KOs)
9. Tony Bellew (20-2-1, 12 KOs)
10. Isaac Chilemba (21-2-2, 9 KOs)

Super middleweight: Since Bute (31-2, 24 KOs) has fought his last two fights at light heavyweight, he will be dropped from the 168-pound division ratings. Everyone previously rated below Bute will move up one spot and former title challenger Marco Periban (20-1-1, 13KOs) will move into the No. 10 spot.

Middleweight: Darren Barker (No. 5) announced his retirement due to a recurring hip injury. He will be removed from the ratings and everyone below elevated a spot, with Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam (28-1, 17 KOs) returning to the list at No. 10.

Junior bantamweight: No. 9-rated Felipe Orucuta (29-2, 24 KOs) was busy with a 10th-round stoppage over unrated Gabriel Pena. No changes.

Source: http://ringtv.craveonline.com/news/313613-313613#/slide/1