Super Middleweight: 2011, Nov 14-20
The most important fight of the week turned out to be the tilt between fringe contending Italian undefeated prospect Andrea Di Luisa and somewhat less highly-regarded one-loss prospect Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye of Senegal. Ndiaye lost a split decision to fringe contender Lolenga Mock in 2008 and had yet to step back up since then. Di Luisa was fresh off his career-best win over Ruben Acosta in May. In what must be considered an upset, Ndiaye appears to have totally dominated the fight, knocking Di Luisa down 4 times overall and finishing him off with a 12th-round TKO.
1) Andre Ward (51-130-130)
Last Fight: 5/14/2011- UD12 #6 Arthur Abraham
Next Fight: 12/17/2011- vs. #2 Carl Froch Ward-Froch has been rescheduled for December 17 in Atlantic City. 2) Carl Froch (51-283-283)
Last Fight: 6/4/2011- W(MD12) vs. #12 Glen Johnson
Next Fight: 12/17/2011- vs. #1 Andre Ward See Ward’s comments above. 3) Lucian Bute (51-292-292)
Last Fight: 11/5/2012- UD12 #13 Glen Johnson
Next Fight: Unknown Maybe we’ll see him against the Froch-Ward winner next?
4) Mikkel Kessler (51-362-362)
Last Fight: 6/4/2011- TKO6 Mehdi Bouadla (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #5 Robert Stieglitz Kessler’s team is targeting March or April for his recovery and the Stieglitz bout.
5) Robert Stieglitz (32-116-116)
Last Fight: 4/9/2011- W(DQ10) vs. Khoren Gevor (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #4 Mikkel Kessler See Kessler’s notes above. 6) Thomas Oosthuizen (11-24-72)
Last Fight: 9/3/2011- UD12 #9 Aaron Pryor, Jr.
Next Fight: 11/23/2011- vs. Unknown Opponent Oosthuizen will fight on November 23. Maxim Vlasov was originally the opponent, but backed out shortly thereafter. 7) Arthur Abraham (11-108-108)
Last Fight: 5/14/2011- L(UD12) vs. #1 Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown Abraham now expects to fight in December in Germany.
8) Dimitri Sartison (11-68-72)
Last Fight: 11/12/2011- W(MD8) vs. Arturs Kulikauskis (UNR) (at LHW)
Next Fight: Unknown Sartison had trouble keeping up with the movement of truly awful journeyman Arturs Kulikauskis in his comeback fight from knee surgery. Hopefully it gets better with time, because otherwise the once-promising Sartison is fodder.
9) Peter Quillin (11-29-29) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- TKO6 Craig McEwan (UNR) (at MW) Next Fight: Unknown Quillin netted a nice win at Middleweight against Craig McEwan, though it doesn’t affect his ranking here. 10) Sakio Bika (11-11-241)
Last Fight: 11/27/2010- L(UD12) vs. #2 Andre Ward
Next Fight: 12/3/2011- vs. Unknown Opponent Bika announced on his website that he will be fighting on December 3 in the US. No opponent yet. 11) Andy Lee (7-36) Last Fight: 10/1/2011- UD10 #14 Bryan Vera Next Fight: Unknown Exorcised whatever demons he had left in his career with the win over Vera, and is now ready to move on like the sure-fire contender he was originally seen as. 12) Aaron Pryor, Jr. (7-28) Last Fight: 9/3/2011- L(UD12) vs. #10 Thomas Oosthuizen Next Fight: 12/10/2011- 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. 13) Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (1-1) Last Fight: 11/11/2011- TKO12 Andrea Di Luisa (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Dominated and stopped a bona fide fringe contender in Di Luisa, and earned a nice ranking in the process. 14) Glen Johnson (1-54) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- L(UD12) vs. #3 Lucian Bute Next Fight: Unknown The Bute fight was the only one of Johnson’s recent career that wasn’t really close. Bute is certainly a top fighter, but it could be that the Road Warrior is starting to wind down a bit. 15) Bryan Vera (1-41) Last Fight: 10/1/2011- L(UD10) vs. #15 Andy Lee Next Fight: Unknown Totally outclassed by Lee in the rematch of a fight he won last time around. 16) Librado Andrade (1-12) Last Fight: 8/27/2011- TKO3 Matt O’Brien (UNR) Next Fight: 12/17/2011- vs. Don George (UNR) Andrade has not been deterred from fighting top prospects after the Pryor loss, and is now scheduled to fight knockout artist Don George in December. 17) Jesus Gonzales (1-19) 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, Gonzales finds his way easily within the top 20. 18) James DeGale (1-5) Last Fight: 10/15/2011- W(MD12) vs. Piotr Wilczewski (UNR) Next Fight: 12/9/2011- vs. Unknown Opponent DeGale will be fighting on a doubleheader with bitter domestic rival George Groves on 12/9.
19) George Groves (1-26) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- TKO2 Paul Smith (UNR)
Next Fight: 12/9/2011- vs. Unknown Opponent Groves is set to return on December 9 on the same card as rival James DeGale.
20) Ezequiel Maderna (1-37) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- TKO1 Dario Balmaceda (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown No problem with a relatively weak opponent in Balmaceda.
In other action, #8 Dimitri Sartison returned to action for the first time since his knee injury in July 2010. I didn’t see the fight, but it was a majority decision, and was contested at light heavyweight. From what I’ve read, Sartison’s knee looked to have slowed him down a bit, and Kulikauskis used lots of movement to make the fight a lot closer than it should have been.
Russian prospect Matt Korobov- who really projects more as a middleweight- saw action this week in a super middleweight fight against journeyman Latif Mundy, and knocked him out early in the 4th round. No big deal there.
So now the fallout: I made a decision back when Sartison’s injury became public that I wouldn’t consider dumping him until February 2012. I’m sticking to that despite his return as a light heavyweight and the shakiness involved in the win. Since Di Luisa was my unofficial #21 contender going in, Ndiaye’s win obviously earns the African a ranking. Ndiaye debuts at #13, supplanting Glen Johnson. Johnson’s win over Allan Green is roughly of equal quality in my opinion, and was two losses and a full year ago. That’s all the veteran has to hang his hat on in this division. Everybody rated #13 or below last week drops a spot, including Stas Kashtanov, who exits after just a one-week stint.
Dan’s Top 20 Champ: None
1) Andre Ward (51-130-130)
Last Fight: 5/14/2011- UD12 #6 Arthur Abraham
Next Fight: 12/17/2011- vs. #2 Carl Froch Ward-Froch has been rescheduled for December 17 in Atlantic City. 2) Carl Froch (51-283-283)
Last Fight: 6/4/2011- W(MD12) vs. #12 Glen Johnson
Next Fight: 12/17/2011- vs. #1 Andre Ward See Ward’s comments above. 3) Lucian Bute (51-292-292)
Last Fight: 11/5/2012- UD12 #13 Glen Johnson
Next Fight: Unknown Maybe we’ll see him against the Froch-Ward winner next?
4) Mikkel Kessler (51-362-362)
Last Fight: 6/4/2011- TKO6 Mehdi Bouadla (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #5 Robert Stieglitz Kessler’s team is targeting March or April for his recovery and the Stieglitz bout.
5) Robert Stieglitz (32-116-116)
Last Fight: 4/9/2011- W(DQ10) vs. Khoren Gevor (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #4 Mikkel Kessler See Kessler’s notes above. 6) Thomas Oosthuizen (11-24-72)
Last Fight: 9/3/2011- UD12 #9 Aaron Pryor, Jr.
Next Fight: 11/23/2011- vs. Unknown Opponent Oosthuizen will fight on November 23. Maxim Vlasov was originally the opponent, but backed out shortly thereafter. 7) Arthur Abraham (11-108-108)
Last Fight: 5/14/2011- L(UD12) vs. #1 Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown Abraham now expects to fight in December in Germany.
8) Dimitri Sartison (11-68-72)
Last Fight: 11/12/2011- W(MD8) vs. Arturs Kulikauskis (UNR) (at LHW)
Next Fight: Unknown Sartison had trouble keeping up with the movement of truly awful journeyman Arturs Kulikauskis in his comeback fight from knee surgery. Hopefully it gets better with time, because otherwise the once-promising Sartison is fodder.
9) Peter Quillin (11-29-29) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- TKO6 Craig McEwan (UNR) (at MW) Next Fight: Unknown Quillin netted a nice win at Middleweight against Craig McEwan, though it doesn’t affect his ranking here. 10) Sakio Bika (11-11-241)
Last Fight: 11/27/2010- L(UD12) vs. #2 Andre Ward
Next Fight: 12/3/2011- vs. Unknown Opponent Bika announced on his website that he will be fighting on December 3 in the US. No opponent yet. 11) Andy Lee (7-36) Last Fight: 10/1/2011- UD10 #14 Bryan Vera Next Fight: Unknown Exorcised whatever demons he had left in his career with the win over Vera, and is now ready to move on like the sure-fire contender he was originally seen as. 12) Aaron Pryor, Jr. (7-28) Last Fight: 9/3/2011- L(UD12) vs. #10 Thomas Oosthuizen Next Fight: 12/10/2011- 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. 13) Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (1-1) Last Fight: 11/11/2011- TKO12 Andrea Di Luisa (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Dominated and stopped a bona fide fringe contender in Di Luisa, and earned a nice ranking in the process. 14) Glen Johnson (1-54) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- L(UD12) vs. #3 Lucian Bute Next Fight: Unknown The Bute fight was the only one of Johnson’s recent career that wasn’t really close. Bute is certainly a top fighter, but it could be that the Road Warrior is starting to wind down a bit. 15) Bryan Vera (1-41) Last Fight: 10/1/2011- L(UD10) vs. #15 Andy Lee Next Fight: Unknown Totally outclassed by Lee in the rematch of a fight he won last time around. 16) Librado Andrade (1-12) Last Fight: 8/27/2011- TKO3 Matt O’Brien (UNR) Next Fight: 12/17/2011- vs. Don George (UNR) Andrade has not been deterred from fighting top prospects after the Pryor loss, and is now scheduled to fight knockout artist Don George in December. 17) Jesus Gonzales (1-19) 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, Gonzales finds his way easily within the top 20. 18) James DeGale (1-5) Last Fight: 10/15/2011- W(MD12) vs. Piotr Wilczewski (UNR) Next Fight: 12/9/2011- vs. Unknown Opponent DeGale will be fighting on a doubleheader with bitter domestic rival George Groves on 12/9.
19) George Groves (1-26) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- TKO2 Paul Smith (UNR)
Next Fight: 12/9/2011- vs. Unknown Opponent Groves is set to return on December 9 on the same card as rival James DeGale.
20) Ezequiel Maderna (1-37) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- TKO1 Dario Balmaceda (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown No problem with a relatively weak opponent in Balmaceda.
The Week Ahead: After a flurry of activity in recent weeks, we get a quiet respite at 168.
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