1. Josh Taylor - Scotland's Josh Taylor gets the narrow nod as #1 because his four best wins (Regis Prograis, Viktor Postol, Ivan Baranchyk and Ryan Martin) are slightly better than Jose Carlos Ramirez's four best (Jose Zepeda, Postol, Maurice Hooker and Antonio Orozco). However, the #1 spot is highly debatable and Ramirez fans are certainly justified in arguing their guy should be #1.

2. Jose Carlos Ramirez - Being #2 does not mean we think Taylor. the IBF/WBA champion, would defeat Ramirez, the WBC/WBO champion, in the ring. Thankfully, we wont have to imagine how Taylor-Ramirez would play out, because the two will get it on for the true world championship-- with all four major titles at stake-- on May 22nd. 

3. Regis Prograis - "Rougarou" is a former WBA title holder who lost to Taylor by majority decision in 2019 and had one fight in 2020, a third-round stoppage of previously unbeaten Juan Heraldez last October. He also has wins over Julius Indongo, Terry Flanagan and Kiryl Relikh. Next fight is not a big one, an April date he should easily win vs. Ivan Redkach.

4. Jose Zepeda - Zepeda is 33-2 with a majority decision loss to Ramirez, a big win over Jose Pedraza and an all-time thriller of a KO vs. Baranchyk.

5. Viktor Postol - The Ukrainian is 31-3 with all three losses coming vs. boxers who have won mutliple bets: Taylor, Ramiez and Terence Crawford. The 2019 win he holds over Mohamed Mimoune is a significant consdieration for this top five ranking. 

6. Arnold Barboza - Barbosa is undefeated and his last fight was a win that caused contender Alex Saucedo to retire. He's earned a title fight.

7. Robert Easter, Jr. - Ex-IBF lightweight champ cracked the top seven with a recent wide win over Ryan Martin. He's 2-0 in this weight class and his length creates a problem for anyone.

8. Rances Barthelemy - The Cuban Barthelemy is grudgingly rated this high on the strength of his 2019 draw vs. Easter at lightweight. He's a former title holder at 130 and 135, and returned from a pandemic-induced lay-off with a win over All Rivera.

9. Jose Pedraza - Held titles at 130 and 135 with forgivable losses to Vasiliy Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis. The 2019 loss to Jose Zepeda hurts his ranking a bit, but the Puerto Rican has rebounded with wins over Mikkel LesPierre and Javier Molina.

10. Batyr Akhmedov - The final spot in the top ten goes to the Uzbekistan-born Akhmedov, who was badly robbed vs. Mario Barrios in 2019. For the record, Barrios defeated Akhmedov for the vacant WBA regular title and avoided a rematch. Akhmedov scored a stay-busy win in September.

11. Jack Caterall  - British boxer is 26-0 with some big wins on the European stage (Ohara Davies, Timo Schwarzkopf and Tyrone McKenna). The WBO mandatory, he'll likely get a title shot before the end of 2021.

12. Mario Barrios - Texan is 26-0 with the WBA regular title but got a gift vs. Batyr Akhmedov and never gave him a rematch. There are rumblings he'll fight Gervonta Davis next.

13. Shohjahon Ergashev - Undefeated Uzbeki was on an excellent run that was slowed when he split with Salita Promotions. The ensuing lawsuit may block him from meaningful fights for the time being, and he did not seem interested in an IBF eliminator due to the Salita dispute

14. Terry Flanagan - Former WBO lightweight titleholder has losses to Regis Prograis and Maurice Hooker (now a welterweight) but no real impressive wins since moving up to 140 pounds in 2018.

15. Ivan Baranchyk - Ex-IBF champion lost a war for the ages against Jose Zepeda and needs some recovery time. But Baranchyk worked his way up the ladder against a high level of opposition, including wins over Anthony Yigit and Abel Ramos. 

16. Batyrzhan Jukembayev - Undefeated Kazakh has been fighting decent opposition in Canada, where he is now based, and holds a win over Miguel Vazquez, the former lightweight title holder.

17. Michel Rivera - Boxingtalk had this undefeated and talented Dominican rated in the top 25 at lightweight based on a nice win over Ladarius Miller, but Rivera apparently moved up to junior welterweight with his February win over Anthony Raices.

18. Mohamed Mimoune - Boxingtalk has to show some top-twenty love for this Frenchman who was robbed of a career-best victory over Tyrone Mckenna by British home cooking.

19. Pablo Cesar Cano - Has not fought since November 2019 (inactivity warning) but does hold a win over former three-division titlist Jorge Linares.

20. Ohara Davies - British boxer has losses to Josh Taylor and Jack Caterall and a recent win over Tyrone Mckenna.

21. Liam Paro - Paro is 20-0, all in Australia. He's beaten many guys with good records and has earned a ticket to the international stage.

22. Petros Ananyan - Russian boxer is a modest 15-2-2 but holds a 2020 win over Subriel Matias, with Matias going on in his next fight to dismantle previously undefeated Malik Hawkins.

23. Subriel Matias - This Puerto Rican power puncher was coming off a loss to Petros Ananyan in early 2020 but looked absolutely fearsome in breaking down previously unbeaten Malik Hawkins in October. Matias is one to watch for 2021.

24. Sandor Martin  - He's the European champion but hasn't fought such great opposition. Has wins over Joe Hughes and Andreas Scarpa but a loss to Anthony Yigit. 

25. Kareem Martin - At this point in the rankings, true contenders are getting harder to find. He's little known and 14-2-1, but let's recognize his 2019 win over Petros Ananyan.

Others: Edouard Troyanovksy; Luis Feliciano; Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela; Daishi Nagata; Malik Hawkins; Gary Antuanne Russell, Robert Quaye.

Inactive: Anthony Yigit, Kiryl Relikh, Marcelino Nicholas Lopez, Zhankosh Turarov.

New results: Brandun Lee defeated Samuel Teah; Alex Martin defeated Luis A. Hernandez Ramos;

MORE DIVISIONAL RANKINGS:

Boxingtalk's middleweight rankings as of Feb. 1, 2021;

Boxingtalk's super middleweight rankings as of Jan. 12, 2021;

Boxingtalk's lightweight rankings as of Jan. 10, 2021;

Boxingtalk's heavyweight rankings  as of Jan. 1, 2021;

Boxingtalk's cruiserweight rankings as of Jan. 1, 2021;

Boxingtalk's light heavyweight rankings as of Jan. 1, 2021; 

Boxingtalk's welterweight rankings as of Oct. 26, 2020;

Boxingtalk's junior middleweight rankings as of Sept. 28, 2020;

Ring City's women pound-for-pound rankings as of Feb. 24, 2021.