Three weeks since being inserted into the IBF's 154-pound rankings at No. 4, former unified world and RING welterweight champion
Jaron Ennis has been installed as the WBC's No. 1 contender at junior middleweight before his long-awaited divisional debut.
Talk of possible matchups against Britain's
Josh Kelly, as well as Portugal-based Angolan contender
Uisma Lima and Detroit's
Charles Conwell have been mooted for Philadelphia's 28-year-old rising star, who aligned himself with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom banner in 2024.
In the weight class he recently departed, there's a new No. 1 contender in recently inducted Hall of Famer
Manny Pacquiao after his
contentious 12-round majority draw against WBC titleholder
Mario Barrios on July 19.
Pacquiao wants to return around December, though it's unclear whether his team will pursue an immediate Barrios rematch or veer into a different direction. Rolando Romero,
who was upgraded to full WBA champion in their latest update, is an option.
Elsewhere, former world titleholders
Daniel Dubois (IBF),
Alberto Puello (WBC) and
Kenshiro Teraji (WBC/WBA) are among the new entries in their weight classes — all either rated No. 1 or 2 as their pathway back to world championship honours will begin soon.
Hamzah Sheeraz's July was a month to remember after an emphatic super middleweight debut ended in a
destructive fifth-round stoppage win over Edgar Berlanga in New York during their Ring III main event. After rising to No. 5 with the IBF and No. 2 with the WBO, the 26-year-old has leapfrogged
Jermall Charlo into top spot at 168 pounds with the WBC.
Jaime Munguia,
who failed a drugs test after exacting revenge over France's Bruno Surace on the Canelo Alvarez-William Scull undercard, has been reinstated to the rankings at No. 2 — mirroring the decision being made with regards to flyweight contender Francisco Rodriguez Jr after he did the same following
his 12-round points win over Olympic champion Galal Yafai in June.
Biggest risers and fallers
Middleweight:
Shane Mosley Jr (22-4, 12 KOs) fell out of the WBO rankings due to inactivity and has dropped six spots to No. 10 with the WBC in this month's update. The Las Vegas resident, who outpointed former champion Daniel Jacobs in July 2024, also dropped out of The Ring's top-10 ratings last month after not fighting for a calendar year.
Junior middleweight: Former WBO world titleholder
Tim Tszyu (25-3, 18 KOs) has unsurprisingly dropped eight spots to No. 11, failing to answer the bell to
start the eighth round in his Sebastian Fundora rematch on the Barrios-Pacquiao undercard.
Junior flyweight: One-time WBO strawweight titlist
Masataka Taniguchi, on the heels of his fifth-round stoppage win over Takeru Inoue last Sunday, has risen a whopping nine places to No. 6 at 108 pounds. The division also boasts a new champion this month in
Carlos Canizales after winning his Panya Pradabsri rematch two days earlier.
Junior welterweight: Pierce O'Leary is
preparing for his first European title defence and the unbeaten Irish contender represents one of four boxers who have risen three places in the 140-pound rankings — alongside Lindolfo Delgado, Movladdin Biyarslanov and Adam Azim.
Delgado was set to face former IBF titleholder
Liam Paro in an eliminator before the Australian announced he'd be
moving up to welterweight, while Biyarslanov (19-0, 16 KOs)
kept busy with a third-round finish of Spain's Antonio Collado (19-2, 3 KOs) on June 5.
Boxxer-backed IBO world champion Azim was slated to box Mexico's Eliot Chavez that same weekend, before the 30-year-old visitor
had his permission withdrawn on fight day after the BBBofC were alerted to sauna usage for their 143-pound catchweight contest.