Light Heavyweight: 2011, Sep 19-25

A very suspect result out of Poland this week, as local undefeated prospect Pawel Glazewski won a close split decision over fringe prospect Doudou Ngumbu of the Congo.  Unfortunately I can’t find anything resembling a video of the fight, but I’ve seen varying reports (and who knows if or to what extent these sources saw the fight themselves) on the legitimacy of the decision.  One reporter opined that the fight could have gone either way and was not a robbery, while I’ve also seen it mentioned as a “clear robbery” on a message board thread which seeks to expose bad judges.  So while the split decision in one guy’s backyard is HIGHLY suspicious, I can’t give any sort of informed opinion and thus must accept the official verdict. 

 

For comparison, here are the current Ring Magazine Ratings:
Champ: Bernard Hopkins
1) Jean Pascal
2) Tavoris Cloud
3) Chad Dawson
4) Nathan Cleverly
5) Adrian Diaconu
6) Zsolt Erdei
7) Beibut Shumenov
8) Karo Murat
9) Gabriel Campillo
10) Ismayl Sillakh

 

Dan’s Top 20
Champ: Bernard Hopkins (18-276-276)
Last Fight: 5/21/2011- UD12 Champ Jean Pascal
Next Fight: 10/15/2011- vs. #2 Chad Dawson
Hopkins will defend the title on October 15 against #2 Chad Dawson, who just a year ago was as close to a legit champion as you could be without having beaten a Champion or #1 contender before he was shockingly upset by Jean Pascal.  The fight will be on PPV.
1) Jean Pascal (18-118-118)
Last Fight: 5/21/2011- L(UD12) vs. #1 Bernard Hopkins
Next Fight: Unknown
Pascal, it appears, will return on December 10, but Cloud has now been ruled out as an opponent.
2) Chad Dawson (40-277-277)
Last Fight: 5/21/2011- UD12 #11 Adrian Diaconu
Next Fight: 10/15/2011- vs. Champ Bernard Hopkins
Dawson will look to finally be crowned as Champion against the man whose refusal to fight him kept him perpetually a step away until recently.
3) Tavoris Cloud (40-108-108)
Last Fight: 6/25/2011- TKO8 #8 Yusaf Mack
Next Fight: Unknown
Cloud was deep in discussions for an excellent fight with Pascal, but they failed.
4) Gabriel Campillo (7-65-65)
Last Fight: 4/15/2011- TKO5 Sergei Beloshapkin (UNR)
Next Fight: 10/1/2011- vs. #14 Karo Murat
5) Nathan Cleverly (7-85-85)
Last Fight: 5/21/2011- TKO4 Alexei Kuziemski (UNR)
Next Fight: 10/15/2011- vs. Tony Bellew (UNR)
Cleverly is skipping his mandatory and will fight bitter domestic rival Tony Bellew on October 15.
6) Eduard Gutknecht (7-20-20)
Last Fight: 7/16/2011- UD12 Lorenzo Di Giacomo (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Ho-hum victory over Di Giacomo.  Hopefully he steps back up soon.
7) Beibut Shumenov (7-61-65)
Last Fight: 7/29/2011- TKO9 Danny Santiago (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
8) Yusaf Mack (7-29-65)
Last Fight: 6/25/2011- L(TKO8) vs. #3 Tavoris Cloud
Next Fight: Unknown
Mack looks a little too small to compete with the top guys at this weight, but still has a good enough resume to avoid dropping too far.
9) Dmitri Sukhotski (7-18-47)
Last Fight: 3/11/2011- TKO5 Konstantin Piternov (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
10) Adrian Diaconu (7-7-228)
Last Fight: 5/21/2011- L(UD12) vs. #2 Chad Dawson
Next Fight: Unknown
A quality fighter, Diaconu is nevertheless slipping in the rankings simply because he never wins against anyone above the journeyman level.  He ought to try and find some kind of mid-range fringe contender just to get a decent win, because fighting journeymen or top contenders isn’t working out for him.
11) Ismayl Sillakh (7-36)
Last Fight: 5/21/2011- TKO3 Hamza Wandera (UNR) (as CW)
Next Fight: Unknown
The WBC has ordered a tournament to determine their mandatory challenger to Hopkins, involving Sillakh, Chris Henry, Shumenov, and Erdei.  The only one that appears interested is Sillakh.
12) Zsolt Erdei (7-44)
Last Fight: 6/4/2011- KO6 Byron Mitchell (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
There is some buzz at present about a potential fight with Pascal.
13) Danny McIntosh (7-65)
Last Fight: 5/7/2011- L(TKO8) vs. Eduard Gutknecht (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Significantly diminished by his loss to Gutknecht, but still has a better win in Thierry Karl than the two guys rated immediately below him: Karo Murat and…well…Thierry Karl.
14) Karo Murat (7-20)
Last Fight: 5/7/2011- TKO11 #17 Otis Griffin
Next Fight: Unknown
His long-rumored fight with Campillo will reportedly take place on 10/1, though the nothing seems to be official yet.
15) Yordanis Despaigne (7-8)
Last Fight: 7/29/2011- W(DQ5) vs. Edison Miranda (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
There was talk immediately after the Miranda fight of a rematch taking place, but no new news on that.
16) Jesus Gonzales (7-11)
Last Fight: 7/8/2011- UD12 Francisco Sierra (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
His present and future are probably both at 168, but he beat a good enough light heavyweight to earn this ranking, nevertheless.
17) Thierry Karl (7-65)
Last Fight: 1/22/2011- L (TKO11) vs. #17 Danny McIntosh
Next Fight: Unknown
Will probably see a long layoff and a few tune-ups after being stopped by McIntosh.  Karl might be done as a major contender.
18) Luis Garcia (7-36)
Last Fight: 11/6/2010- TKO2 Byron Mitchell (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
19) Dyah Davis (7-26)
Last Fight: 4/8/2011- UD10* Marcus Johnson (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Pulled off a bit of an upset in beating hot prospect Marcus Johnson on ShoBox.  Seems to be a magnet for controversial scoring, though, as he’s now been on both the good and bad side of at least debatable scorecards in his last two fights.
20) Marcus Johnson (7-7)
Last Fight: 4/8/2011- L*(UD10) vs. #19 Dyah Davis
Next Fight: Unknown
Got bounced for just a week before Glen Johnson kindly excused himself from the ratings.


The Week Ahead:  Polish fringe prospect Andrzej Fonfara- who lost a fight to a bad or mediocre fighter at welterweight and middleweight and then began taking steroids and has been undefeated at 175- will take on weak journeyman Jose Spearman in Fonfara’s adopted home of Chicago on Friday. 
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