Women’s Ratings Update: Natasha Jonas vacates Ring belt, Romero to No. 3 and more

After a few weeks of little relevant action on the women’s boxing front, a few fights and other situations have conspired to create a few rearrangements in The Ring’s trailblazing divisional women’s ratings.

First off, a quick review of our junior middleweight ratings led to the question of whether our inaugural champion Natasha Jonas would stay active enough at the weight to renew her claim to her belt.

Jonas was found in breach of two rules of our Championship Rules:

1 –The Champion moves to another weight class (for more than one fight).

2 – The Champion does not schedule a fight at his/her championship weight for 18 months (even if he/she fights at another weight).

Jonas’ last two fights were at welterweight, and she hasn’t fought at 154 in just over 18 months. When asked about the situation on a private message, the champion herself declared that she is “now campaigning at welter.”

Therefore, The Ring’s junior middleweight belt is now up for grabs.

In other news, an interesting clash took place during this past weekend in which Argentina’s Nazarena Romero finally got the credit she deserved with a last-round stoppage win over Paulette Valenzuela in a scheduled 10-rounder in Buenos Aires.

Nazarena Romero (left) lands a hard hook on Paulette Valenzuela – Photo courtesy of Boxeo De Primera (TyC Sports)

Romero was 0-0-2 in her last two outings, with those draws coming against Mayerlin Rivas (a technical draw after a clash of heads sent the fight to the cards earlier) and Erika Cruz-Hernandez (in a heated battle that many saw Romero win, and after which Cruz-Hernandez tested positive of a banned substance in a ruling she is now disputing). But now she was able to stay on top of her game plan and laid down a progressive beating on Mexico’s Valenzuela, who looked overwhelmed by Romero’s sheer volume of punches down the stretch.

Despite having two rounds during which she seemed disconnected from the fight, Romero looked very good,” said author and editor Irene Deserti. “She even learned to manage that impetus with greater intelligence to be even more effective,”

The accolades kept coming for the explosive and flamboyant 30-year-old.

“I’m all for Nazarena Romero to No. 3. Her body-then-head shots were sweet,” said Lupi Gutierrez-Beagle of Beautiful Brawlers. Malissa Smith added that “Romero deserves the No. 3 spot. She brings fun to the sport!,” and Ring magazine senior writer Jake Donovan added that “she looked great on Saturday and one of the best personalities in the sport, to boot,” with Japan’s Yuriko Miyata adding that “Romero keeps putting good performances and deserves to take No. 3 spot.”

Diego M. Morilla has been writing for The Ring since 2013. He has also written for HBO.com, ESPN.com and many other magazines, websites, newspapers and outlets since 1993. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and an elector for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He has won two first-place awards in the BWAA’s annual writing contest, and he is the moderator of The Ring’s Women’s Ratings Panel. He served as copy editor for the second era of The Ring en Español (2018-2020) and is currently a writer and editor for RingTV.com.

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