Bay Area native Andre Ward and resident Nonito Donaire continue recovering from their respective fights in recent months, but remain at the top of the class for Bay Area fighters. CSN Bay Area's Ryan Maquinana released the latest pound-for-pound rankings and Ward and Donaire are tied at the top. Donaire gets the headliner spot following his unanimous decision win over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. in February, while Ward is anchored to him with his win over Carl Froch in December.
There was some movement in the middle of the rankings as Woodland-based Vicente Escobedo climbed into a fourth place tie with Karim Mayfield. Escobedo claimed the NABO title with his March 3 junior lightweight win over Lonnie Smith. CSN reports Escobedo is working towards a potential fall fight with Adrian Broner as long as he can get past a to be determined opponent on May 12.
Broner impacted this month's Bay Area rankings courtesy of his fourth round TKO of Salinas-based Eloy Perez. The loss dropped Perez from fourth to eighth, which might be the lesast of his worries. Perez tested positive for cocaine after the fight and has been released from his managerial contract. He will need to sort this out if he is going to get back on track after his first career loss.
Here are your top ten:
t-1. Nonito Donaire
t-1. Andre Ward
3. Robert Guerrero
t-4. Vicente Escobedo
t-4. Karim Mayfield
6. Brandon Gonzales
7. Ava Knight
8. Eloy Perez
9. Glenn Donaire
10. Ana Julaton