Women’s Ratings Update: Price is the new champ, Romero and Johnson break in
Another week in women’s boxing has given us a new Ring champion.
In an emotional and intense fight, Lauren Price became our new welterweight champion with a technical decision over Jessica McCaskill, a former two-weight titlist and entrant in the pound-for-pound ratings.
“Lauren Price won in a dominating fashion as I knew she would,” said radio host Cynthia Conte. “Price is very skilled and McCaskill looked bewildered in there. Price was smart not to get in a brawl and to box smartly.”
Lupi Gutierrez-Beagle, of Beautiful Brawlers, agreed by saying that “Price threw everything but the kitchen sink. She made the former undisputed champ look even less skilled than usual,” and historian Malissa Smith added that “If anyone needed any convincing, Price put on a beautiful display of her boxing prowess against and always game, if unorthodox fighter in McCaskill.
The question of where to rate McCaskill after her loss demanded a greater debate.
A proposal to rate “CasKilla” as high as No. 3 was met with a counterproposal by columnist Mark Jones, who argued that “I’d rate (Mikaela) Mayer above McCaskill, who, at 39, has seen better days. Mayer arguably got the best of Jonas in their fight a few months back.”
Fellow columnist Christopher Benedict agreed by saying that “it’s painfully obvious that McCaskill’s days as a top tier boxer are well behind her,” and Conte added that “I would keep Mayer in because she technically won against Jonas and should be “and new…,” but they will have their rematch soon.”
The votes were tallied and thus McCaskill was dropped all the way to No. 4.
In the junior featherweight division, a draw between Erika Cruz-Hernandez and Nazarena Romero prompted the panel to reconsider their positions. While Cruz-Hernandez was unanimously found worthy of keeping her No. 3 position, many believed that the feisty Romero should be rewarded for her superb effort against an established champ in what was her first fight abroad, and in enemy territory to boot.
Cherneka Johnson (right) won a hard-fought decision over Nina Hughes (left) in Australia on May 11
“I would put Romero ahead of (Mayerlin) Rivas,” said Ring magazine senior writer Jake Donovan. “I thought she deserved the win in their truncated affair last year and was more competitive vs. Cruz – I actually had her winning, though the draw verdict was fair.”
His suggestion found many backers, including writer Yesica Palmetta who said that “I liked it and I was very proud of the way Romero overcame her apparent frustration in order not to give up and deliver the best of her boxing regardless of the final result.”
With that, Mayeli Flores was bumped out to make room for Romero, who entered at No. 4 and is now breathing down Cruz-Hernandez’s neck until the rematch happens.
Finally, in the bantamweight division, Nina Hughes and Cherneka Johnson had to wait until an embarrassingly incompetent ring announcer got the result right to figure out who was the winner in their high-octane bout. It was Johnson, yes, but the result could have gone either way.
“I thought Johnson took the fight to Hughes and won comfortably,” said Jones. “I agree with placing her at No. 2 and dropping (Ebanie) Bridges out of the Top 5.”
Writer and editor of Rincon Rojo magazine Irene Deserti disagreed by saying “with Cherneka’s victory, I do not agree with the judges at all. Although she had perhaps the most striking blows, they were not enough to take most of the rounds and win the victory. I think Nina was more consistent and effective in her boxing and she undoubtedly deserved to keep her belt.”
Many other panelists expressed similar views for one or the other, but in the end the vote was in and the result was that Johnson will now become the new No. 2 in the division with Hughes at No. 3, at least until the rematch is done. Hopefully, both the judges and the announcer will get things right once it happens.
Diego M. Morilla has written for The Ring since 2013. He has also written for HBO.com, ESPN.com and many other magazines, websites, newspapers and outlets since 1993. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and an elector for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He has won two first-place awards in the BWAA’s annual writing contest, and he is the moderator of The Ring’s Women’s Ratings Panel. He served as copy editor for the second era of The Ring en Español (2018-2020) and is currently a writer and editor for RingTV.com.
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