Heavyweight: 2012, Nov 19-25
Last week’s #11 Seth Mitchell was shockingly upset on Saturday by Johnathon Banks- an aging fringe prospect that had- in one attempt- proved more as a trainer than as a fighter. But that all changed. Mitchell won a largely uneventful first round, but got badly hurt early in the second, and never recovered. Banks- the much smaller man- kept tagging him, as Mitchell failed to hold on. Mitchell was dropped three times before referee Eddie Cotton waved the fight off as Mitchell did his best impression of Trevor Berbick on the canvas.
Champ: Wladimir Klitschko (178-391-391)
Last Fight: 11/10/2012- UD12 Mariusz Wach (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Wlad’s already planning to defend again on an unknown March date, with Boytsov and Povetkin apparently the leading candidates at the moment.
1) Vitali Klitschko (215-215-215)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO4 Manuel Charr (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vitali says he’ll decide whether to retire or fight on by December 17.
2) David Haye (19-19-19) Last Fight: 7/14/2012- TKO5 #6 Dereck Chisora Next Fight: Unknown Haye has indicated that a fight with Vitali may be the only fight that would lure him away from re-retiring. He may get his wish, as there is now talk of a March 2013 matchup. 3) Tomasz Adamek (19-135-135)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO5 Travis Walker (UNR)
Next Fight: 12/22/2012- vs. CW #4 Steve Cunningham
Originally scheduled to fight Odlanier Solis, Adamek will instead fight a rematch of his classic cruiserweight title fight of 4 years ago when he fights Steve Cunningham in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, after Solis pulled out. 4) Alexander Povetkin (19-265-265) Last Fight: 9/29/2012- TKO2 Hasim Rahman (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
For whatever it’s worth the WBA appears poised to order an early 2013 fight with Wlad.
5) Tyson Fury (3-70-70) Last Fight: 7/7/2012- TKO5 Vinny Maddalone (UNR)
Next Fight: 12/1/2012- vs. Kevin Johnson (UNR)
Fury will fight Kevin Johnson on December 1. Johnson finally got a significant win in his career back in April, but then struggled in the one night, three fight format of Prizefighter, losing in the final to Tor Hamer after deserving to lose in the semis to Albert Sosnowski. 6) Eddie Chambers (3-23-23) Last Fight: 6/16/2012- L(UD12) vs. #3 Tomasz Adamek Next Fight: Unknown Chambers has announced he’ll be moving down to cruiserweight. He’ll stay rated here for the time being, until he’s been inactive at heavyweight for a year or schedules a cruiserweight fight for after that time. 7) Kubrat Pulev (3-29-106) Last Fight: 9/29/2012- KO11 Alexander Ustinov (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Pulev may be in for a fight with the Adamek-Cunningham winner, or may go straight to a shot at Wlad in early 2013.
8) Dereck Chisora (3-51-114) Last Fight: 7/14/2012- L(TKO5) vs. David Haye (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
The Haye loss will be a huge setback for the already underrated Chisora. Many will forget that he did clearly beat Helenius. 9) Johnathon Banks (1-1-1) Last Fight: 11/17/2012- TKO2 #11 Seth Mitchell Next Fight: Unknown After his big win, Banks said he would like a chance to avenge his only career loss against Tomasz Adamek, and would also like to try and take Povetkin’s paper championship. 10) Odlanier Solis (1-3-130)
Last Fight: 5/19/2012- UD12 Konstantin Airich (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown
Solis pulled out of his December 22 fight with Adamek, apparently due to severe differences with his Turkish promoter Ahmet Oner, from whom he is apparently trying to separate himself. Solis’ scheduling has been notoriously unreliable under Oner ever since he injured his knee against Vitali Klitschko. 11) Marco Huck (1-39) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- W*(UD12) vs. CW #10 Firat Arslan (Robbery) Next Fight: Unknown Huck will be fighting a trilogy with Afolabi, with the last fight being in March, when Afolabi is likely to get robbed in Germany. 12) Robert Helenius (2-130)
Last Fight: 11/10/2012- W*(UD10) vs. Sherman Williams (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Barely squeaked by after a comatose performance against journeyman Williams. The judges had it pretty wide, but make no mistake- it was a 1 or 2 point either way kind of fight. 13) Ruslan Chagaev (19-314) Last Fight: 9/1/2012- TKO7 Werner Kreiskott (UNR)
Next Fight: 12/1/2012- vs. Mike Perez (UNR)
Chagaev has signed on for a really nice crossroads fight with fast-rising undefeated Cuban Mike Perez.
14) Alexander Dimitrenko (19-97) Last Fight: 5/5/2012- L(KO11) vs. #17 Kubrat Pulev
Next Fight: Unknown
Despite showing the heart of a quitter and the consistency of a random number generator against Pulev, Dimitrenko hangs on to a solid ranking because the other guys in his tier haven’t been winning meaningful fights lately.
15) Tony Thompson (19-130)
Last Fight: 7/7/2012- L(TKO6) vs. Champ Wladimir Klitschko
Next Fight: Unknown
In case any of you thought the first fight was a fluke, now you know for sure: Thompson really isn’t as good as Wlad Klitschko.
16) Chris Arreola (19-192)
Last Fight: 2/18/2012- KO1 Eric Molina (UNR)
Next Fight: 1/26/2013- vs. #19 Bermane Stiverne
As I long expected, Don King wasn’t able to finalize the fight in Venezuela. Dan Goossen will now stage the fight as the co-feature to Ward-Pavlik in L.A., January 26.
17) Denis Boytsov (19-179)
Last Fight: 4/13/2012- UD10 Dominick Guinn (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
After bowing out of the Tyson Fury fight shortly after agreeing to it, Boytsov appears to be a candidate for a shot at the title against Wlad in March. 18) Jean-Marc Mormeck (19-130) Last Fight: 3/3/2012- L(TKO4) vs. Champ Wladimir Klitschko Next Fight: Unknown Boxrec has removed the Wlodarczyk-Mormeck fight from the schedule after posting it. I’ll do the same until I can get at the truth of the situation. 19) Bermane Stiverne (19-74) Last Fight: 4/14/2012- UD8 Willie Herring (UNR)
Next Fight: 1/26/2013- vs. #16 Chris Arreola
See Arreola’s notes above. 20) Edmund Gerber (19-29) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD8 Darnell Wilson (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Had little problem with fat little journeyman Darnell Wilson, except a big scare in the closing seconds of round 1.
Italian prospect Francesco Pianeta disposed of one-loss fringe prospect Nelson Dominguez of Argentina in less than a round earlier in the evening.
The waves from the Banks upset are huge. Mitchell goes from a #11 contender with a looming Klitschko shot to being totally out of the rankings. He’s not too far out, but he’s out. Banks goes from a mediocre prospect and apparently a loss waiting to happen to a #9 contender. Oh. And at last check, he was also the trainer of the Heavyweight Champion of the World. Assuming that remains in effect, Wlad will (himself included) have 3 of the top 10 heavyweights in the world in his corner. What remains to be seen is whether or not Banks will get a shot at one of the brothers despite being so close to them.
Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)
Champ: Wladimir Klitschko (178-391-391)
Last Fight: 11/10/2012- UD12 Mariusz Wach (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Wlad’s already planning to defend again on an unknown March date, with Boytsov and Povetkin apparently the leading candidates at the moment.
1) Vitali Klitschko (215-215-215)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO4 Manuel Charr (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vitali says he’ll decide whether to retire or fight on by December 17.
2) David Haye (19-19-19) Last Fight: 7/14/2012- TKO5 #6 Dereck Chisora Next Fight: Unknown Haye has indicated that a fight with Vitali may be the only fight that would lure him away from re-retiring. He may get his wish, as there is now talk of a March 2013 matchup. 3) Tomasz Adamek (19-135-135)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO5 Travis Walker (UNR)
Next Fight: 12/22/2012- vs. CW #4 Steve Cunningham
Originally scheduled to fight Odlanier Solis, Adamek will instead fight a rematch of his classic cruiserweight title fight of 4 years ago when he fights Steve Cunningham in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, after Solis pulled out. 4) Alexander Povetkin (19-265-265) Last Fight: 9/29/2012- TKO2 Hasim Rahman (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
For whatever it’s worth the WBA appears poised to order an early 2013 fight with Wlad.
5) Tyson Fury (3-70-70) Last Fight: 7/7/2012- TKO5 Vinny Maddalone (UNR)
Next Fight: 12/1/2012- vs. Kevin Johnson (UNR)
Fury will fight Kevin Johnson on December 1. Johnson finally got a significant win in his career back in April, but then struggled in the one night, three fight format of Prizefighter, losing in the final to Tor Hamer after deserving to lose in the semis to Albert Sosnowski. 6) Eddie Chambers (3-23-23) Last Fight: 6/16/2012- L(UD12) vs. #3 Tomasz Adamek Next Fight: Unknown Chambers has announced he’ll be moving down to cruiserweight. He’ll stay rated here for the time being, until he’s been inactive at heavyweight for a year or schedules a cruiserweight fight for after that time. 7) Kubrat Pulev (3-29-106) Last Fight: 9/29/2012- KO11 Alexander Ustinov (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Pulev may be in for a fight with the Adamek-Cunningham winner, or may go straight to a shot at Wlad in early 2013.
8) Dereck Chisora (3-51-114) Last Fight: 7/14/2012- L(TKO5) vs. David Haye (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
The Haye loss will be a huge setback for the already underrated Chisora. Many will forget that he did clearly beat Helenius. 9) Johnathon Banks (1-1-1) Last Fight: 11/17/2012- TKO2 #11 Seth Mitchell Next Fight: Unknown After his big win, Banks said he would like a chance to avenge his only career loss against Tomasz Adamek, and would also like to try and take Povetkin’s paper championship. 10) Odlanier Solis (1-3-130)
Last Fight: 5/19/2012- UD12 Konstantin Airich (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown
Solis pulled out of his December 22 fight with Adamek, apparently due to severe differences with his Turkish promoter Ahmet Oner, from whom he is apparently trying to separate himself. Solis’ scheduling has been notoriously unreliable under Oner ever since he injured his knee against Vitali Klitschko. 11) Marco Huck (1-39) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- W*(UD12) vs. CW #10 Firat Arslan (Robbery) Next Fight: Unknown Huck will be fighting a trilogy with Afolabi, with the last fight being in March, when Afolabi is likely to get robbed in Germany. 12) Robert Helenius (2-130)
Last Fight: 11/10/2012- W*(UD10) vs. Sherman Williams (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Barely squeaked by after a comatose performance against journeyman Williams. The judges had it pretty wide, but make no mistake- it was a 1 or 2 point either way kind of fight. 13) Ruslan Chagaev (19-314) Last Fight: 9/1/2012- TKO7 Werner Kreiskott (UNR)
Next Fight: 12/1/2012- vs. Mike Perez (UNR)
Chagaev has signed on for a really nice crossroads fight with fast-rising undefeated Cuban Mike Perez.
14) Alexander Dimitrenko (19-97) Last Fight: 5/5/2012- L(KO11) vs. #17 Kubrat Pulev
Next Fight: Unknown
Despite showing the heart of a quitter and the consistency of a random number generator against Pulev, Dimitrenko hangs on to a solid ranking because the other guys in his tier haven’t been winning meaningful fights lately.
15) Tony Thompson (19-130)
Last Fight: 7/7/2012- L(TKO6) vs. Champ Wladimir Klitschko
Next Fight: Unknown
In case any of you thought the first fight was a fluke, now you know for sure: Thompson really isn’t as good as Wlad Klitschko.
16) Chris Arreola (19-192)
Last Fight: 2/18/2012- KO1 Eric Molina (UNR)
Next Fight: 1/26/2013- vs. #19 Bermane Stiverne
As I long expected, Don King wasn’t able to finalize the fight in Venezuela. Dan Goossen will now stage the fight as the co-feature to Ward-Pavlik in L.A., January 26.
17) Denis Boytsov (19-179)
Last Fight: 4/13/2012- UD10 Dominick Guinn (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
After bowing out of the Tyson Fury fight shortly after agreeing to it, Boytsov appears to be a candidate for a shot at the title against Wlad in March. 18) Jean-Marc Mormeck (19-130) Last Fight: 3/3/2012- L(TKO4) vs. Champ Wladimir Klitschko Next Fight: Unknown Boxrec has removed the Wlodarczyk-Mormeck fight from the schedule after posting it. I’ll do the same until I can get at the truth of the situation. 19) Bermane Stiverne (19-74) Last Fight: 4/14/2012- UD8 Willie Herring (UNR)
Next Fight: 1/26/2013- vs. #16 Chris Arreola
See Arreola’s notes above. 20) Edmund Gerber (19-29) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD8 Darnell Wilson (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Had little problem with fat little journeyman Darnell Wilson, except a big scare in the closing seconds of round 1.
THE WEEK AHEAD: Nothing going on at heavyweight this week.
Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog 
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