Ring Ratings Update: Mayweather stripped of RING 154-pound title
THE RING's junior middleweight title, previously held by Floyd Mayweather Jr., is now vacant due to Mayweather's lack activity in the 154-pound division.
Mayweather won the magazine's junior middleweight champ when he outpointed Canelo Alvarez in September 2013. However, that was the last time the pound-for-pound king fought in the 154-pound division.
According to THE RING's championship policy, a champion will lose his belt if he does not schedule a fight at his championship weight for 18 months (even if he fights at another weight).
Mayweather, who still holds THE RING's welterweight championship, has fought three times in the 147-pound division since beating Alvarez – decision victories over Marcos Maidana (twice) and Manny Pacquiao.
In other championship policy developments, former junior welterweight standout Danny Garcia, who is now campaigning at welterweight, has vacated THE RING's 140-pound title that he won when he stopped Amir Khan in July 2012 . Garcia, who unified the WBC and WBA 140-pound belts with his fourth-round TKO of Khan, defended THE RING title four times, including an impressive decision over No. 1 contender Lucas Matthysse in 2013.
However, Garcia hasn't fought at junior welterweight since earning a controversial majority decision over Mauricio Herrera last March. He formally moved to the welterweight division with his ninth-round stoppage of unrated veteran Paulie Malignaggi on Aug. 1.
Other recent movement in THE RING's divisional rankings includes:
Junior welterweight standout Amir Imam (18-0, 15 knockouts), who iced veteran Fernando Angulo in four rounds last month, moved up from No. 10 to No. 9, switching spots with Jose Benavidez Jr.
Junior featherweight contender Scott Quigg (31-0, 23 KOs), who impressively stopped former beltholder Kiko Martinez in two rounds last month, switched places in the 122-pound rankings with UK rival Carl Frampton, who got up from two first-round knockdowns against unrated Alejandro Gonzalez to win on points. Quigg is now rated No. 1. Frampton (21-0, 14 KOs), the holder of the IBF title, is rated No. 3.
Martinez (33-5, 24 KOs), who had been ranked at 118 pounds, dropped out of the bantamweight ratings and was replaced at No. 10 by Suriyan Sor Rungvsai (44-6, 21 KOs).
Junior bantamweight standout McJoe Arroyo (17-0, 8 KOs) won a technical decision (after an accidental clash of heads) over fellow contender Arthur Villanueva (27-1, 14 KOs). Arroyo, who won the vacant IBF belt, jumped to No. 6 and Villanueva dropped to No. 10.
Chuck Giampa, the Ring Ratings Chairperson, can be emailed at [email protected]