The calm before the storm. <\/p>\n
This weekend features five world championship contests and 13 fighters rated in The Ring’s top-10 among their respective divisions.<\/p>\n
Teofimo Lopez<\/a> defends his Ring and WBO junior welterweight titles against Shakur Stevenson<\/a> atop The Ring 6 card, while three of the four junior middleweight belts will be on the line as IBF beltholder Bakhram Murtazaliev<\/a> ends a long layoff, before Xander Zayas<\/a> looks to unify WBO\/WBA gold in Puerto Rico against newly-minted champion Abass Baraou<\/a>. Scroll down to read the changes.<\/p>\n *Bold\/italics denotes movement in the division.<\/p>\n Lightweight<\/p>\n Muratalla’s career-best win<\/a> sees him leapfrog Gervonta Davis<\/a> into the No. 2 spot, while WBC champion and top-ranked contender Shakur Stevenson<\/a>‘s future within the weight class will likely be settled after his impending Lopez matchup.<\/p>\n C (vacant)<\/p>\n 1 SHAKUR STEVENSON WBC U.S. 24-0-0 (11 KOs)<\/p>\n 2 RAYMOND MURATALLA IBF U.S. 24-0-0 (20 KOs)<\/p>\n 3 GERVONTA DAVIS U.S. 30-0-1 (28 KOs)<\/p>\n 4 WILLIAM ZEPEDA Mexico 33-1-0 (27 KOs)<\/p>\n 5 ANDY CRUZ Cuba 6-1-0 (3 KOs)<\/p>\n 6 ABDULLAH MASON WBO U.S. 20-0-0 (17 KOs)<\/p>\n 7 FLOYD SCHOFIELD U.S. 19-0-0 (13 KOs)<\/p>\n 8 DENYS BERINCHYK Ukraine 19-1-0 (9 KOs)<\/p>\n 9 SAM NOAKES U.K. 17-1-0 (15 KOs)<\/p>\n 10 LUCAS BAHDI Canada 20-0-0 (15 KOs)<\/p>\n Zepeda over Cruz? Ratings panel discussion<\/p>\n Anson Wainwright: “Raymond Muratalla (3) won a 12-round majority decision over Andy Cruz (5) to retain his IBF title. I actually think we keep them as they are. There will be movement with Shakur to fight at 140 and he’ll come out, Gervonta for inactivity in the next couple of weeks.”<\/p>\n Tom Gray: “Muratalla just defeated a top-5 Ring-rated lightweight. Tank hasn’t won a fight for 18 months. Muratalla is taking his career seriously, getting the job done. He shouldn’t have to wait to be upped through attrition. He deserves the reward now and should swap places with Tank.”<\/p>\n
Top Rank laughed last after IBF lightweight beltholder Raymond Muratalla<\/a> finished strongly to outpoint Matchroom-backed contender Andy Cruz<\/a> in his first world title defence, while The Ring’s No. 3-rated junior middleweight Israil Madrimov returned among the undercard<\/a>. <\/p>\n