Middleweight: 2011, Sep 5-11
#1 Daniel Geale took on Nigerian gatekeeper Eromosele Albert in Tasmania on Wednesday, winning a fairly run-of-the-mill decision.
Martinez has reached an agreement to fight Darren Barker. There’s nothing wrong with Barker, who has gotten through multiple gatekeepers and remains undefeated, but it’s still got to be considered a disappointing matchup for the Middleweight Champ, as Barker isn’t even really that close to being a top 10 fighter. There are literally probably a dozen or more better choices that would be willing to take the fight. 1) Daniel Geale (11-116-116) Last Fight: 8/31/2011- UD12 Eromosele Albert (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Handled Albert fairly competently, and no doubt is looking toward a bigger fight.
2) Felix Sturm (11-416-416) Last Fight: 6/25/2011- W*(SD12) vs. #11 Matthew Macklin
Next Fight: Unknown
There is now some serious dispute between the two parties as to whether Sturm has formally offered Macklin his promised rematch or not. Macklin says the contract has never been received.
3) Matthew Macklin (11-11-102) Last Fight: 6/25/2011- L*(SD12) vs. #1 Felix Sturm
Next Fight: Unknown
See Sturm’s comments above. 4) Sebastian Sylvester (9-317-317) Last Fight: 5/7/2011- L(SD12) vs. #4 Daniel Geale
Next Fight: 10/1/2011- vs. #9 Grzegorz Proksa A really good potential crossroads fight on tap with Proksa. 5) Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (9-45-45) Last Fight: 4/2/2011- UD12 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown A fight rumored to be in the works with Gennady Golovkin has reportedly been scuttled by N’Dam’s unwillingness to fight the Kazakh.
6) Dmitry Pirog (9-58-58) Last Fight: 3/26/2011- UD12 Javier Maciel (UNR) Next Fight: 9/25/2011- vs. Gennady Martirosyan (UNR)
Now set to fight Gennady Martirosyan in Krasnadar, Russia on September 25. 7) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (9-14-32) Last Fight: 6/4/2011- W(MD12) vs. #19 Sebastian Zbik
Next Fight: 11/19/2011- vs. Peter Manfredo, Jr. (UNR)
Chavez is now claiming a hand injury, and will likely now skip his scheduled fight with Ronald Hearns in September and go straight to his second scheduled fight with Peter Manfredo in November.
8) Marco Antonio Rubio (9-22-32) Last Fight: 9/3/2011- TKO5 Mohammed Akrong (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Rubio is highly ranked by the WBC and might be in line for a fight with either Chavez or Sergio as a result.
9) Grzegorz Proksa (9-21-21) Last Fight: 6/23/2011- TKO2 Peter Vecsei (UNR) (at SMW)
Next Fight: 10/1/2011- vs. #4 Sebastian Sylvester Proksa proved himself to be a quality fighter and an up-and-comer by stopping Navascues, but still hasn’t made much of a name for himself on the world scene because Navascues himself was not viewed as highly as he probably deserved. He will have a chance to change that, though, when he fights recent titleholder #4 Sebastian Sylvester to start off October.
10) Anthony Mundine (9-9-32) Last Fight: 6/5/2011- TKO7 Xavier Tolliver (UNR)
Next Fight: 10/19/2011- vs. Rigoberto Alvarez (UNR)
Mundine bailed on an anticipated fight with Austin Trout and will now fight smaller gatekeeper Rigoberto Alvarez, older brother of JMW #1 Saul Alvarez. He’s stated he wants the Trout fight after that, and then Cotto.
11) Maxim Bursak (9-32) Last Fight: 5/28/2011- vs. Carlos Jerez (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Absolutely dominated Jerez.
12) Osumanu Adama (9-24) Last Fight: 3/25/2011- TKO4 #19 Marcus Upshaw Next Fight: 10/6/2011- vs. Roman Karmazin (UNR) Roman Karmazin has been lured out of retirement to fight Adama on October 6. 13) Paul Williams (9-126) Last Fight: 7/9/2011- W*(MD12) vs. JMW #15 Erislandy Lara (at JMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
Lara handled him easily despite what the awful judges said, and his poor performance earns him a demotion even though the fight took place at JMW. 14) Garth Wood (14-32) Last Fight: 4/13/2011- L (UD10) vs. #20 Anthony Mundine
Next Fight: Unknown Wood appeared set to fight journyeman Johannes Mwetupunga on the Geale-Albert undercard, but has reportedly pulled out of that fight. 15) Billy Lyell (21-32) Last Fight: 7/1/2011- UD6 vs. Michael Walker (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Lyell is curiously underrated, it seems to me. When a guy like him is relegated to fighting 6-rounders, something’s wrong.
16) Nobuhiro Ishida (21-22) Last Fight: 4/9/2011- TKO1 James Kirkland (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Ishida was looking to fight JC Chavez in September, but Chavez opted for a likely easier fight with the less-accomplished Ronald Hearns. Ishida seems to be on everyone’s short list, but always loses out on the big fight since beating Kirkland.
17) Gennady Golovkin (12-12) Last Fight: 6/17/2011- KO10 Kassim Ouma (UNR) Next Fight: 10/15/2011- vs. Lajuan Simon (UNR) Golovkin is now set to fight journeyman Lajuan Simon in October. 18) Avtandil Khurtsidze (12-32) Last Fight: 6/11/2011- KO1 Dionisio Miranda (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Disposed of Miranda (who nearly beat Roman Karmazin not long ago) in surprisingly short order, moving him past future Martinez challenger Barker for now. 19) Demetrius Andrade (3-3) Last Fight: 8/19/2011- UD10 JMW #19 Grady Brewer Next Fight: Unknown Andrade will probably fight as a junior middleweight when it comes time for title fights, but thus far has made his only real splash as a middleweight and has been fighting at that size more often than not, at any rate. 20) Darren Barker (3-32) Last Fight: 4/30/2011- UD12 Domenico Spada (UNR)
Next Fight: 10/1/2011- vs. Champ Sergio Martinez
A couple weeks after announcing a defense of his European title on July 23, Barker has instead signed for a Middleweight Championship shot with Sergio Martinez.
On Saturday, #8 Marco Antonio Rubio stopped low-level Ghanaian journeyman Mohammed Akrong in the 5th round from San Luis Potosi, Mexico. No surprise there- total stay-busy fight.
No changes to the rankings.
Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in Current Position-Weeks in Top 10 if applicable-Weeks in Top 20) Champ: Sergio Martinez (73-73-73) Last Fight: 3/12/2011- TKO9 JMW #9 Sergiy Dzinziruk Next Fight: 10/1/2011- vs. #20 Darren Barker
Martinez has reached an agreement to fight Darren Barker. There’s nothing wrong with Barker, who has gotten through multiple gatekeepers and remains undefeated, but it’s still got to be considered a disappointing matchup for the Middleweight Champ, as Barker isn’t even really that close to being a top 10 fighter. There are literally probably a dozen or more better choices that would be willing to take the fight. 1) Daniel Geale (11-116-116) Last Fight: 8/31/2011- UD12 Eromosele Albert (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Handled Albert fairly competently, and no doubt is looking toward a bigger fight.
2) Felix Sturm (11-416-416) Last Fight: 6/25/2011- W*(SD12) vs. #11 Matthew Macklin
Next Fight: Unknown
There is now some serious dispute between the two parties as to whether Sturm has formally offered Macklin his promised rematch or not. Macklin says the contract has never been received.
3) Matthew Macklin (11-11-102) Last Fight: 6/25/2011- L*(SD12) vs. #1 Felix Sturm
Next Fight: Unknown
See Sturm’s comments above. 4) Sebastian Sylvester (9-317-317) Last Fight: 5/7/2011- L(SD12) vs. #4 Daniel Geale
Next Fight: 10/1/2011- vs. #9 Grzegorz Proksa A really good potential crossroads fight on tap with Proksa. 5) Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (9-45-45) Last Fight: 4/2/2011- UD12 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown A fight rumored to be in the works with Gennady Golovkin has reportedly been scuttled by N’Dam’s unwillingness to fight the Kazakh.
6) Dmitry Pirog (9-58-58) Last Fight: 3/26/2011- UD12 Javier Maciel (UNR) Next Fight: 9/25/2011- vs. Gennady Martirosyan (UNR)
Now set to fight Gennady Martirosyan in Krasnadar, Russia on September 25. 7) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (9-14-32) Last Fight: 6/4/2011- W(MD12) vs. #19 Sebastian Zbik
Next Fight: 11/19/2011- vs. Peter Manfredo, Jr. (UNR)
Chavez is now claiming a hand injury, and will likely now skip his scheduled fight with Ronald Hearns in September and go straight to his second scheduled fight with Peter Manfredo in November.
8) Marco Antonio Rubio (9-22-32) Last Fight: 9/3/2011- TKO5 Mohammed Akrong (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Rubio is highly ranked by the WBC and might be in line for a fight with either Chavez or Sergio as a result.
9) Grzegorz Proksa (9-21-21) Last Fight: 6/23/2011- TKO2 Peter Vecsei (UNR) (at SMW)
Next Fight: 10/1/2011- vs. #4 Sebastian Sylvester Proksa proved himself to be a quality fighter and an up-and-comer by stopping Navascues, but still hasn’t made much of a name for himself on the world scene because Navascues himself was not viewed as highly as he probably deserved. He will have a chance to change that, though, when he fights recent titleholder #4 Sebastian Sylvester to start off October.
10) Anthony Mundine (9-9-32) Last Fight: 6/5/2011- TKO7 Xavier Tolliver (UNR)
Next Fight: 10/19/2011- vs. Rigoberto Alvarez (UNR)
Mundine bailed on an anticipated fight with Austin Trout and will now fight smaller gatekeeper Rigoberto Alvarez, older brother of JMW #1 Saul Alvarez. He’s stated he wants the Trout fight after that, and then Cotto.
11) Maxim Bursak (9-32) Last Fight: 5/28/2011- vs. Carlos Jerez (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Absolutely dominated Jerez.
12) Osumanu Adama (9-24) Last Fight: 3/25/2011- TKO4 #19 Marcus Upshaw Next Fight: 10/6/2011- vs. Roman Karmazin (UNR) Roman Karmazin has been lured out of retirement to fight Adama on October 6. 13) Paul Williams (9-126) Last Fight: 7/9/2011- W*(MD12) vs. JMW #15 Erislandy Lara (at JMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
Lara handled him easily despite what the awful judges said, and his poor performance earns him a demotion even though the fight took place at JMW. 14) Garth Wood (14-32) Last Fight: 4/13/2011- L (UD10) vs. #20 Anthony Mundine
Next Fight: Unknown Wood appeared set to fight journyeman Johannes Mwetupunga on the Geale-Albert undercard, but has reportedly pulled out of that fight. 15) Billy Lyell (21-32) Last Fight: 7/1/2011- UD6 vs. Michael Walker (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Lyell is curiously underrated, it seems to me. When a guy like him is relegated to fighting 6-rounders, something’s wrong.
16) Nobuhiro Ishida (21-22) Last Fight: 4/9/2011- TKO1 James Kirkland (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Ishida was looking to fight JC Chavez in September, but Chavez opted for a likely easier fight with the less-accomplished Ronald Hearns. Ishida seems to be on everyone’s short list, but always loses out on the big fight since beating Kirkland.
17) Gennady Golovkin (12-12) Last Fight: 6/17/2011- KO10 Kassim Ouma (UNR) Next Fight: 10/15/2011- vs. Lajuan Simon (UNR) Golovkin is now set to fight journeyman Lajuan Simon in October. 18) Avtandil Khurtsidze (12-32) Last Fight: 6/11/2011- KO1 Dionisio Miranda (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Disposed of Miranda (who nearly beat Roman Karmazin not long ago) in surprisingly short order, moving him past future Martinez challenger Barker for now. 19) Demetrius Andrade (3-3) Last Fight: 8/19/2011- UD10 JMW #19 Grady Brewer Next Fight: Unknown Andrade will probably fight as a junior middleweight when it comes time for title fights, but thus far has made his only real splash as a middleweight and has been fighting at that size more often than not, at any rate. 20) Darren Barker (3-32) Last Fight: 4/30/2011- UD12 Domenico Spada (UNR)
Next Fight: 10/1/2011- vs. Champ Sergio Martinez
A couple weeks after announcing a defense of his European title on July 23, Barker has instead signed for a Middleweight Championship shot with Sergio Martinez.
The Week Ahead: Nothing of note going on at 160 this week.
Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog 
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