Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog

Nothing doing in the division last week again.

 

Dan’s Top 20

Champ: Andre Ward (8-142-142)
Last Fight: 12/17/2011- UD12 #2 Carl Froch
Next Fight: Unknown

A little bit of a disappointing batch of initial rhetoric coming out of the Ward camp.  While Bute says he is willing to travel to Oakland to fight Ward, Ward himself seems more interested in Kessler.  Normally I wouldn’t knock a Champ-#3 contender matchup, but we’ve already got that one figured out.  He’s also said he’s willing to fight J.C. Chavez in Mexico.

1) Lucian Bute (8-304-304)
Last Fight: 11/5/2012- UD12 #13 Glen Johnson
Next Fight: 4/14/2012- vs. Unknown Opponent

Bute has said he will fight April 14 with or without Froch, but the word is that Froch-Bute is still not dead.

2) Carl Froch (8-295-295)
Last Fight: 12/17/2011- L(UD12) vs. #1 Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown

The word is that the Bute fight is still possible.  Another possibility is an IBF eliminator with #16 Librado Andrade.

3) Mikkel Kessler (8-374-374)

Last Fight: 6/4/2011- TKO6 Mehdi Bouadla (UNR)
Next Fight: 4/14/2012- vs. #4 Robert Stieglitz

The big fight between Kessler and Stieglitz finally has a date: April 14.

4) Robert Stieglitz (8-128-128)

Last Fight: 1/14/2012- UD12 Henry Weber (UNR)
Next Fight: 4/14/2012- vs. #3 Mikkel Kessler

Now fully tuned-up, Stieglitz is ready for Kessler in April. 

5) Thomas Oosthuizen (8-36-84)
Last Fight: 11/23/2011- TKO11 Francisco Sierra (UNR)
Next Fight: 3/3/2012- vs. Serge Yannick (UNR)

Oosthuizen is set to fight one-loss fringe contending prospect Serge Yannick of Australia by way of Cameroon in early March.

6) Arthur Abraham (8-120-120)
Last Fight: 1/14/2012- KO5 Pablo Farias (UNR)
Next Fight: 3/31/2012- vs. Unknown Opponent

Staying admirably busy, Abraham will fight an opponent to be announced in Kiel at the end of March.

7) Dimitri Sartison (8-80-84)
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.
8) Peter Quillin (8-41-41)

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.

9) Adonis Stevenson (8-9-9)

Last Fight: 12/10/2011- TKO9 #12 Aaron Pryor, Jr.

Next Fight: 2/18/2012- vs. #18 Jesus Gonzales

Stevenson is doing a nice job of staying busy, which is a very good idea for a 34-year-old rising contender.  He’ll now face #18 Jesus Gonzales on February 18.

10) Sakio Bika (8-8-253)
Last Fight: 12/3/2011- RTD3 Alfredo Contreras (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown

Avoided removal by the skin of his teeth, but he’s going to start plummeting any month now if he doesn’t beat someone decent.

11) Andy Lee (8-48)

Last Fight: 10/1/2011- UD10 #14 Bryan Vera

Next Fight: Unknown

Yet another potential opponent has said no thanks to Lee, as Felix Sturm has opted for Sebastian Zbik, instead.

12) Anthony Dirrell (8-10)

Last Fight: 12/2/2011- TKO4 Renan St. Juste (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Finally stepped up to the fringe contender level against St. Juste.  Verdict: not too shabby.

13) Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (8-13)

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 (8-66)

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 (8-53)

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 (8-24)

Last Fight: 8/27/2011- TKO3 Matt O’Brien (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

The news that the Don George fight will be rescheduled is starting to look a bit outdated, and now there’s talk of an IBF eliminator with Froch if the Englishman’s clash with Bute can’t be salvaged.

17) Aaron Pryor, Jr. (8-40)

Last Fight: 12/10/2011- L(TKO9) vs. Adonis Stevenson (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Well, it’s clear that he can’t play with at least one of the big boys.  Every division needs fringe contenders, though, and that looks like Pryor’s lane for the time being.

18) Jesus Gonzales (8-31)

Last Fight: 7/8/2011- UD12 Francisco Sierra (UNR)

Next Fight: 2/18/2012- vs. #9 Adonis Stevenson

Gonzales will travel to Montreal to fight the very dangerous Adonis Stevenson on February 18.

19) James DeGale (8-17)

Last Fight: 10/15/2011- W(MD12) vs. Piotr Wilczewski (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

A flurry of activity for DeGale.  He’s unhappy with promoter Frank Warren and announced he’s splitting from him.  Warren then pointed out that the two have a contract until 2013.  And amidst the chaos, the EBU has ordered a title defense against aging former contender Cristian Sanavia of Spain.

20) George Groves (8-8)

Last Fight: 11/5/2011- TKO2 Paul Smith (UNR)

Next Fight: 3/16/2012- vs. Kenny Anderson (UNR)

Groves is now officially scheduled to fight minor domestic rival Kenny Anderson in a rematch of his 2010 TKO win at Wembley Arena in London on March 16.

 

The Week Ahead: A second third consecutive slow week.

This entry was posted on May 24, 2012 at 6:17 am and is filed under Rankings, Super Middleweight with tags Andre Ward, Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch, Dimitri Sartison, Lucian Bute, Mikkel Kessler, Robert Stieglitz, Thomas Oosthuizen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.