February’s featherweight fights continue to lead to big changes this March in the sanctioning bodies’ rankings.
Last month, Brandon Figueroa defeated Nick Ball via 12th-round technical knockout for the WBA title. Three weeks later, Lorenzo Parra shocked Elijah Pierce with a second-round stoppage.
Those results are being reflected as each organization comes out with their regular monthly ratings updates. The WBA was first out on March 1, showing Ivan Chirkov as its new No. 1 guy at 126lbs (after primary titleholder Figueroa and secondary titleholder Mirco Cuello).
Now the WBO – which released its update on March 2 – has Kenji Fujita in the first position, putting him closer in line to a shot at titleholder Rafael Espinoza.
Last month, the WBO had Figueroa at No. 1, Pierce at No. 2 and Fujita at No. 3. Figueroa owning another sanctioning body’s belt has him out of the WBO’s rankings. Pierce was dropped altogether due to his defeat; Parra took his place at No. 2, jumping way up from No. 15.
Fujita, 10-0 (5 KOs), is a 31-year-old resident of Tokyo, Japan. He fought three times in 2025, all against unranked featherweights. Fujita stopped the 10-2-1 Michael Casama after nine rounds; knocked out the 12-2 Ha Nok Sim in the fifth round; and outpointed the 18-6-1 Pete Apolinar over the course of 10 rounds.
After Fujita and Parra in the WBO’s featherweight rankings comes Ryuto Owan at No. 3. He is followed by Mikito Nakano, Ra’eese Aleem, Omar Trinidad, Yan Carlos Santana, Liam Davies, Alberto Mora, Nathaniel Collins, Mateus Heita, Francesco Grandelli, Zak Miller, Albert Gonzalez and Cuello.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
