Middleweight: 2012, May 7-13

Tuesday in Moscow, #8 Dmitry Pirog administered a one-sided drubbing to #20 Nobuhiro Ishida. I was struck by just how easy Ishida was to hit throughout the fight, mostly standing in the pocket with his hands low, not moving his head. Pirog was completely dominant, so you can’t take much away from him, but my sense is that he should have been able to stop Ishida. He simply seemed content through most of the fight to touch Ishida, often pulling, pushing, and slapping his punches. Nevertheless, probably Pirog’s most impressive performance since the Jacobs knockout.

In France on Friday, #6 Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam put on a boxing clinic for the first half of the fight, dominating with Ali-esque movement and timing in his fight against #15 Max Bursak. Bursak, however was able to catch him and hurt him a bit late in the 9th, and N’Dam’s legs weren’t quite what they were early. Still, he had enough ring intelligence to hold effectively and kill the clock. Not that he necessarily needed to. Even at that stage of the fight, he was still holding his own. I had the fight 118-110, virtually identical to all 3 judges.

On Saturday at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, #17 Demetrius Andrade pummeled weak journeyman Rudy Cisneros, rocking him almost immediately at the opening bell, and then proceeding to pound him from pillar to post. As the round waned, Andrade flattened Cisneros, and then proceeded to walk around the ring like an idiot. If it wasn’t for the fact that the ref quite understandably believed Cisneros to be in potential danger due to the viciousness of the knockdown, Andrade would have given his opponent plenty of time to get up by failing to go to a neutral corner. Still, a very dynamic performance against limited opposition. I hope we never see him as jabby and one-dimensional as he was in his masterful but sleep-inducing performance against Grady Brewer, because he really does have the tools to be both good and exciting.

Despite the large amount of high-level action last week, the results were so harmonious with expectations that there’s very little movement in the rankings this week. Pirog passes Murray to advance to #7. Everybody else stays put.

Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in Current Position-Weeks in Top 10 if applicable-Weeks in Top 20)

Champ: Sergio Martinez (108-108-108)

Last Fight: 3/17/2012- RTD11 #3 Matthew Macklin

Next Fight: 9/15/2012- vs. Unknown Opponent

Sergio has signed a contract to fight the Chavez-Lee winner, with 9/15 being the tentative date.

1) Daniel Geale (46-151-151)

Last Fight: 3/7/2012- UD12 #11 Osumanu Adama

Next Fight: 8/25/2012- vs. #7 Dmitry Pirog

It’s evidently an open question whether the WBO will sanction Geale-Pirog. Sturm is Geale’s backup plan if that falls through.

2) Grzegorz Proksa (32-56-56)

Last Fight: 3/17/2012- L*(MD12) vs. Kerry Hope (UNR) (Robbery)

Next Fight: 5/10/2012- vs. Rudolf Varga (UNR)

Proksa will travel to Budapest to fight total novice Rudolf Varga for some reason.

3) Felix Sturm (4-451-451)

Last Fight: 4/13/2012- RTD9 Sebastian Zbik (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

See Geale’s notes above.

4) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (4-49-67)

Last Fight: 2/4/2012- UD12 #10 Marco Antonio Rubio

Next Fight: 6/16/2012- vs. SMW #11 Andy Lee

Chavez signed 2 deals in one week. He will fight Andy Lee on June 16 and, if he wins, will progress to challenge for the title, likely on September 15.

5) Matthew Macklin (4-46-137)

Last Fight: 3/17/2012- L(RTD11) vs. Champ Sergio Martinez

Next Fight: Unknown

Macklin deserves a break after a taxing effort against Martinez.

6) Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (14-80-80)

Last Fight: 5/4/2012- UD12 #15 Max Bursak

Next Fight: Unknown

Looked very good against Bursak- especially early.

7) Dmitry Pirog (1-93-93)

Last Fight: 5/1/2012- UD12 #20 Nobuhiro Ishida

Next Fight: Unknown

Hopefully looking to step up after a nice cakewalk with Ishida.

8) Martin Murray (1-23-23)

Last Fight: 12/2/2011- Draw(SD12) vs. #3 Felix Sturm

Next Fight: 6/16/2012- vs. Unknown Opponent

Murray is scheduled for a June 16 return in Manchester. He was originally scheduled to fight on that very date against Chavez before visa issues scuttled that one.

9) Anthony Mundine (10-14-67)

Last Fight: 10/19/2011- UD12 Rigoberto Alvarez (UNR) (at JMW)

Next Fight: Unknown

Mundine wants Chavez foremost, but would settle for Trout or Geale.

10) Sam Soliman (10-10-12)

Last Fight: 2/19/2012- UD12 #15 Garth Wood

Next Fight: Unknown

11) Marco Antonio Rubio (9-67)

Last Fight: 2/4/2012- L(UD12) vs. #7 Julio Cesar Chavez

Next Fight: Unknown

Rubio is reportedly looking at a July fight with Ricardo Mayorga.

12) Osumanu Adama (9-59)

Last Fight: 3/7/2012- L(UD12) vs. #1 Daniel Geale

Next Fight: Unknown

Adama came up short against Geale, but has nothing to be ashamed of. He frequently took the #1 contender out of his game plan and looked entirely in his league at that lofty level.

13) Paul Williams (10-12)

Last Fight: 2/18/2012- UD12 #17 Nobuhiro Ishida (as JMW)

Next Fight: Unknown

Williams is likely to fight on Showtime on June 30, with Joachim Alcine reportedly interested.

14) Avtandil Khurtsidze (10-67)

Last Fight: 12/18/2011- W(MD12) vs. Ossie Duran (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

The WBC has ordered Khurtsidze to defend his new goofy color-coded belt against gatekeeper Domenico Spada.

15) Max Bursak (10-67)

Last Fight: 5/4/2012- L (UD12) vs. #6 Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam

Next Fight: Unknown

16) Gennady Golovkin (10-47)

Last Fight: 12/9/2011- KO1 Lajuan Simon (UNR)

Next Fight: 5/12/2012- vs. Makoto Fuchigami (UNR)

Golovkin, frustrated at the moment in his quest to get big fights, will fight Japanese fringe contender Makoto Fuchigami on May 12 in the Ukraine.

17) Demetrius Andrade (10-38)

Last Fight: 5/5/2012- KO1 Rudy Cisneros (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Andrade showed chilling power in destroying easy mark Cisneros.

18) Darren Barker (10-30)

Last Fight: 10/1/2011- L(KO11) vs. Champ Sergio Martinez

Next Fight: Unknown

Barker bowed out of opportunities to fight Murray and Pirog, and now we have a possible reason as he has apparently been injured for a while, needs surgery, and is done until the fall.

19) Billi Godoy (10-29)

Last Fight: 4/13/2012- UD10 Carlos Baldomir (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Godoy needs a lot of improvement if he’s going to fight his relative peers in the rankings. He had more than a little trouble with crude and old Carlos Baldomir.

20) Nobuhiro Ishida (10-10)

Last Fight: 5/1/2012- L(UD12) vs. #8 Dmitry Pirog

Next Fight: Unknown

Barely challenged Pirog at all, but has enough mileage left on the Kirkland upset to remain at #20 for the moment.

The Week Ahead: #2 Grzegorz Proksa fights total novice Rudolf Varga in Budapest on Thursday.

Saturday, explosive #16 Gennady Golovkin takes on Japanese fringe contender Makoto Fuchigami in the Ukraine.

This entry was posted on November 21, 2012 at 12:08 am and is filed under Middleweight, Rankings with tags Demetrius Andrade, Dmitry Pirog, Gennady Golovkin, Grzegorz Proksa, Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam, Makoto Fuchigami, Max Bursak, Nobuhiro Ishida. 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.

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