Women’s divisional rankings: Baumgardner climbs in lightweight debut

Alycia Baumgardner dominated Elif Nur Turhan to earn a unanimous decision win and the IBF title in her lightweight debut on Sunday in Arlington, Texas. All three judges scored the fight 100-90.

Baumgardner enters the lightweight rankings at No. 2 with the victory, while Turhan drops one spot to No. 4.

Also on the card, Ramla Ali beat Mikiah Kreps by split decision to become a unified junior featherweight champion. Ali dropped Kreps with a perfectly timed left hook in Round 3 but spent much of the fight working to keep Kreps at a distance. The judges scored the bout 97-92 and 96-93 for Ali, with the third scoring it 98-91 for Kreps.

With the victory, Ali moves into the No. 5 spot in the junior featherweight rankings, replacing Mayelli Flores.

Earlier on the night, Skye Nicolson retained the WBC junior featherweight title with a unanimous decision win over Miyo Yoshida (100-90, 99-1 and 98-92). Yoshida, who moved up in weight for the fight, struggled to cut off the ring and get to Nicolson. She landed just 28% of her power punches, compared with 40% for Nicolson, according to CompuBox.

Nicolson retains the No. 2 spot in the junior featherweight division.

Irma Garcia dominated Nataly Delgado to become a unified junior bantamweight champion at 45 years old. Garcia, who entered the fight as the IBF champion, knocked down Delgado in Round 6 and outlanded Delgado in total punches, jabs and power punches to claim the WBA title with identical scorecards of 97-92.

Garcia retains the No. 2 spot in the junior bantamweight rankings, while Delgado drops one place to No. 5.

Brittany Sims and Shera Mae Patricio fought for the vacant WBA “regular” women’s bantamweight title, but the bout ended in a split draw. One judge scored the fight 100-90 for Patricio, another had it 97-93 for Sims, while the third scored it 95-95.

The title remains vacant. However, Sims did enough in the fight to move into the No. 5 spot in the 118-pound rankings.

Rankings are updated every Tuesday. They’re based on recent bouts, head-to-head competition and the quality of opponent. As with almost everything, until fighters square off against one another, there is a layer of subjectivity to it. Fighters who haven’t fought in 18 months and don’t have a fight scheduled will be removed from the rankings until they fight again.

For a list of the current champions in all weight classes, click here. For women’s P4P rankings, click here.

HEAVYWEIGHT (OVER 175+ POUNDS)

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT (UP TO 175 POUNDS)

SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT (UP TO 168 POUNDS)

MIDDLEWEIGHT (UP TO 160 POUNDS)

JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT (UP TO 154 POUNDS)

WELTERWEIGHT (UP TO 147 POUNDS)

JUNIOR WELTERWEIGHT (UP TO 140 POUNDS)

LIGHTWEIGHT (UP TO 135 POUNDS)

JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHT (UP TO 130 POUNDS)

FEATHERWEIGHT (UP TO 126 POUNDS)

JUNIOR FEATHERWEIGHT (UP TO 122 POUNDS)

BANTAMWEIGHT (UP TO 118 POUNDS)

JUNIOR BANTAMWEIGHT (UP TO 115 POUNDS)

FLYWEIGHT (UP TO 112 POUNDS)

JUNIOR FLYWEIGHT (UP TO 108 POUNDS)

STRAWWEIGHT (UP TO 105 POUNDS)

ATOMWEIGHT (UP TO 102 POUNDS)