Light Heavyweight: 2013, Feb 18-24
Three notables were in action this past week. Friday in Australia, middleweight fringe contender moved up two weight classes to take on Samoa’s Togasilimai Letoa, an ordinarily ordinary journeyman who sprung an upset on gatekeeper Manny Vlamis last year. Wood stopped Letoa in the 9th after more or less dominating to that point.
Champ: Andre Ward (24-24-24) Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO10 Champ Chad Dawson (at SMW) Next Fight: Unknown Ward’s surgery is complete. He’s expected to be out until at least Summer. 1) Chad Dawson (24-351-351)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- L(TKO10) vs. SMW Champ Andre Ward (at SMW)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #3 Jean Pascal Strange news- apparently Pascal has reached a deal to fight Lucian Bute. As of now the best information indicates that this would happen after the Dawson fight, but nobody seems certain that Pascal won’t ditch Dawson instead. 2) Bernard Hopkins (24-350-350)
Last Fight: 4/28/2012- L(MD12) vs. #2 Chad Dawson
Next Fight: 3/9/2012- vs. #6 Tavoris Cloud Hopkins appeared likely to fight Nathan Cleverly, but instead opted for Tavoris Cloud. The fight will take place in Brooklyn. 3) Jean Pascal (24-192-192)
Last Fight: 12/14/2012- UD10 Alexei Kuziemski (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #1 Chad Dawson As mentioned in Dawson’s notes, there is some intrigue involving a Pascal fight with Bute, either after or instead of the scheduled fight with Dawson. If Pascal does ditch Dawson and scheduleds the Bute fight for any date after May 25, I believe I will be forced to take the long-overdue step of removing Pascal for inactivity, since he’s been stringing together scheduled fights that either don’t happen or for which he comes in heavy.
4) Sergey Kovalev (5-5-5) Last Fight: 1/19/2013- TKO3 #4 Gabriel Campillo Next Fight: Unknown Kovalev is hoping to return in Moscow in April. 5) Gabriel Campillo (5-139-139)
Last Fight: 1/19/2013- L(TKO3) vs. Sergey Kovalev (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown It remains to be seen whether we’ve seen Campillo rapidly decline, have a bad night, or just run into a world-beater. But he’s still going to be highly ranked because he recently beat the guy ranked right below him. 6) Tavoris Cloud (5-182-182)
Last Fight: 2/18/2012- UD12* vs. #4 Gabriel Campillo (Robbery)
Next Fight: 3/9/2013- vs. #2 Bernard Hopkins Perhaps Cloud’s reasoning for pulling out of the Murat fight had something to do with his apparently better-than-expected chances of landing a much more lucrative Hopkins battle- a fight that now appears set for March. 7) Cornelius White (5-32-62) Last Fight: 7/14/2012- UD12 #10 Dmitri Sukhotski Next Fight: Unknown White is on a tear. Is he really top-5 good? I wouldn’t think so, but he proves me wrong every time I feel I might be overrating him. 8) Nathan Cleverly (5-159-159)
Last Fight: 11/10/2012- TKO8 Shawn Hawk (UNR)
Next Fight: 3/16/2013- vs. Robin Krasniqi (UNR) Cleverly will be fighting a long-rumored fight with fringe prospect Robin Krasniqi on March 16 in the UK. 9) Tony Bellew (5-71-71) Last Fight: 11/17/2012- UD12 Roberto Feliciano Bolonti (UNR) Next Fight: 3/30/2013- vs. #13 Isaac Chilemba A big time opportunity for two up-and-comers on tap for March 30, as Bellew collides with Isaac Chilemba in Liverpool. 10) Jürgen Brähmer (3-3-44) Last Fight: 2/2/2013- UD12 Eduard Gutknecht (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Braehmer is now has the EBU European title, meaning he’ll probably have a steady stream of fringe contenders available to him. Gutknecht aside, that’s an upgrade form his last 3 years of activity or lack thereof. 11) Karo Murat (3-94) Last Fight: 6/2/2012- TKO7 Sandro Siproshvili (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Murat last made 175 on October 1, 2011. He’s fought once slightly over the limit since then, giving him until April 1 to schedule a fight here. This is partly Cloud’s fault for essentially standing him up, but that’s way too little activity to draw sympathy from me. 12) Beibut Shumenov (3-139) Last Fight: 6/2/2012- UD12 Enrique Ornelas (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown 13) Isaac Chilemba (3-55) Last Fight: 9/29/2012- UD8 Rayco Saunders (UNR) Next Fight: 3/30/2013- vs. #9 Tony Bellew Up-and-coming African star Chilemba takes a high-risk, high-reward fight on March 30 in Tony Bellew’s hometown of Liverpool. 14) Vyacheslav Uzelkoff (3-55) Last Fight: 12/15/2012- TKO1 Giorgi Marosi (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Uzelkoff easily dispatched Marosi, in a fight so last-minute that I didn’t even know about it a week in advance. 15) Andrzej Fonfara (3-32) Last Fight: 11/16/2012- TKO7 Tommy Karpency (UNR) Next Fight: 3/22/2013- vs. Nicholson Poulard (UNR) Fonfara is scheduled to be in action on March 22 in Chicago. His opponent is Jean Pascal’s brother, journeyman Nicholson Poulard. 16) Yusaf Mack (3-139)
Last Fight: 11/17/2012- L(KO3) vs. #1 SMW Carl Froch (at SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown It’s no shame to lose to Carl Froch, but Mack’s showing was bad enough that you’ve got to wonder if he’s finished. 17) Lucian Bute (5-16) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD12 #16 Denis Grachev Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent It originally appeared that Bute would be fighting Bika for a shot at Ward, but now he seems to have reached a deal to fight the seemingly otherwise-engaged Jean Pascal, instead. Not sure of the timeline of the latter fight, or how it affects the Bika fight. 18) Denis Grachev (5-43) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- L(UD12) vs. SMW #4 Lucian Bute Next Fight: 3/30/2013- vs. Zsolt Erdei (UNR) Grachev will fight inactive former champ Zsolt Erdei in Monaco on March 30, with the winner to fight there against the winner of Edwin Rodriguez vs. Ezequiel Maderna in July. 19) Dmitri Sukhotski (5-121) Last Fight: 12/8/2012- TKO1 Vladimir Borovsky (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Sukhotski was originally rumored for the Monaco tourney, but he is not one of the 4 scheduled. 20) Eleider Alvarez (4-4)
Last Fight: 12/14/2012- KO8 Danny McIntosh (UNR) (at CW) Next Fight: 3/22/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent Alvarez will fight in Montreal on March 22.
Undefeated South African Ryno Liebenberg took on fairly experienced but low-level Ghanaian journeyman Flash Isaaka on Saturday in Kempton Park, dropping Isaaka in the 3rd before stopping him late in the 4th.
Finally, in Montevideo, Uruguay, 2-loss Argentine prospect Pablo Farias traded knockdowns with late replacement and very mediocre countryman Ramon Garcia, but got the last laugh by stopping the journeyman with his knockdown late in the 2nd round.
No changes to the rankings.
Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)
Champ: Andre Ward (24-24-24) Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO10 Champ Chad Dawson (at SMW) Next Fight: Unknown Ward’s surgery is complete. He’s expected to be out until at least Summer. 1) Chad Dawson (24-351-351)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- L(TKO10) vs. SMW Champ Andre Ward (at SMW)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #3 Jean Pascal Strange news- apparently Pascal has reached a deal to fight Lucian Bute. As of now the best information indicates that this would happen after the Dawson fight, but nobody seems certain that Pascal won’t ditch Dawson instead. 2) Bernard Hopkins (24-350-350)
Last Fight: 4/28/2012- L(MD12) vs. #2 Chad Dawson
Next Fight: 3/9/2012- vs. #6 Tavoris Cloud Hopkins appeared likely to fight Nathan Cleverly, but instead opted for Tavoris Cloud. The fight will take place in Brooklyn. 3) Jean Pascal (24-192-192)
Last Fight: 12/14/2012- UD10 Alexei Kuziemski (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #1 Chad Dawson As mentioned in Dawson’s notes, there is some intrigue involving a Pascal fight with Bute, either after or instead of the scheduled fight with Dawson. If Pascal does ditch Dawson and scheduleds the Bute fight for any date after May 25, I believe I will be forced to take the long-overdue step of removing Pascal for inactivity, since he’s been stringing together scheduled fights that either don’t happen or for which he comes in heavy.
4) Sergey Kovalev (5-5-5) Last Fight: 1/19/2013- TKO3 #4 Gabriel Campillo Next Fight: Unknown Kovalev is hoping to return in Moscow in April. 5) Gabriel Campillo (5-139-139)
Last Fight: 1/19/2013- L(TKO3) vs. Sergey Kovalev (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown It remains to be seen whether we’ve seen Campillo rapidly decline, have a bad night, or just run into a world-beater. But he’s still going to be highly ranked because he recently beat the guy ranked right below him. 6) Tavoris Cloud (5-182-182)
Last Fight: 2/18/2012- UD12* vs. #4 Gabriel Campillo (Robbery)
Next Fight: 3/9/2013- vs. #2 Bernard Hopkins Perhaps Cloud’s reasoning for pulling out of the Murat fight had something to do with his apparently better-than-expected chances of landing a much more lucrative Hopkins battle- a fight that now appears set for March. 7) Cornelius White (5-32-62) Last Fight: 7/14/2012- UD12 #10 Dmitri Sukhotski Next Fight: Unknown White is on a tear. Is he really top-5 good? I wouldn’t think so, but he proves me wrong every time I feel I might be overrating him. 8) Nathan Cleverly (5-159-159)
Last Fight: 11/10/2012- TKO8 Shawn Hawk (UNR)
Next Fight: 3/16/2013- vs. Robin Krasniqi (UNR) Cleverly will be fighting a long-rumored fight with fringe prospect Robin Krasniqi on March 16 in the UK. 9) Tony Bellew (5-71-71) Last Fight: 11/17/2012- UD12 Roberto Feliciano Bolonti (UNR) Next Fight: 3/30/2013- vs. #13 Isaac Chilemba A big time opportunity for two up-and-comers on tap for March 30, as Bellew collides with Isaac Chilemba in Liverpool. 10) Jürgen Brähmer (3-3-44) Last Fight: 2/2/2013- UD12 Eduard Gutknecht (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Braehmer is now has the EBU European title, meaning he’ll probably have a steady stream of fringe contenders available to him. Gutknecht aside, that’s an upgrade form his last 3 years of activity or lack thereof. 11) Karo Murat (3-94) Last Fight: 6/2/2012- TKO7 Sandro Siproshvili (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Murat last made 175 on October 1, 2011. He’s fought once slightly over the limit since then, giving him until April 1 to schedule a fight here. This is partly Cloud’s fault for essentially standing him up, but that’s way too little activity to draw sympathy from me. 12) Beibut Shumenov (3-139) Last Fight: 6/2/2012- UD12 Enrique Ornelas (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown 13) Isaac Chilemba (3-55) Last Fight: 9/29/2012- UD8 Rayco Saunders (UNR) Next Fight: 3/30/2013- vs. #9 Tony Bellew Up-and-coming African star Chilemba takes a high-risk, high-reward fight on March 30 in Tony Bellew’s hometown of Liverpool. 14) Vyacheslav Uzelkoff (3-55) Last Fight: 12/15/2012- TKO1 Giorgi Marosi (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Uzelkoff easily dispatched Marosi, in a fight so last-minute that I didn’t even know about it a week in advance. 15) Andrzej Fonfara (3-32) Last Fight: 11/16/2012- TKO7 Tommy Karpency (UNR) Next Fight: 3/22/2013- vs. Nicholson Poulard (UNR) Fonfara is scheduled to be in action on March 22 in Chicago. His opponent is Jean Pascal’s brother, journeyman Nicholson Poulard. 16) Yusaf Mack (3-139)
Last Fight: 11/17/2012- L(KO3) vs. #1 SMW Carl Froch (at SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown It’s no shame to lose to Carl Froch, but Mack’s showing was bad enough that you’ve got to wonder if he’s finished. 17) Lucian Bute (5-16) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD12 #16 Denis Grachev Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent It originally appeared that Bute would be fighting Bika for a shot at Ward, but now he seems to have reached a deal to fight the seemingly otherwise-engaged Jean Pascal, instead. Not sure of the timeline of the latter fight, or how it affects the Bika fight. 18) Denis Grachev (5-43) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- L(UD12) vs. SMW #4 Lucian Bute Next Fight: 3/30/2013- vs. Zsolt Erdei (UNR) Grachev will fight inactive former champ Zsolt Erdei in Monaco on March 30, with the winner to fight there against the winner of Edwin Rodriguez vs. Ezequiel Maderna in July. 19) Dmitri Sukhotski (5-121) Last Fight: 12/8/2012- TKO1 Vladimir Borovsky (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Sukhotski was originally rumored for the Monaco tourney, but he is not one of the 4 scheduled. 20) Eleider Alvarez (4-4)
Last Fight: 12/14/2012- KO8 Danny McIntosh (UNR) (at CW) Next Fight: 3/22/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent Alvarez will fight in Montreal on March 22.
The Week Ahead: Polish prospect and #20 cruiserweight Pawel Glazewski (who by all rights should be undefeated) takes on low-level journeyman Bartlomiej Grafka in Gdansk, Poland on Saturday.
The following night in Kampala, Uganda, local gatekeeper Joey Vegas stays busy against truly awful 0-19 countryman Mustapha Noor.
Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog 
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