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No, never. He actually wasn't even a Top 5 rated fighter (Ring or TBRB) when he was previously campaigning at Junior Lightweight despite holding the IBF title for a short while. He only ever made two defenses, one of which many believe he lost to Edner Cherry (Split Decision). While he was there Uchiyama was generally viewed as the man to beat until Corrales beat him a couple years ago. Pedraza's inactivity, poor performances, and having to compete in the rankings with the likes of Uchiyama, Corrales, Martinez, Miura, Vargas, Salido and later Lomachenko kept Pedraza out of the Top 5 while he was a titlist there. He was already hinting at a move to Lightweight prior to fighting Davis due to the cut to make 130.Was Pedraza ever the universally recognized number 1 guy in the division? Linares was, sure it was weak and Mikey was bouncing around and hadn't been there long but this revisionist history on Linares like he never got better and wasn't the top guy of a division is absurd
Now that he moved up to Lightweight and just beat Beltran for the WBO title he's ranked in the Top 5 by BoxRec (#4) and ESPN (#5). The Ring and the TBRB haven't updated their rankings yet. He's clearly improved and looks sharper and stronger at Lightweight than he ever did at Junior Lightweight.
Edit. The TBRB just updated. Pedraza entered their rankings at #4.
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