Vic Saludar returns to first in WBO’s strawweight rankings

The WBO has once again shuffled the top of its strawweight rankings, even though none of the names moving around have weighed in within 105lbs in some time.

The last big shuffle took place in June 2025. Before then, Vic Saludar was No. 1, Dianxing Zhu was No. 2 and Ronald Chacon was No. 3. When the new ratings were dealt out, Chacon was No. 1, Saludar was No. 2 and Wilfredo Mendez was No. 3.

That’s how things looked through last month. But in the WBO’s newest monthly ratings update, released on March 2, Saludar is back at No. 1, Mendez is No. 2 and Chacon is No. 3.

Saludar, 27-6 (17 KOs), held the WBO title at 105lbs from 2018 until 2019, when he was outpointed by Mendez. Saludar hasn’t fought within the strawweight limit since May 2024. Last year, Saludar came in at 106.5lbs and 109.5lbs for his two victories against unheralded opponents.

Mendez, 20-3-2 (6 KOs), went on to lose the WBO title in 2021 to Masataka Taniguchi. His last fight within the strawweight limit was in April 2024. Last year, Mendez came in at 108lbs for a decision win over the 10-1 Nelvis Rodriguez, and then weighed just shy of 107lbs for a draw with the 6-3-1 Andre Manuel Rodriguez Rayon.

Chacon, 34-3-1 (25 KOs), has only competed within the strawweight limit once in his career – and that was in 2018. Chacon lost to Regie Suganob at junior flyweight in November 2023 and has won four fights since, weighing in between 106 and 109.5lbs for those bouts. His opponents had records of 0-3, 4-8-2, 22-13 and 3-16.

Saludar, Mendez and Chacon are followed in the WBO’s rankings by Zhu at No. 4, and then Joey Canoy, Takeshi Ishii, Russell Acosta Silveira, Joseph Sumabong, Junior Zarate, Ryusei Matsumoto, Beaven Sibanda, Ian Abne, Aaron de la Cruz Escobedo, Samuel Salva and Jayson Vayson.

Oscar Collazo owns the WBA and WBO titles. He is scheduled to defend on March 14 against Jesus Haro, 13-3 (2 KOs), who lost decisions to Mendez and the 13-1 Gustavo Perez Alvarez in 2024. Haro is ranked seventh by the WBA but not at all by the WBO.

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.