James DeGale moves to No.3 in Ring Magazine ratings

By Boxing News - 05/25/2015 - Comments

1-_MG_1314By Scott Gilfoid: Ring Magazine has elevated newly crowned IBF super middleweight James DeGale (21-1, 14 KOs) to No.3 in their 168lb rankings after his narrow and controversial 12 round unanimous win over Andre Dirrell (24-2, 16 KOs) last Saturday night at the Agganis Arena, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

DeGale is ranked below No.2 Arthur Abraham and No.1 Carl Froch. There currently isn’t a Ring Magazine champion at this moment due to Andre Ward having been inactive for over one year due to promotional problems, otherwise he’d likely be the champion.

DeGale is rated above George Groves, Robert Stieglitz and even Badou Jack.

Needless to say, I don’t agree with the new ratings. I don’t see DeGale at No.3, and I definitely don’t see Groves as No.4.

Here are the new Ring Ratings for super middleweight:

1. Carl Froch
2. Arthur Abraham
3. James DeGale
4. George Groves
5. Robert Stieglitz
6. Gilberto Ramirez
7. Andre Dirrell
8. Badou Jack
9. Anthony Jack
10. Fedor Chudinov

I don’t see Groves as a top 10 super middleweight based on his two losses to Froch, and his poor performances against Denis Douglin and Christopher Rebrasse. For that reason, I exclude Groves from my own list. I also don’t rate Robert Stieglitz and Abraham as top 10 super middleweights. They seem more like fringe contenders to me. Yes, I realize that Abraham currently has the WBO super middleweight title in his possession, but he beat Stieglitz to win the belt, and he hasn’t fought anyone that I consider a good fighter since he captured the belt. Abraham just keeps going back and forth in fighting Stieglitz over and over again. The two fighters are about to face each other for the fourth time on July 18th. When the two will stop fighting each other is anyone’s guess.

Here is my top 10 rankings:

1. Andre Ward
2. Badou Jack
3. Andre Dirrell
4. Carl Froch
5. James DeGale
6. Gilberto Ramirez
7. Fedor Chudinov
8. Vincent Feigenbutz
9. Sakio Bika
10. Felix Sturm

Feigenbutz is a guy that has a good future in the division if he can keep his weight at 168, but I think he may end up growing into the light heavyweight division. But as of right now, I see Feigenbutz as one of the best fighters in the 168 pound division.

Gilberto Ramirez will be a good fighter in the future. He’s only 23, and once he develops a good outside game, I think he’ll be real good.



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