Super Middleweight: 2011, Sep 19-25

Friday in Riga, Latvia, gatekeeper Mehdi Bouadla handled awful awful Dmitri Protkunas in predictable fashion, knocking him down 3 times in just over 2 minutes en route to a 1st-round stoppage.  The following night in Liverpool, British gatekeeper Paul Smith stopped journeyman Paul Samuels in an almost identical amount of time.  Across the pond in Vegas later than night, Mexican undefeated prospect Marco Antonio Periban won a fairly dominant 8-round decision over solid journeyman Dhafir Smith on the same card on which 1-loss Hatian-Canadian prospect Adonis Stevenson stopped fringe prospect Dion Savage in under 2 minutes.

 

Here are The Ring’s top 10 for comparison purposes:
1) Andre Ward
2) Carl Froch
3) Lucian Bute
4) Mikkel Kessler
5) Robert Stieglitz
6) Sakio Bika
7) Glen Johnson
8) Arthur Abraham
9) Thomas Oosthuizen
10) George Groves

 

Dan’s Top 20
Champ: None
1) Andre Ward (42-121-121)
Last Fight: 5/14/2011- UD12 #6 Arthur Abraham
Next Fight: 10/29/2011- vs. #2 Carl Froch
We now have a date certain for the Championship fight between Ward and Froch: October 29 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
2) Carl Froch (42-274-274)
Last Fight: 6/4/2011- W(MD12) vs. #12 Glen Johnson
Next Fight: 10/29/2011- vs. #1 Andre Ward
See Ward’s comments above.
3) Lucian Bute (42-283-283)
Last Fight: 7/9/2011- KO4 Jean Paul Mendy (UNR)
Next Fight: 11/5/2011- vs. #12 Glen Johnson
Bute passed up Mikkel Kessler for a potentially slightly easier night with #12 Glen Johnson in early November.
4) Mikkel Kessler (42-353-353)
Last Fight: 6/4/2011- TKO6 Mehdi Bouadla (UNR)
Next Fight: 11/5/2011- vs. #5 Robert Stieglitz
The Stieglitz bout is now official, and will be in Copenhagen.
5) Robert Stieglitz (23-107-107)
Last Fight: 4/9/2011- W(DQ10) vs. Khoren Gevor (UNR)
Next Fight: 11/5/2011- vs. #4 Mikkel Kessler
See Kessler’s notes above.
6) Thomas Oosthuizen (3-15-63)
Last Fight: 9/3/2011- UD12 #9 Aaron Pryor, Jr.
Next Fight: Unknown
Oosthuizen is one of the most accomplished fighters out there that nobody has ever heard of.
7) Arthur Abraham (3-99-99)
Last Fight: 5/14/2011- L(UD12) vs. #1 Andre Ward
Next Fight: 11/5/2011- vs. Unknown Opponent
Abraham is scheduled to return to the ring on November 5, probably in a catchweight fight between 160 and 168, and probably against a tune-up-type opponent.
8) Dimitri Sartison (3-59-63)
Last Fight: 7/31/2010- UD12 Khoren Gevor (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Sartison badly injured his knee in training and will be out until about October.  He will be given adequate time to schedule a fight thereafter without being removed.  I probably won’t even consider removing him until February.
9) Peter Quillin (3-20-20)
Last Fight: 7/23/2011- TKO5 Jason LeHoullier (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Quillin turned down an offer to fight Ishe Smith on the Hopkins-Dawson undercard.  He has bigger ambitions, hoping to fight Sergio Martinez or the winner of Vera-Lee.
10) Sakio Bika (3-3-232)
Last Fight: 11/27/2010- L(UD12) vs. #2 Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown
11) Aaron Pryor, Jr. (3-19)
Last Fight: 9/3/2011- L(UD12) vs. #10 Thomas Oosthuizen
Next Fight: 10/10/2011- vs. Adonis Stevenson (UNR)
Pryor looks to rebound from his momentum-halting loss to Oosthuizen with another tough fight against human highlight reel Adonis Stevenson in October.
12) Glen Johnson (22-45)
Last Fight: 6/4/2011- L(MD12) vs. #2 Carl Froch
Next Fight: 11/5/2011- vs. #3 Lucian Bute
With no apparent buzz leading up to the announcement, Johnson suddenly had a fight signed with Bute for November.
13) Isaac Chilemba (20-63)
Last Fight: 3/26/2011- UD12 Vikapita Meroro (UNR) (at LHW)
Next Fight: Unknown
Chilemba seems to be toying with the idea of moving up to 175.  We’ll have to see if he ultimately takes that route or not.
14) Bryan Vera (15-32)
Last Fight: 6/24/2011- KO8 Eloy Suarez (UNR)
Next Fight: 10/1/2011- vs. #15 Andy Lee
Now officially scheduled for a rematch with #15 Andy Lee on October 1, on the Martinez-Barker undercard.  Not sure yet whether that will be a Middleweight or Super Middleweight fight.
15) Andy Lee (15-27)
Last Fight: 5/18/2011- UD10 Alex Bunema (UNR) (at MW)
Next Fight: 10/1/2011- vs. #14 Bryan Vera
See Vera’s notes, above.
16) Librado Andrade (4-4)
Last Fight: 8/27/2011- TKO3 Matt O’Brien (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Still appears to be well on the downside of his career, but with his past success he only needs to stay active and win to stay in the rankings at this point.
17) Jesus Gonzalez (4-10)
Last Fight: 7/8/2011- UD12 Francisco Sierra (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
With a fairly comfortable win over a generally solid and much bigger opponent, Gonzalez finds his way easily within the top 20.
18) Ezequiel Maderna (4-28)
Last Fight: 8/28/2011- TKO3 Jorge Rodriguez Olivera (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
19) Jesse Brinkley (4-63)
Last Fight: 4/29/2011- L (TKO3) vs. Peter Quillin (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Brinkley’s career now appears a shambles after he was destroyed by rising star Peter Quillin.
20) George Groves (4-17)
Last Fight: 5/21/2011- W(MD12*) vs. #20 James DeGale
Next Fight: Unknown
Groves may be looking at a fight with James DeGale victim Paul Smith on December 17 in Liverpool.

 

The Week Ahead:  Saturday night in Corpus Christi, Texas, prospect Alfonso Lopez (who gave Kelly Pavlik all he could handle this spring) squares off with journeyman Michael Walker.  The following evening in Krasnodar, Russia, one-loss Russian prospect Maxim Vlasov faces novice 3-0 prospect Gasan Gasanov
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