Cruiserweight: 2012, Oct 8-14
#12 B.J. Flores stopped West Virginia’s David McNemar in Springfield, Missouri on Saturday in just two rounds. McNemar (a 39 year-old part-time fighter who came in at 13-1) was a late replacement for untested Egyptian prospect Ahmed Samir. I wasn’t at the fight, but at the very least you can use this result to compare Flores to his Don King stablemate, undefeated but largely untested prospect Ryan Coyne. Coyne struggled to what should have been a draw with McNemar in the inactive West Virginian’s last fight on the Alexander-Matthysse undercard last June, although in fairness Coyne appeared to have broken his hand at some point.
Champ: None
1) Denis Lebedev (4-140-140) Last Fight: 4/4/2012- KO2 Shawn Cox (UNR) Next Fight: 10/27/2012- vs. #9 Guillermo Jones Lebedev will fight very inactive alphabet titleholder and former welterweight Guillermo Jones in Moscow this October. 2) Yoan Pablo Hernandez (4-120-120) Last Fight: 9/15/2012- W*(UD12) vs. #20 Troy Ross Next Fight: Unknown Hernandez officially got the win over Ross, and I’m not quite willing to call it a robbery, but it’s pretty close to one. I think you’d be pushing the limits of reason to give the fight to Hernandez, and I think that even if you managed to do so in terms of rounds won, you’d have to admit that Ross got the better of the fight overall. Even Hernandez promoter Sauerland admits that Hernandez didn’t deserve a win, and believes a rematch is warranted. 3) Troy Ross (4-4-36) Last Fight: 9/15/2012- L*(UD12) vs. #1 Yoan Pablo Hernandez Next Fight: Unknown Ross deserved to beat Hernandez. That’s all I’ve got to say (except the more detailed statement I made above). 4) Steve Cunningham (4-434-434) Last Fight: 9/8/2012- UD10 Jason Gavern (UNR) (at HW) Next Fight: Unknown So far so good for Cunningham at Heavyweight. He’ll retain his ranking here until the anniversary of his February 4 cruiserweight fight, or until he schedules a heavyweight fight for a date after that. 5) Marco Huck (4-305-305) Last Fight: 5/5/2012- Draw* (MD12) vs. #7 Ola Afolabi Next Fight: 11/3/2012- vs. #10 Firat Arslan Huck will fight Arslan next in early November. 6) Ola Afolabi (4-187-187) Last Fight: 5/5/2012- Draw* (MD12) vs. #4 Marco Huck Next Fight: Unknown 7) Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (4-381-381) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- UD12 #13 Francisco Palacios Next Fight: Unknown Redemption for El Diablo, as he confirmed his superiority over Palacios after a year of living with a gift decision. 8) Lateef Kayode (4-19-99) Last Fight: 6/2/2012- Draw (SD12) vs. ‘Roided up #3 Antonio Tarver Next Fight: Unknown With no mention of Kayode’s rumored fight with Drozd being made in a while, the latest news is that Kayode might be trying to move up to fight Seth Mitchell. 9) Guillermo Jones (4-106-106) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- TKO6 Michael Marrone (UNR) Next Fight: 10/27/2012- vs. #1 Denis Lebedev Jones will travel to Moscow to put his alphabet title on the line against the much younger Lebedev. 10) Firat Arslan (4-22-65) Last Fight: 5/11/2012- Draw* (MD12) vs. #12 Alexander Alekseev (Robbery) Next Fight: 11/3/2012- vs. #5 Marco Huck Long-since slated for a November rematch with Alekseev, Arslan was the subject of a surprise announcement that he would instead fight Marco Huck. 11) Danny Green (4-149) Last Fight: 7/25/2012- TKO5 Danny Santiago (UNR) Next Fight: 11/21/2012- vs. Shane Cameron (UNR) Will take on Kiwi fringe contender Shane Cameron in late November. 12) B.J. Flores (4-120) Last Fight: 10/6/2012- TKO2 David McNemar (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Flores’ level of opposition lately is consistent with that of a protected undefeated prospect rather than a veteran contender trying to get back on top. He’s completely treading water at this point in his career.
13) Giacobbe Fragomeni (3-204) 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 Branco. 14) Silvio Branco (3-30) 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. 15) Mateusz Masternak (3-28) Last Fight: 9/15/2012- TKO8 David Quinonero (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Masternak appears set to fight for the European title technically held by Alekseev next. 16) Francisco Palacios (3-80) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- L(UD12) vs. #7 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk Next Fight: Unknown Very little of note left on his resume after his should-be win over Wlodarczyk was neutralized by a close but clear loss to same, and with his win over Louis Azille over 5 years old now. 17) Alexander Alekseev (4-91) Last Fight: 5/11/2012- Draw*(MD12) vs. #19 Firat Arslan (robbery- should have been L) Next Fight: Unknown 18) Enad Licina (4-120) Last Fight: 2/4/2012- L(UD12) vs. #17 Alexander Alexeev Next Fight: Unknown 19) Dmitro Kucher (4-15) Last Fight: 8/19/2012- TKO5 Geoffrey Battelo (UNR) (at HW) Next Fight: 10/27/2012- vs. Steve Herelius (UNR) Kucher will be fighting in Kiev on October 27 for some alphabet regional color-coded belt. His opponent will be a bit of a blast from the past. Steve Herelius- who stopped current #10 Firat Arslan before getting stopped by current #2 Yoan Pablo Hernandez and going inactive for 20 months. 20) Danie Venter (3-3) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- TKO4 Zack Mwekassa (UNR) Next Fight: 11/10/2012- vs. Thabiso Mchunu (UNR) Venter has established himself as clearly the best South African cruiserweight, and will fight for what amounts to that country’s undisputed championship in the Super 8 Tournament finals in November.
No changes to the rankings.
Dan’s Top 20
Champ: None
1) Denis Lebedev (4-140-140) Last Fight: 4/4/2012- KO2 Shawn Cox (UNR) Next Fight: 10/27/2012- vs. #9 Guillermo Jones Lebedev will fight very inactive alphabet titleholder and former welterweight Guillermo Jones in Moscow this October. 2) Yoan Pablo Hernandez (4-120-120) Last Fight: 9/15/2012- W*(UD12) vs. #20 Troy Ross Next Fight: Unknown Hernandez officially got the win over Ross, and I’m not quite willing to call it a robbery, but it’s pretty close to one. I think you’d be pushing the limits of reason to give the fight to Hernandez, and I think that even if you managed to do so in terms of rounds won, you’d have to admit that Ross got the better of the fight overall. Even Hernandez promoter Sauerland admits that Hernandez didn’t deserve a win, and believes a rematch is warranted. 3) Troy Ross (4-4-36) Last Fight: 9/15/2012- L*(UD12) vs. #1 Yoan Pablo Hernandez Next Fight: Unknown Ross deserved to beat Hernandez. That’s all I’ve got to say (except the more detailed statement I made above). 4) Steve Cunningham (4-434-434) Last Fight: 9/8/2012- UD10 Jason Gavern (UNR) (at HW) Next Fight: Unknown So far so good for Cunningham at Heavyweight. He’ll retain his ranking here until the anniversary of his February 4 cruiserweight fight, or until he schedules a heavyweight fight for a date after that. 5) Marco Huck (4-305-305) Last Fight: 5/5/2012- Draw* (MD12) vs. #7 Ola Afolabi Next Fight: 11/3/2012- vs. #10 Firat Arslan Huck will fight Arslan next in early November. 6) Ola Afolabi (4-187-187) Last Fight: 5/5/2012- Draw* (MD12) vs. #4 Marco Huck Next Fight: Unknown 7) Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (4-381-381) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- UD12 #13 Francisco Palacios Next Fight: Unknown Redemption for El Diablo, as he confirmed his superiority over Palacios after a year of living with a gift decision. 8) Lateef Kayode (4-19-99) Last Fight: 6/2/2012- Draw (SD12) vs. ‘Roided up #3 Antonio Tarver Next Fight: Unknown With no mention of Kayode’s rumored fight with Drozd being made in a while, the latest news is that Kayode might be trying to move up to fight Seth Mitchell. 9) Guillermo Jones (4-106-106) Last Fight: 11/5/2011- TKO6 Michael Marrone (UNR) Next Fight: 10/27/2012- vs. #1 Denis Lebedev Jones will travel to Moscow to put his alphabet title on the line against the much younger Lebedev. 10) Firat Arslan (4-22-65) Last Fight: 5/11/2012- Draw* (MD12) vs. #12 Alexander Alekseev (Robbery) Next Fight: 11/3/2012- vs. #5 Marco Huck Long-since slated for a November rematch with Alekseev, Arslan was the subject of a surprise announcement that he would instead fight Marco Huck. 11) Danny Green (4-149) Last Fight: 7/25/2012- TKO5 Danny Santiago (UNR) Next Fight: 11/21/2012- vs. Shane Cameron (UNR) Will take on Kiwi fringe contender Shane Cameron in late November. 12) B.J. Flores (4-120) Last Fight: 10/6/2012- TKO2 David McNemar (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Flores’ level of opposition lately is consistent with that of a protected undefeated prospect rather than a veteran contender trying to get back on top. He’s completely treading water at this point in his career.
13) Giacobbe Fragomeni (3-204) 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 Branco. 14) Silvio Branco (3-30) 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. 15) Mateusz Masternak (3-28) Last Fight: 9/15/2012- TKO8 David Quinonero (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Masternak appears set to fight for the European title technically held by Alekseev next. 16) Francisco Palacios (3-80) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- L(UD12) vs. #7 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk Next Fight: Unknown Very little of note left on his resume after his should-be win over Wlodarczyk was neutralized by a close but clear loss to same, and with his win over Louis Azille over 5 years old now. 17) Alexander Alekseev (4-91) Last Fight: 5/11/2012- Draw*(MD12) vs. #19 Firat Arslan (robbery- should have been L) Next Fight: Unknown 18) Enad Licina (4-120) Last Fight: 2/4/2012- L(UD12) vs. #17 Alexander Alexeev Next Fight: Unknown 19) Dmitro Kucher (4-15) Last Fight: 8/19/2012- TKO5 Geoffrey Battelo (UNR) (at HW) Next Fight: 10/27/2012- vs. Steve Herelius (UNR) Kucher will be fighting in Kiev on October 27 for some alphabet regional color-coded belt. His opponent will be a bit of a blast from the past. Steve Herelius- who stopped current #10 Firat Arslan before getting stopped by current #2 Yoan Pablo Hernandez and going inactive for 20 months. 20) Danie Venter (3-3) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- TKO4 Zack Mwekassa (UNR) Next Fight: 11/10/2012- vs. Thabiso Mchunu (UNR) Venter has established himself as clearly the best South African cruiserweight, and will fight for what amounts to that country’s undisputed championship in the Super 8 Tournament finals in November.
THE WEEK AHEAD: Friday: Impressive undefeated Russian prospect Rakhim Chakhkiev fights decent Colombian journeyman Epifanio Mendoza in Hamburg.
Saturday: British gatekeeper Jon Lewis Dickinson- whose name admittedly sounds more like a Victorian poet than a prizefighter- returns to action for the first time since he established himself as a top-50 cruiserweight by beating undefeated countryman Matty Askin in April. He will fight journeyman Shane McPhilbin, who would likely have stopped Enzo Macarinelli back in March if the timekeeper hadn’t had a bet down on the fight and ended the first round nearly a minute early while Macca was clearly out on his feet. The fight will be for the British title vacated by Maccarinelli, and is a pretty legitimate way to fill that title considering Ola Afolabi is well above that honor now.
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