Ryan Garcia rebounds, Figueroa moves at feather, more: Boxing rankings for March 2026

Heavyweight (Limit: None)

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• Titles: WBC – Oleksandr Usyk, WBA – Oleksandr Usyk, IBF – Oleksandr Usyk, WBO – Fabio Wardley

• Upcoming Notable Fights: Victor Faust vs Mariusz Wach, 3/25 … (10) Moses Itauma vs Jermaine Franklin, 3/28 … (8) Derek Chisora vs Deontay Wilder, 4/4 … (2) Tyson Fury vs Arslanbek Makhmudov, 4/11 … Jeamie TKV vs Richard Riakporhe, 4/11 … Frazer Clarke vs Justis Huni, 4/11 … Lawrence Okolie vs Tony Yoka, 4/25 … (1) Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven, 5/23

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Notes: The heavyweight schedule is filling in a bit, though not really in a way that anyone was hoping to see. Usyk vs Verhoeven — with all respect to Verhoeven, a genuine great in his field — is another novelty boxing vs other discipline matchup that might look OK for a couple rounds until Usyk feels out exactly what Verhoeven can and can’t do. No one’s saying that Rico — who is a huge dude — doesn’t have any ability to clip Usyk or anybody else and knock them out, but as the saying goes, it’s about levels. Rico Verhoeven is not a professional boxer. Oleksandr Usyk is one of the best professional boxers of this century.

The paths seem set on producing Usyk vs Fury 3 at the end of 2026. Usyk may wind up having to vacate the WBC title if they stick by their current posturing, that Usyk will be ordered to fight Agit Kabayel after being allowed the Verhoeven voluntary defense, which the WBC is absurdly sanctioning.

Another somewhat stray thought: If Chisora beats Wilder in a month, do you really think Derek is 100 percent set to hang up the gloves, considering he could potentially be in line to again fight one of his pals, Usyk or Fury, should Usyk vs Fury 3 meet any roadblocks?

Cruiserweight (Limit: 200)

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• Titles: WBC – Noel Mikaelyan, WBA – Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, IBF – Jai Opetaia, WBO – Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez

• Upcoming Notable Fights: Lenar Perez vs Isaac Chilemba, 3/5 … (9) Mateusz Masternak vs (10) Viddal Riley, 4/4 … Karim Maatalla vs Floyd Masson, 4/8 … (2) Zurdo Ramirez vs David Benavidez, 5/2 … Roman Fress vs Tahir Kahrovic, 5/30

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Notes: I like that Masternak vs Riley fight coming next month on the Wilder-Chisora undercard. I don’t know that Riley has, like, “elite” potential, but I do think he could win a world title in this division. That said, I think he could also lose to a tough vet like Masternak. But Riley’s taking the right steps to be taken seriously if he can keep winning. He won the English title, won the British title, now targeting the European title. Going a very traditional route.

Light Heavyweight (Limit: 175)

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• Titles: WBC – David Benavidez, WBA – Dmitry Bivol, IBF – Dmitry Bivol, WBO – Dmitry Bivol

• Upcoming Notable Fights: Kirra Ruston vs Bordin Peepueh, 3/7 … Najee Lopez vs Manuel Gallegos, 3/13 … Dante Benjamin vs Angel Lozano, 3/13 … (10) Willy Hutchinson vs Ezra Taylor, 3/28 … Lawrence King vs Bradley Olmeda, 4/11 … (2) Callum Smith vs (3) David Morrell, 4/18

• Inactive: Dmitry Bivol, Artur Beterbiev

Notes: Bivol and Beterbiev are both out due to inactivity. Neither has fought in over a year. Beterbiev had a fight scheduled for December that didn’t happen, there’s been no movement on him since. Bivol has been sidelined and still has nothing on the schedule. If either of them get something planned in the next 90 days, they’ll be reinstated into the rankings, sort of like we did with Fury at heavyweight. On one hand, it’s not a totally accurate representation of what the division is right now, and on the other hand, it is, because those guys aren’t fighting at the moment.

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Having the new and clear No. 1 be a guy whose next fight — at least — is going to take place at cruiserweight is a kick in the pants.

Super Middleweight (Limit: 168)

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• Titles: WBC – Christian Mbilli, WBA – Armando Resendiz, IBF – Vacant, WBO – Vacant

• Upcoming Notable Fights: Steven Butler vs Ramadan Hiseni, 3/5 … Moreno Fendero vs Shawn McCalman, 3/5 … (8) Kevin Sadjo vs Alaa Al-Mahmoud, 3/27 … (2) Osleys Iglesias vs Pavel Silyagin, 4/9 … Troy Williamson vs Simon Zachenhuber, 4/11 … (7) Jacob Bank vs Paulinus Ndjolonimu, 4/25 … Oliver Zaren vs TBA, 5/2 … (1) Canelo Alvarez vs TBA, 9/12

Middleweight (Limit: 160)

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• Titles: WBC – Carlos Adames, WBA – Erislandy Lara, IBF – Janibek Alimkhanuly, WBO – Janibek Alimkhanuly

• Upcoming Notable Fights: (2) Carlos Adames vs (5) Austin Williams, 3/21 … (10) George Liddard vs Tyler Denny, 3/21 … Shakiel Thompson vs Brad Pauls, 3/28 … Denzel Bentley vs Endry Saavedra, 4/4 … Vito Mielnicki Jr vs Omar Ulises, 4/11 … Riku Kunimoto vs Ha So Baek, 4/12

• Temporarily removed: Janibek Alimkhanuly (failed doping test)

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Notes: More middleweight adjustments! Conor Benn is officially not staying at this weight, as he’ll move back down for a 150 lb catchweight bout against Regis Prograis next month, which is a sort of tester to see if he should try making 147 or not, I think. So Benn’s out here, and so is Chris Eubank Jr, who also won’t be fighting at this weight if/when he does fight again, with rumors of him moving back to 168 to fight Edgar Berlanga, which I think is a decent matchup for both at this stage of their careers, and could go either way.

In are Fiodor Czerkaszyn and George Liddard, a veteran and a prospect. Czerkaszyn had a little momentum before an eight-round upset loss to Anauel Ngamissengue, and Ngamissengue can fight, so I don’t think he should be overly penalized for that, and the opening is there right now. Liddard has good potential. That said, there were lots of guys considered for these two spots, including Callum Walsh, Hebert Conceicao, Serhii Bohachuk, Vadim Tukov, Riku Kunimoto, Patrice Volny, Troy Isley, and Shakiel Thompson. Thompson and Liddard will have chances to make cases this month.

Super Welterweight (Limit: 154)

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• Titles: WBC – Sebastian Fundora, WBA – Xander Zayas, IBF – Josh Kelly, WBO – Xander Zayas

• Upcoming Notable Fights: (2) Sebastian Fundora vs Keith Thurman, 3/28 … Conor Benn vs Regis Prograis, 4/11 … Caoimhin Agyarko vs Brandon Adams, 4/11 … Bakary Samake vs Ermal Hadribeaj, 4/25 … Souleimane Mohammedi vs Uisma Lima, 4/25 … Andrew Hunt vs Benjamin Hussain, 5/8

Welterweight (Limit: 147)

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• Titles: WBC – Ryan Garcia, WBA – Rolly Romero, IBF – Lewis Crocker, WBO – Devin Haney

• Upcoming Notable Fights: Avious Griffin vs Jorge Arturo Ibarra, 3/7 … Arnold Barboza Jr vs Kenneth Sims Jr, 3/14 … (10) Conah Walker vs Sam Eggington, 5/2 … Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao, 9/19

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Notes: Ryan Garcia breaks in. Obviously DAZN’s engagement bait social media rankings would have Haney, Rolly, and Ryan in the top three, in some order, and hey, maybe they should be. Maybe they really are. Maybe not. I did think Garcia looked good against Mario Barrios, but you have to factor in that Mario Barrios hadn’t exactly been burning the world down since beating Yordenis Ugas in 2023.

For what it’s worth, BoxRec’s computers took a look at Barrios after the Garcia loss and dropped him to No. 40 at welterweight. That’s 22 spots below Harlem Eubank. Not saying that’s gospel, but it’s how his record reads within that system.

But can Ryan Garcia actually be the top guy at 147? As the division stands now, I think he does have the ability. A focused Garcia has a rough skillset, matchup-wise, for Devin Haney. But you can’t always rely on Garcia to be “locked in,” and there are others who I think are tougher matchups for Garcia. We always say “styles make fights,” but I think sometimes it’s easy to forget that a little.

We also will likely soon see Teofimo Lopez join this division, and maybe Shakur Stevenson and Richardson Hitchins, too. This isn’t a “glory days” time for 147, but I think it is getting better than it’s been, at least a little.

Super Lightweight (Limit: 140)

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• Titles: WBC – Dalton Smith, WBA – Gary Antuanne Russell, IBF – Richardson Hitchins, WBO – Shakur Stevenson

• Upcoming Notable Fights: Jhon Orobio vs Yomar Alamo, 3/5 … Pierce O’Leary vs Maxi Hughes, 3/14 … Jon Fernandez vs Sonny Bilal, 3/14 … John Mannu vs Vanlalwmpuia, 3/21 … Mazlum Akdeniz vs Stuart McLellan, 3/25 … Breyon Gorham vs Eduard Georgiev, 4/11 … Erislandy Alvarez vs TBA, 4/24 … Nahir Albright vs TBA, 5/30

Lightweight (Limit: 135)

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• Titles: WBC – Vacant, WBA – Vacant, IBF – Raymond Muratalla, WBO – Abdullah Mason

• Upcoming Notable Fights: Shu Utsuki vs Cristiano Aoqui, 3/18 … Giorgio Visioli vs Levi Giles, 3/21 … Antonio Perez vs Abraham Montoya, 4/3 … Siro Choi vs Giovanni Cabrera, 4/5 … Luis Santana vs TBA, 4/9 … (9) Armando Martinez vs Neslan Machado, 4/12 … Lazaro Alvarez vs TBA, 4/24 … Sofiane Oumiha vs TBA, 4/24

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Notes: We’d left Shakur Stevenson in at both 135 and 140 to see what he’d be doing. Well, he no longer has the WBC title at 135, and he seems a lot more likely to fight at 147 next than he does ever fighting at 135 again. There’s no money fight for him here, to be fair — other than Gervonta Davis, who basically isn’t a boxer at the moment. But there are good young fighters up near the top of the rankings, two of them holding the two titles that aren’t currently vacant, and some good matchups you can put together up and down this top 10 plus some more guys.

Maxi Hughes is also out as he’s moving up to 140.

Super Featherweight (Limit: 130)

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• Titles: WBC – O’Shaquie Foster, WBA – Jazza Dicekns, IBF – Emanuel Navarrete, WBO – Emanuel Navarrete

• Upcoming Notable Fights: (3) Anthony Cacace vs (10) Jazza Dickens, 3/14 … Ryan Garner vs TBA, 3/14 … Colm Murphy vs Jono Carroll, 3/14 … Tsubasa Narai vs Ryusuke Sunagawa, 3/24 … Angelo Pena vs Salvador Jimenez, 4/3 … Kenichi Ogawa vs Rhonvex Capuloy, 4/4 … Royston Barney-Smith vs Conor McIntosh, 4/17

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Notes: Emanuel Navarrete dominated “Sugar” Nunez to unify the IBF and WBO titles. Nunez is a good fighter, tough as hell, strong, great motor, but Navarrete was just way too much for him, and Navarrete looked in terrific form, too. That much-hyped nutritionist hire may have sincerely given him new life at 130, and I think at the moment he clearly deserves the No. 1 ranking. Now it’s time for Charly Suarez to get his second crack at Navarrete, there’s legitimate unfinished business there.

There was some planted buzz for O’Shaquie Foster vs Raymond Ford; whether we get that or not, we’ll see. I’m really looking forward to Dickens-Cacace this month.

Featherweight (Limit: 126)

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• Titles: WBC – Bruce Carrington, WBA – Brandon Figueroa, IBF – Angelo Leo, WBO – Rafael Espinoza

• Upcoming Notable Fights: Junya Shimada vs Kyosuke Okamoto, 3/9 … Felix Parrilla vs TBA, 3/19 … Liam Davies vs Francesco Grandelli, 3/28 … Nathaniel Collins vs Cristobal Lorente, 4/17

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Notes: I think the Nick Ball vs Brandon Figueroa fight more or less lived up to the hype. It wasn’t a Fight of the Year contender or anything, but a good, tough, hard-nosed fight between two guys who were there to scrap and win. Figueroa got the job done, and made it emphatic with the 12th round stoppage. It’s easy to say after the fact because he won, but I thought even in the middle of the bout that Figueroa’s corner had done a really good job both preparing and in the live action of the night, that was a good game plan and Figueroa executed really well. There’s nobody I wouldn’t be happy to see Brandon face next, by which I mean I would really hope to see him face one of the other titlists. A Ball rematch could work, I suppose, but as much as I don’t technically care about unification, the four titleholders are all quality and I think give each other some interesting matchups.

Super Bantamweight (Limit: 122)

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• Titles: WBC – Naoya Inoue, WBA – Naoya Inoue, IBF – Naoya Inoue, WBO – Naoya Inoue

• Upcoming Notable Fights: (2) Marlon Tapales vs Yukinori Oguni, 4/3 … (1) Naoya Inoue vs (3) Junto Nakatani, 5/2

Notes: Marlon Tapales and Yukinori Oguni will be fighting at featherweight on April 3. For now, Tapales stays ranked at 122, we’ll see if that’s a full featherweight move or not. It could just be that since it’s non-title, they have the lb or two of wiggle room in the contract, as Oguni has also been fighting at 122.

Bantamweight (Limit: 118)

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• Titles: WBC – Takuma Inoue, WBA – Seiya Tsutsumi, IBF – Jose Salas, WBO – Christian Medina

• Upcoming Notable Fights: (8) Nonito Donaire vs Riku Masuda, 3/15 … (9) Tenshin Nasukawa vs Juan Francisco Estrada, 4/11 … Jason Moloney vs Andre Donovan, 4/23

Super Flyweight (Limit: 115)

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• Titles: WBC – Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, WBA – Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, IBF – Willibaldo Garcia, WBO – Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez

• Upcoming Notable Fights: Jassiel Amador vs Pedro Delgado, 3/7 … Theophilus Allotey vs Jonas Erastus, 4/10 … (6) Tomoya Tsuboi vs Pedro Guevara, 4/11

Flyweight (Limit: 112)

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• Titles: WBC – Ricardo Sandoval, WBA – Ricardo Sandoval, IBF – Masamichi Yabuki, WBO – Anthony Olascuaga

• Upcoming Notable Fights: (3) Anthony Olascuaga vs (10) Jukiya Iiumra, 3/15 … Abraham Perez vs Esneth Domingo, 4/4 … Kyosuke Takami vs Angel Ayala, 4/11

Light Flyweight (Limit: 108)

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• Titles: WBC – Thammanoon Niyomtrong, WBA – Rene Santiago, IBF – Thanongsak Simsri, WBO – Rene Santiago

• Upcoming Notable Fights: (3) Shokichi Iwata vs (6) Thammanoon Niyomtrong, 3/15 … (1) Rene Santiago vs Masataka Taniguchi, 4/3 … (5) Erik Badillo vs Axel Vega, 4/11 … (7) Thanongsak Simsri vs (10) Sergio Mendoza, 4/13 … Toshiki Kawamitsu vs Daiki Kameyama, 4/14

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Notes: All world titles in this volatile division are up for grabs and vulnerable within the next six weeks. 108 will never get a lot of attention in the U.S. but there’s a lot of pure boxing enjoyment to be had in these ranks.

Minimumweight (Limit: 105)

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• Titles: WBC – Melvin Jerusalem, WBA – Oscar Collazo, IBF – Pedro Taduran, WBO – Oscar Collazo

• Upcoming Notable Fights: (1) Oscar Collazo vs Jesus Haro, 3/14 … (6) Ryusei Matsumoto vs Yuni Takada, 3/15 … Brandon Moreno vs Craig Derbyshire, 3/29 … Takero Kitano vs Kurt John Pabular, 4/13