Middleweight: 2012, Oct 22-28

I’m not sure what is more impressive- knocking down your opponent 6 times in one fight, or coming within a hair’s breadth of winning the fight despite getting knocked down 6 times. The win-loss record would indicate the former, but I think perhaps both the winner and the loser of N’Dam vs. Quillin have at least enhanced their cache with fans.

Quillin’s left hook cut through N’Dam’s chin like a scythe through wheat, felling the French contender nearly every time it landed. Meanwhile, N’Dam proved himself to be a gutsy and classy boxer, probably winning every round in which he stayed on his feet, but ultimately couldn’t adequately handle Quillin’s power. On my card, he lost 112-111. While it ultimately didn’t affect the outcome, I must say that to my eyes, none of the judges Lederman, Stewart, or Trella had a credible card. Regardless, it was the night’s most compelling fight.

Now for the night’s most surprising and potentially controversial one. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, undefeated #18 Billi Godoy of Neuquen, Argentina traveled to Buenos Aires to fight in his countryman Sergio Sanders’ backyard. Sanders was a journeyman whom Godoy had knocked out in February 2011. Godoy has made it a point lately of just barely maintaining his ranking by just managing to squeak by against rather mediocre opposition.

Before I go further, a note of explanation. Argentina uses a modified version of the 10-point must system that awards half points for toss-up rounds (ie 10-9.5) and gives 10-9 only for clear rounds. I hope that I understand the finer points of it, and I believe I might because my own score is very compatible with those of the judges.

Applying the local scoring system as best I know how, I had the fight 76.5-76.5- all even- with Godoy closing a 2-point deficit with a fairly dominant 8th and final round in which he knocked Sanders down. I also examined my card and determined that under the standard system, my score would have been 76-75 Godoy since he got my nod more often in the close rounds. But in either system, the fight could have gone either way. In a very reasonable result in which the judges all did a very creditable job, Sanders took a split decision.

Regardless of whether the Sanders fight is best viewed as a loss or something more like a draw, Godoy is bounced from the top 20. Sanders fails to assume a position by quite a long shot, since he has far too much red ink on his ledger for that.

For his part, Quillin soars from #20 all the way to #6. N’Dam slumps to #10 despite his brave effort. This forces everybody rated 10 and below last week down a place, including Anthony Mundine, who exits the top 10 for the first time in 38 weeks. Godoy’s exit allows Bryan Vera to debut (at least at 160) at #20.

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

Champ: Sergio Martinez (132-132-132)

Last Fight: 9/15/2012- UD12 #4 Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.

Next Fight: Unknown

Summary of the latest news: Sergio will have knee surgery on November 12, and hopes to return in April or May. He is interested in a rematch with Chavez if Chavez takes Olympic-style drug tests, and is also interested in Mayweather and Canelo, but not interested in Golovkin.

1) Daniel Geale (70-175-175)

Last Fight: 9/1/2012- W*(SD12) vs. #4 Felix Sturm

Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #11 Anthony Mundine

Geale has reached an agreement to fight Anthony Mundine in a big domestic showdown, with details yet to come.

2) Felix Sturm (8-475-475)

Last Fight: 9/1/2012- L*(SD12) vs. #1 Daniel Geale

Next Fight: Unknown

Golovkin says he’d like to fight Sturm.

3) Gennady Golovkin (8-8-71)

Last Fight: 9/1/2012- TKO5 #3 Grzegorz Proksa

Next Fight: Unknown

With Sergio uninterested in a fight with him, Golovkin learned recently that HBO is interested in a 4-man elimination tournament of middleweight contenders to include him, Geale, Macklin, and Pirog.

4) Matthew Macklin (6-70-161)

Last Fight: 9/15/2012- TKO1 Joachim Alcine (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Macklin’s name is among those being mentioned for a possible HBO tournament to include himself, Golovkin, Geale, and Pirog.

5) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (6-73-91)

Last Fight: 9/15/2012- L (UD12) vs. Champ Sergio Martinez

Next Fight: Unknown

Chavez tested positive for marijuana for his fight with Martinez, and is likely to be suspended. That won’t affect his rating here at all because he lost anyway, and because it’s not a performance enhancer. The suspension is likely to last about 6 months, and Sergio recently stated that he wants Olympic testing as a precondition to a rematch.

6) Peter Quillin (1-1-22)

Last Fight: 10/20/2012- UD12 #6 Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam

Next Fight: Unknown

After a fairly long period as a prospect/fringe contender, Quillin is now a full-blown contender.

7) Dmitry Pirog (25-117-117)

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

Next Fight: Unknown

Pirog had a short-lived entry on his calendar to fight Golovkin in August, but withdrew very quickly with a back injury.

8) Grzegorz Proksa (8-80-80)

Last Fight: 9/1/2012- L(TKO5) vs. #13 Gennady Golovkin

Next Fight: Unknown

After a taxing TKO loss to Golovkin (and a fairly busy first 3 quarters of the year), Proksa now says he’ll take a rest until at least January.

9) Martin Murray (8-47-47)

Last Fight: 6/16/2012- UD10 Karim Achour (UNR)

Next Fight: 11/24/2012- vs. Jorge Navarro (UNR)

Murray will return on 11/24, and will be fighting for an “interim title” against untested but undefeated prospect Jorge Navarro.

10) Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (1-104-104)

Last Fight: 10/20/2012- L (UD12) vs. #20 Peter Quillin

Next Fight: Unknown

As it turns out, N’Dam had a rematch clause in his contract with Quillin, but he also has expressed interest in Golovkin, Geale, Martinez, and Chavez.

11) Anthony Mundine (1-91)

Last Fight: 7/14/2012- TKO7 Bronco McKart (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #1 Daniel Geale

Mundine has reportedly agreed to a fight with Geale, though no details yet.

12) Sam Soliman (1-36)

Last Fight: 8/24/2012- UD12 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Soliman is now the mandatory for Geale, which is a potential big-money domestic showdown in Australia. However, Geale seems to be occupied with yet another Australian, Anthony Mundine.

13) Marco Antonio Rubio (1-91)

Last Fight: 9/8/2012- RTD4 Carlos Baldomir (UNR) (at SMW)

Next Fight: Unknown

14) Osumanu Adama (1-83)

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.

15) Avtandil Khurtsidze (1-91)

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

Next Fight: Unknown

16) Max Bursak (1-91)

Last Fight: 7/21/2012- KO1 Sergei Melis (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

After Martin Murray declined the opportunity, the EBU has ordered a fight between Bursak and Julien Marie Sainte for the European title. I’m not honestly sure what Sainte in particular ever did to deserve that, but oh well.

17) Demetrius Andrade (1-62)

Last Fight: 9/20/2012- TKO2 Alexis Hloros (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

18) Darren Barker (1-54)

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

Next Fight: 12/8/2012- vs. Kerry Hope (UNR)

If Barker’s body holds up, he has a date with tough Welsh journeyman Kerry Hope on December 8.

19) Nobuhiro Ishida (22-34)

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 ranked for the moment.

20) Bryan Vera (1-1)

Last Fight: 8/11/2012- W (MD12) vs. Sergio Mora (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

The Week Ahead: Water-treading undefeated Russian prospect Matt Korobov returns to action for the first time in nearly a year against an opponent to be announced in El Paso, Texas on Saturday.

This entry was posted on December 8, 2012 at 12:10 am and is filed under Middleweight, Rankings with tags Billi Godoy, Daniel Geale, Felix Sturm, Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam, Matt Korobov, Peter Quillin, Sergio Martinez, Sergio Sanders. 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.

Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog