Cruiserweight: 2012, Apr 16-22
In last week’s entry, I said that by this week, 6-0 Kiwi prospect David Aloua could be 7-0 with an argument for a ranking this week. Half of that statement has come true. Aloua is 7-0, but he got there via a shockingly bad decision in his opponent’s native Australia. That opponent, Anthony McCracken, is a rugged gatekeeper who is better than the 14-5 record he brought to the table. I can’t explain how any judge could have Aloua ahead in that fight. Not even close. The only area in which Aloua had any advantage in more than 3 rounds was cuts. Whether from a butt or a punch, McCracken had a gruesome gash under his eye for the latter part of the fight. They say judges score blood- a statement that is shameful, if true, at any rate- and to get to an Aloua win in this fight, that had to be about all the judges scored. Forget clean effective punching. Forget effective aggressiveness. Forget ring generalship. The judges robbed the home fighter based on a cut. Sad but true. Worse yet, the fight was not televised and is available only via a single-angle video, as it was held at a private social club, so very few people have even witnessed the debacle that was the judges’ decision. Adrian Cairns and Steve Marshall earn a spot on the wall of shame for their 96-94 cards in favor of Aloua, while Adam Height at 96-94 McCracken didn’t exactly distinguish himself, either.
Champ: None
1) Yoan Pablo Hernandez (11-95-95) Last Fight: 2/4/2012- UD12 #4 Steve Cunningham Next Fight: Unknown Erased any doubt as to the better fighter between him and Cunningham. A fight with Lebedev now would be huge.
2) Denis Lebedev (11-115-115) Last Fight: 4/4/2012- KO2 Shawn Cox (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Has-beens and novices are all that seems to be on the wishlist for Lebedev, as he’s now reportedly working on a fight with Mormeck at cruiser. 3) Antonio Tarver (11-39-39) Last Fight: 7/20/2011- RTD9 #7 Danny Green Next Fight: 5/26/2012- vs. #13 Lateef Kayode Tarver criticized Kayode on ShoBox, and Kayode took exception. So now we have a grudge match. I don’t think the Nigerian is ready for this, but perhaps Tarver will finally show his age. 4) Marco Huck (11-280-280) Last Fight: 2/25/2012- L*(MD12) vs. HW #2 Alexander Povetkin (at HW) Next Fight: 5/5/2012- vs. #7 Ola Afolabi Huck will fight Afolabi May 5 in Erfurt, Germany, fresh off his near victory over Povetkin at heavyweight. 5) Steve Cunningham (11-409-409) Last Fight: 2/4/2012- L(UD12) vs. #3 Yoan Pablo Hernandez Next Fight: Unknown 6) Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (20-356-356) Last Fight: 11/30/2011- TKO11 #9 Danny Green Next Fight: Unknown 7) Ola Afolabi (20-162-162) Last Fight: 3/3/2012- RTD5 Valery Brudov (UNR) Next Fight: 5/5/2012- vs. #4 Marco Huck (UNR) See Huck’s notes, above. 8) Guillermo Jones (20-81-81) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- TKO6 Michael Marrone (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown With all of his possible mandatories tied up with other fights, Jones has made renewed noises about moving up to face a Klitschko. In the meantime, he continues to train in Miami for a fight that has yet to materialize. 9) Danny Green (39-124-124) Last Fight: 11/30/2011- L(TKO11) vs. #8 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk Next Fight: Unknown Shane Cameron is hoping to fight Green if he beats Monte Barrett in May. No major news from Green’s end. 10) B.J. Flores (5-5-95) Last Fight: 1/28/2012- TKO6 Hugo Pineda (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Flores has said he might fight the Fragomeni-Branco winner. Not sure how that will be affected by the fact that there is no winner. 11) Francisco Palacios (5-55) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- UD8 Joell Godfrey (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown The WBC has mandated a rematch with Wlodarczyk, but that seems almost forgotten as Wlodarczyk has since chased fights with Roy Jones and Antonio Tarver, neither of which seem to be currently on the table. 12) Alexander Alexeev (5-66) Last Fight: 2/4/2012- UD12 #15 Enad Licina Next Fight: 5/11/2012- vs. #19 Firat Arslan Alexeev will fight Firat Arslan in an interesting crossroads-type fight on May 11 in Germany. 13) Lateef Kayode (5-74) Last Fight: 9/9/2011- UD10 Felix Cora, Jr. (UNR) Next Fight: 5/26/2012- vs. #3 Antonio Tarver Kayode has snubbed a mandatory shot at Guillermo Jones’ alphabet belt for a shot at an even better fighter, the aging but still very capable Antonio Tarver. 14) Giacobbe Fragomeni (5-179) Last Fight: 3/17/2012- Draw (MD12) vs. Silvio Branco (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Fragomeni appears to be showing his age after nearly losing to an even older man in Brnaco. 15) Silvio Branco (5-5) Last Fight: 3/17/2012- Draw (MD12) vs. #10 Giacobbe Fragomeni Next Fight: Unknown 45 year old veteran Silvio Branco got what may have been his final hurrah with a close-fought draw with top 10-ranked Giacobbe Fragomeni. 16) Mateusz Masternak (3-3) Last Fight: 3/31/2012- TKO10 Felipe Romero (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Masternak beat the best opponent of his career in Romero, and did so convincingly. 17) Enad Licina (3-95) Last Fight: 2/4/2012- L(UD12) vs. #17 Alexander Alexeev Next Fight: Unknown May be getting a little shopworn. He’s not a pushover by any means, but you’d have to be crazy to imagine him as a top-10-type guy. 18) Troy Ross (3-11) Last Fight: 2/4/2012- UD8 Lukasz Rusiewicz (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Inactivity combined with poor competition are killing the career of top-level talent Ross, but at least he’s technically an active cruiserweight again, and thus eligible to remain in the rankings. 19) Firat Arslan (3-40) Last Fight: 1/28/2012- TKO2 Orlando Farias (UNR) Next Fight: 5/11/2012- vs. #12 Alexander Alexeev See Alexeev’s notes, above. 20) Grigory Drozd (3-10) Last Fight: 2/8/2012- RTD9 Richard Hall (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Drozd was scheduled to fight William Joppy on April 4, but that fight appears to have been canceled with little fanfare. Good riddance.
Fringe contender Garrett Wilson of Philadelphia scored a knockdown in both the first and final round- both with left hooks- en route to a knockout win over prospect Andres Taylor with just 10 seconds left in what was otherwise a fairly competitive scrap.
No changes to the rankings, as two top 50 guys defeated (or at least beat) relatively unestablished opponents.
Dan’s Top 20
Champ: None
1) Yoan Pablo Hernandez (11-95-95) Last Fight: 2/4/2012- UD12 #4 Steve Cunningham Next Fight: Unknown Erased any doubt as to the better fighter between him and Cunningham. A fight with Lebedev now would be huge.
2) Denis Lebedev (11-115-115) Last Fight: 4/4/2012- KO2 Shawn Cox (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Has-beens and novices are all that seems to be on the wishlist for Lebedev, as he’s now reportedly working on a fight with Mormeck at cruiser. 3) Antonio Tarver (11-39-39) Last Fight: 7/20/2011- RTD9 #7 Danny Green Next Fight: 5/26/2012- vs. #13 Lateef Kayode Tarver criticized Kayode on ShoBox, and Kayode took exception. So now we have a grudge match. I don’t think the Nigerian is ready for this, but perhaps Tarver will finally show his age. 4) Marco Huck (11-280-280) Last Fight: 2/25/2012- L*(MD12) vs. HW #2 Alexander Povetkin (at HW) Next Fight: 5/5/2012- vs. #7 Ola Afolabi Huck will fight Afolabi May 5 in Erfurt, Germany, fresh off his near victory over Povetkin at heavyweight. 5) Steve Cunningham (11-409-409) Last Fight: 2/4/2012- L(UD12) vs. #3 Yoan Pablo Hernandez Next Fight: Unknown 6) Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (20-356-356) Last Fight: 11/30/2011- TKO11 #9 Danny Green Next Fight: Unknown 7) Ola Afolabi (20-162-162) Last Fight: 3/3/2012- RTD5 Valery Brudov (UNR) Next Fight: 5/5/2012- vs. #4 Marco Huck (UNR) See Huck’s notes, above. 8) Guillermo Jones (20-81-81) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- TKO6 Michael Marrone (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown With all of his possible mandatories tied up with other fights, Jones has made renewed noises about moving up to face a Klitschko. In the meantime, he continues to train in Miami for a fight that has yet to materialize. 9) Danny Green (39-124-124) Last Fight: 11/30/2011- L(TKO11) vs. #8 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk Next Fight: Unknown Shane Cameron is hoping to fight Green if he beats Monte Barrett in May. No major news from Green’s end. 10) B.J. Flores (5-5-95) Last Fight: 1/28/2012- TKO6 Hugo Pineda (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Flores has said he might fight the Fragomeni-Branco winner. Not sure how that will be affected by the fact that there is no winner. 11) Francisco Palacios (5-55) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- UD8 Joell Godfrey (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown The WBC has mandated a rematch with Wlodarczyk, but that seems almost forgotten as Wlodarczyk has since chased fights with Roy Jones and Antonio Tarver, neither of which seem to be currently on the table. 12) Alexander Alexeev (5-66) Last Fight: 2/4/2012- UD12 #15 Enad Licina Next Fight: 5/11/2012- vs. #19 Firat Arslan Alexeev will fight Firat Arslan in an interesting crossroads-type fight on May 11 in Germany. 13) Lateef Kayode (5-74) Last Fight: 9/9/2011- UD10 Felix Cora, Jr. (UNR) Next Fight: 5/26/2012- vs. #3 Antonio Tarver Kayode has snubbed a mandatory shot at Guillermo Jones’ alphabet belt for a shot at an even better fighter, the aging but still very capable Antonio Tarver. 14) Giacobbe Fragomeni (5-179) Last Fight: 3/17/2012- Draw (MD12) vs. Silvio Branco (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Fragomeni appears to be showing his age after nearly losing to an even older man in Brnaco. 15) Silvio Branco (5-5) Last Fight: 3/17/2012- Draw (MD12) vs. #10 Giacobbe Fragomeni Next Fight: Unknown 45 year old veteran Silvio Branco got what may have been his final hurrah with a close-fought draw with top 10-ranked Giacobbe Fragomeni. 16) Mateusz Masternak (3-3) Last Fight: 3/31/2012- TKO10 Felipe Romero (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Masternak beat the best opponent of his career in Romero, and did so convincingly. 17) Enad Licina (3-95) Last Fight: 2/4/2012- L(UD12) vs. #17 Alexander Alexeev Next Fight: Unknown May be getting a little shopworn. He’s not a pushover by any means, but you’d have to be crazy to imagine him as a top-10-type guy. 18) Troy Ross (3-11) Last Fight: 2/4/2012- UD8 Lukasz Rusiewicz (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Inactivity combined with poor competition are killing the career of top-level talent Ross, but at least he’s technically an active cruiserweight again, and thus eligible to remain in the rankings. 19) Firat Arslan (3-40) Last Fight: 1/28/2012- TKO2 Orlando Farias (UNR) Next Fight: 5/11/2012- vs. #12 Alexander Alexeev See Alexeev’s notes, above. 20) Grigory Drozd (3-10) Last Fight: 2/8/2012- RTD9 Richard Hall (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Drozd was scheduled to fight William Joppy on April 4, but that fight appears to have been canceled with little fanfare. Good riddance.
THE WEEK AHEAD: Undefeated Russian prospect and current t0p 25 cruiserweight Rakhim Chakhkiev fights an opponent to be announced in Schwerin, Germany on Saturday.
Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog 
May 10, 2012 at 4:08 am
Not sure why you are bagging the promotion for putting the fight up online?
Out of the 140 events in Australia that are held every year only 25 – 30 are actually televised.
You will spend a long time looking for the other 110 fight cards online. I take pride in knowing that we filmed the fight best we could and put it straight up for all to see.
All the best with the blog! Looks like great work anyway.
Brian
May 10, 2012 at 8:56 am
Brian,
I definitely didn’t intend to knock the production. I’m very grateful to have been able to see it, and it was very well done, especially given the lack of a network involved. I was just lamenting the fact that this robbery won’t get the media attention- certainly not here stateside- that a comparable robbery between two fighters of comparable stature would often get if it were nationally or internationally televised. I’m just not sure that my blog and a few scattered message board posts online are going to be able to overcome the effect a big red “L” or a green undeserved “W” on boxrec might have on the two men’s careers, whereas when higher-profile fights like Cloud-Campillo and Lara-Williams are involved (or even ESPN broadcasts), those essentially falsified records are generally laughed off. You’ve certainly done your part to cast sunlight on the exercise, and I thank you for that immensely. And also for the kind words about my blog.