Middleweight: 2012, Dec 24-30

Billi Godoy won a solid 10-round decision over a fellow Argentine- journeyman Cristian Rios- Friday in Caleta Olivia, Argentina. This was Godoy’s first fight since an excruciatingly narrow decision loss to Sergio Sanders- the first of his career.

Saturday’s action focused in Morelia, Mexico. #13 Marco Antonio Rubio headlined the card, dropping quality Mexican journeyman Michel Rosales in the opening round before putting him down for good in the 11th. On the same card, prospect Marcos Reyes once again struggled with veteran journeyman Julio Cesar Garcia, and was able to scratch out just a majority decision over 8 rounds. The pair met up in September, with Reyes winning a very close unanimous decision. In the most recent installment, Reyes actually went down in the second round, but Garcia gave the point back in round 6, when he was deducted for a headbutt. I can’t find any video of the fight, so I can’t do anything but accept the close result in Reyes’ favor.

#14 Osumanu Adama- inactive since March- was scheduled to fight Derrick Findley in Chicago, but that fight was abruptly canceled at the last minute.

The biggest event of the week was really a non-event. #15 Avtandil Khurtsidze has now been inactive for a year and is thus removed. This allows everyone rated #16 and below last week to advance one spot each, and makes room for a new #20. That spot was a tricky call. The three candidates were Garth Wood, Jose Miguel Torres, and Makoto Fuchigami. Wood has by far the best win of the 3- a knockout of Anthony Mundine from 2010. But that win was subsequently avenged by Mundine, and Wood went on to lose to a gatekeeper-level Sam Soliman in his last fight which, by the way, was way back in February. Torres has an unblemished record at 160, having beat a fringe contending (unofficially 24th-ranked) Patrick Majewski a year ago. But Torres has some losses at junior middleweight and even welterweight that would call his legitimacy at 160 into question despite that win. Fuchigami is best known outside Japan as a Golovkin knockout victim, but his mastery of an active if unspectacular Japanese scene has had him in or near the top 25 for a while. His only significant red ink was entirely expected (Golovkin) or subsequently avenged (a 2009 SD loss to Tetsuya Suzuki, whom he later stopped). Close call to be sure, but I think Fuchigami’s resume looks like that of the presently higher-quality fighter. He therefore becomes my new #20 contender.

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

Champ: Sergio Martinez (141-141-141)

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

Next Fight: 4/27/2013- vs. #9 Martin Murray

Martinez will look to come back strong from knee surgery when he takes on Martin Murray in Argentina on April 27.

1) Daniel Geale (79-184-184)

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

Next Fight: 1/30/2013- vs. #11 Anthony Mundine

Geale now has a date and location for the Mundine fight: January 30, in Sidney.

2) Felix Sturm (17-484-484)

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

Next Fight: 2/2/2013- vs. #12 Sam Soliman

Sturm will fight Aussie Sam Soliman in Germany in early February.

3) Gennady Golovkin (17-17-80)

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

Next Fight: 1/19/2013- vs. JMW #? Gabriel Rosado

Golovkin fights at Madison Square Garden against junior middleweight contender Gabriel Rosado. The fight will be on HBO, and Golovkin’s trainer says the fight will be at a catchweight of perhaps 158.

4) Matthew Macklin (15-79-170)

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

Next Fight: Unknown

Andy Lee recently called Macklin out.

5) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (15-82-100)

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

Next Fight: Unknown

Chavez is expecting to return in May, and then- provided both men win their spring fights- rematch Martinez in September.

6) Peter Quillin (10-10-31)

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

Next Fight: 1/19/2013- vs. Fernando Guerrero (UNR)

After originally being rumored to be working on a fight with Jermain Taylor, Quillin will instead be fighting fringe contending one-loss Dominican Fernando Guerrero on January 19th’s Showtime tripleheader.

7) Dmitry Pirog (34-126-126)

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

Next Fight: 3/2/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent

Pirog will return to the ring- and the US- fighting an opponent to be announced March 3 on HBO.

8) Grzegorz Proksa (17-89-89)

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 (17-56-56)

Last Fight: 11/24/2012- TKO6 Jorge Navarro (UNR)

Next Fight: 4/27/2013- vs. Champ Sergio Martinez

Murray will look to prove that he belongs at or above the level he achieved by drawing with Sturm when he fights the Champ in Argentina on April 27.

10) Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (10-113-113)

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. Quillin has scheduled a fight with Fernando Guerrero, as well.

11) Anthony Mundine (10-100)

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

Next Fight: 1/30/2013- vs. #1 Daniel Geale

A big opportunity for Mundine in the rematch of his split decision victory over Geale.

12) Sam Soliman (10-45)

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

Next Fight: 2/2/2013- vs. #2 Felix Sturm

Soliman is fighting Sturm all of a sudden.

13) Marco Antonio Rubio (10-100)

Last Fight: 12/22/2012- KO11 Michel Rosales (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

After Rubio’s win over Rosales, he called out Golovkin, Quillin, Martinez, and the field.

14) Osumanu Adama (10-92)

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

Next Fight: Unknown

Adama’s scheduled return against Derrick Findley was abruptly canceled at the last moment. I don’t know why, nor when he might be back again.

15) Max Bursak (1-100)

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

Next Fight: 1/26/2013- vs. Julien Marie Sainte (UNR)

Bursak will be fighting for a European title over what should be a pretty easy opponent in Frenchman Julien Marie Sainte- essentially a journeyman. The one bit of intrigue is that the fight is taking place in France.

16) Demetrius Andrade (1-71)

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

Next Fight: 1/25/2013- vs. Freddy Hernandez (UNR)

No word on why, but junior middleweight gatekeeper Freddy Hernandez is replacing Javier Maciel in the January 25 fight with Andrade. The fight will be on ShoBox.

17) Darren Barker (1-63)

Last Fight: 12/8/2012- TKO4 Kerry Hope (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Barker wants Macklin and Murray, although Murray is obviously otherwise occupied for some months to come.

18) Nobuhiro Ishida (1-43)

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.

19) Bryan Vera (1-10)

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

Next Fight: 1/25/2013- vs. Sergei Dzinziruk (UNR)

Vera will get a big opportunity to establish himself as a contender when he fights once very highly ranked contender Sergei Dzinziruk on Friday Night Fights.

20) Makoto Fuchigami (1-1)

Last Fight: 10/12/2012- RTD6 Marlon Alta (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Fuchigami- the Japanese champion- still has yet to conquer any other shores.

The Week Ahead: Nothing notable going on in the division this week.

This entry was posted on December 26, 2012 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Middleweight, Rankings with tags Avtandil Khurtsidze, Billi Godoy, Daniel Geale, Felix Sturm, Makoto Fuchigami, Marco Antonio Rubio, Marcos Reyes, Sergio Martinez. 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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