Corner Stool Competition Index: August 2026 Update
Number one remains the same but the index sees a heavyweight debut
Call it the quarterly plus one.
Normally, The Corner Stool updates the competition index quarterly but this month we get the second quarter and the month of July as a bonus.
It doesn’t affect the top spot but there are plenty of movements as several wins aged past the three year mark.
Some notes notes on this update include:
Shifting this to August rather than a normal quarterly update ages out Naoya Inoue’s win over Stephen Fulton past the three-year mark. He still leads the sport with seven top ten wins, all of them at junior featherweight, over the last three years. Potential rival “Bam” Rodriguez is right behind him with six top ten wins in the last three years.
Rodriguez, number one in the last update, also assumes the overall points lead for the first time.
The current non-titlists/champions in consideration for the index are as follows: Saul Alvarez, Keyshawn Davis, and Junto Nakatani.
Only one fighter in the top ten currently has a fight scheduled but a few others are anticipated to announce foes soon.
A total pool of 57 fighters were considered for this update.
We begin at number 10 with the index’s newest arrival:
10) Shakur Stevenson (25-0, 11 KO)
Overall Points Rank: 12 (17.91 pts)
Unique Rated Wins Rank: 19 (2 unique wins)
Last Two Starts Rank: 2 (17.91 pts)
Average Opponent Ranking: 19 (7.49)
Age: 29
Current Lineal Titles: World Jr. Welterweight (2026-Present, 0 Defenses)
Current Alphabet Titles: WBO Jr. Welterweight (2026-Present, 0 Defenses)
Additional Lineal Titles: World Jr. Lightweight (2022)
Additional Titles: WBO Featherweight (2019-20); WBO Jr. Lightweight (2021-22, 1 Defense); Ring Magazine Jr. Lightweight (2022); TBRB Jr. Lightweight (2022); WBC Super Featherweight (2022); WBC Lightweight (2023-26, 3 Defenses); Ring Magazine Jr. Welterweight (2026-Present, 0 Defenses); TBRB Jr. Welterweight (2026-Present, 0 Defenses)
Record in Title Fights: 8-0, 2 KO (9-0, 2 KO including interim title fights)
Last Five: UD12 Teofimo Lopez (World Champion - 140); UD12 William Zepeda (Ring Magazine #4/TBRB #5 - 135); TKO9 Josh Padley (Unranked - 135); UD12 Artem Harutunyan (Unranked - 135); UD12 Edwin De Los Santos (Unranked - 135)
Three Year Activity Kicker: No
Next Opponent: TBD
The Take: Arguably the finest pure boxer in the world today, Stevenson won a title in his fourth weight class (second lineal) with a masterful takedown of “The Takeover” in January. Lopez was rendered impotent almost from the opening bell and never came close to cracking the defense of the 2016 Olympic Silver Medalist. Stevenson was looking for a big fight and a packed house at the Garden gave him the stage he needed. Now he has options in multiple directions. Raymond Muratalla at lightweight, unification at junior welterweight, or a move to welterweight could all be options as the rest of the year unfolds.
