The IBF finally got around to releasing their new rankings today. Unfortunately, those ratings, rift with the usual plethora of errors, are almost as outdated as the ones they are replacing.





It isn't just that the IBF cares so little for accuracy that it will post rankings on July 30, 2007 that show Javier Castillejo as the WBA middleweight champion, Oscar De La Hoya as the WBC champion at 154 pounds, Julio Diaz as the WBA lightweight champion, and Acelino Freitas as the WBO lightweight kingpin. It isn't that they have Ray Narh as the #13 and #14 rated lightweight contender. Those mistakes are par for the course.





What is so bothersome is that 14 results that took place between July 7 and July 28 that would impact ratings with a release date of July 30 were not included. In other words, the ratings the IBF posted on their website July 30 were actually compiled BEFORE July 7.





In reverse chronological order, here are those results:





Luis Lazarte is the highest rated IBF junior flyweight comntender at #3 (their top 2 spots are "NOT RATED") even though he was disqualified in the 10th round July 28 in an unsuccessful challenge versus WBC champion Edgar Sosa.





Ubaldo Hernandez is ranked the #14 junior welterweight contender despite being KO'ed in the 12th round by unranked Francisco Figueroa July 28.





Mario Santiago is ranked the #8 featherweight contender and Hector Velazquez the #9 junior lightweight contender even though Velazquez won a 10-round, unanimous technical decision over Santiago in a WBC featherweight title eliminator July 28.





Otis Griffin moved up from #13 to #11 in the light heavyweight rankings despite being knocked out in the 3rd round by Danny Green on July 18, 12 days before these new rankings were posted.





Pongsaklek Wonjongkam is listed as the WBC flyweight champion. He lost his title to Daisuke Naito on a 12-round, unaniomus decision July 18.





Takalani Ndlovu is listed as the #1 contender for the junior featherweight title. He was TKO'ed by defending IBF junior featherweight titlist Steve Molitor in the 9th round of their July 18 IBF-IBO title unifier.











Mike Oliver won a 12-round, unanimous decision over Cruz Carvajal on July 18 in an IBF title eliminator. The July 30 rankings show Oliver slipping from #8 to #9 and Carvajal slipping from #9 to #10.





Mauricio Martinez is listed as the #6 bantamweight contender, one spot above William Gonzalez despite Gonzalez winning a 12-round, split decision July 14.





Edwin Diaz, erroneously listed as "Edwin Ortiz," is listed as the IBF's #7 junior flyweight contender. He had upset Juan Landaeta via an 8-round, unanimous decision on June 2 but was stopped in the 2nd round by Landaeta in their 7/14 rematch. Previously ranked #6, Landaeta incidentally was dropped from the top 15 in the latest IBF 108-pound weight class ratings.





Walter Matthysse is still the #5 welterweight contender although he was blasted out in the 2nd round by defending IBF champion Kermit Cinton on July 14.











Miguel Tellez is ranked as the #15 the mini-flyweight contender. He was KO'ed in 3 by Roman Gonzalez on July 13. Gonzalez is ranked #8. (Tellez, in his previous bout, versus Cesar Canchilla on March 2, was TKO'ed in the 12th round. Canchilla is also not ranked by the IBF.)





The IBF bantamweight title is listed as vacant but Luis Perez won that vacant championship on July 7 by knocking out Genaro Garcia in the 7th round. Perez and Garcia are listed as #4 and #5 respectively.





Vic Darchinyan is still shown as being the IBF flyweight champion. He lost both his IBF and IBO titles to Nonito Donaire on July 7 when Donaire, listed then and now as the #8 junior bantamweight contender, knocked Darchinyan out in the 5th round.











Muhammad Rachman is still listed as being the IBF mini-flyweight champ. He lost that title July 7. Florante Condes, listed as the #6 105-pound contender, took the IBF title from Rachman via a 12-round, split decision.





By sitting on their rankings for over 3 weeks, the IBF has, in essence, destroyed them. The rankings for many divisions are no longer relevant. Inexcusably, these ratings have been released after they were already "outdated".