Cruiserweight: 2013: Apr 1-7
Congolese prospect Ilunga “Junior” Makabu, who hasn’t lost since his pro debut, dominated and stopped totally untested unbeaten Hungarian Tamas Lodi. In failing to recognize that I was trying to click on Makabu’s boxrec page and instead taking me to the Wikipedia page for the name/word Ilunga, my internet browser gave me the very interesting fact that in addition to a name, Ilunga is also a Bantu word that is considered by linguists to be the hardest single word to translate in the world. Essentially, it means “a person who will forgive any abuse one time, tolerate it a second, but never a third.” Makabu didn’t live up to his name. He may have forgiven Lodi, but he certainly didn’t tolerate anything from his unfortunate opponent, bullying him around the ring and beating him mercilessly. Lodi was a late-replacement for veteran French trial horse Jean Marc Monrose.
1) Denis Lebedev (28-164-164) Last Fight: 12/17/2012- KO4 Santander Silgado (UNR) Next Fight: 5/17/2013- vs. Guillermo Jones (UNR) Lebedev will be fighting inactive titlist Guillermo Jones near Moscow on May 17.
2) Yoan Pablo Hernandez (28-144-144) Last Fight: 9/15/2012- W*(UD12) vs. #20 Troy Ross Next Fight: Unknown Hernandez pulled out of his scheduled 2/2 fight with Eric Fields with a fractured hand. 3) Troy Ross (28-28-60) Last Fight: 9/15/2012- L*(UD12) vs. #1 Yoan Pablo Hernandez Next Fight: Unknown Quote from Ross’s Twitter: “If the right opportunity arises I will fight again.” That sounds more like a semi-retired fighter than the guy that just outfought the division’s #1 contender. Here’s hoping he starts hunting for good fights like a starving mountain man any second now. 4) Ola Afolabi (7-211-211) Last Fight: 5/5/2012- Draw* (MD12) vs. #4 Marco Huck Next Fight: 5/11/2013- vs. #7 Marco Huck Originally scheduled for May 25, the Huck-Afolabi trilogy fight is now on for May 11 in Hannover, Germany. 5) Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (7-405-405) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- UD12 #13 Francisco Palacios Next Fight: Unknown
After Mormeck withdrew with injury, Wlodarczyk has a fight with Fragomeni on the horizon, but probably after a voluntary defense.
6) Firat Arslan (7-46-89) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- L*(UD12) vs. #5 Marco Huck (Robbery) Next Fight: Unknown A rematch with Huck might be in the offing for the summer, but there’s plenty that can happen between now and then. 7) Marco Huck (7-329-329) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- W*(UD12) vs. #10 Firat Arslan (Robbery) Next Fight: 5/11/2013- vs. #4 Ola Afolabi See Afolabi’s notes, above. 8) Lateef Kayode (7-43-123) Last Fight: 6/2/2012- Draw (SD12) vs. ‘Roided up #3 Antonio Tarver Next Fight: Unknown All indications are that Kayode will next fight at heavyweight, but the plan to get him in the ring in February obviously didn’t work. 9) Danny Green (7-20-173) Last Fight: 11/21/2012- UD12 Shane Cameron (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown As has been the case after every fight since he had very serious surgery a couple years ago, there is speculation that Green may retire following his win over Shane Cameron. Green himself remains non-committal. 10) B.J. Flores (7-7-144) Last Fight: 10/6/2012- TKO2 David McNemar (UNR) Next Fight: 5/11/2013- vs. #15 Francisco Palacios Flores will be fighting Puerto Rico’s Francisco Palacios in Germany on May 11.
11) Giacobbe Fragomeni (7-228) Last Fight: 12/15/2012- W*(SD12) vs. #13 Silvio Branco Next Fight: Unknown After limping to back-to-back tossup fights with the painfully old Silvio Branco, Fragomeni is now looking to step up to what would have to be seen as a cash-out trilogy fight with the much better Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. 12) Silvio Branco (7-54) Last Fight: 12/15/2012- L*(SD12) vs. #12 Giacobbe Fragomeni Next Fight: Unknown Branco can still hang with whippersnappers like 43 year-old countryman Fragomeni, but you’ve gotta think his active days are numbered at 46. 13) Alexander Alekseev (5-115) Last Fight: 2/22/2013- UD12* Garrett Wilson (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Alekseev barely squeaked by after building an early lead against Wilson, but it’s still an improvement from his previous fight. 14) Mateusz Masternak (5-52) Last Fight: 12/15/2012- UD12 Juho Haapoja (UNR) Next Fight: 4/13/2013- vs. Sean Corbin (UNR) Masternak’s scheduled meeting with Jeremy Ouanna gave way to an even less impressive match-up against Sean Corbin, a mediocre Guyana journeyman best known for beating a totally shot Wayne Braithwaite after being inactive for 2 years. 15) Francisco Palacios (5-104) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- L(UD12) vs. #7 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk Next Fight: 5/11/2013- vs. #10 B.J. Flores Palacios will look to renew his relevance with a win over B.J. Flores in Germany. 16) Thabiso Mchunu (7-20) Last Fight: 11/10/2012- TKO5 #20 Danie Venter Next Fight: Unknown The promoter of Congolese prospect Ilunga Makabu has offered to fight Mchunu, but reportedly met with tepid interest from Mchunu’s camp. 17) Dmytro Kucher (7-39) Last Fight: 3/21/2013- UD12 Julio Cesar Dos Santos (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown 18) Enad Licina (7-144) Last Fight: 11/10/2012- TKO2 Koeksal Orduhan Next Fight: Unknown 19) Grigory Drozd (7-20) Last Fight: 12/17/2012- UD12 Jean-Marc Monrose (UNR) Next Fight: 6/8/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent Drozd will apparently be fighting in an unpronounceable Russian town in early June, but no opponent has been named yet. He suffered a hand injury in his last fight, and is on the shelf from training until April. 20) Pawel Glazewski (7-7) Last Fight: 2/23/2013- UD10 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR) Next Fight: 6/29/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent Glazewski returns in late June in Ostroda, Poland. Probably more or less at light heavyweight.
No changes to the rankings.
Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20) Champ: None
1) Denis Lebedev (28-164-164) Last Fight: 12/17/2012- KO4 Santander Silgado (UNR) Next Fight: 5/17/2013- vs. Guillermo Jones (UNR) Lebedev will be fighting inactive titlist Guillermo Jones near Moscow on May 17.
2) Yoan Pablo Hernandez (28-144-144) Last Fight: 9/15/2012- W*(UD12) vs. #20 Troy Ross Next Fight: Unknown Hernandez pulled out of his scheduled 2/2 fight with Eric Fields with a fractured hand. 3) Troy Ross (28-28-60) Last Fight: 9/15/2012- L*(UD12) vs. #1 Yoan Pablo Hernandez Next Fight: Unknown Quote from Ross’s Twitter: “If the right opportunity arises I will fight again.” That sounds more like a semi-retired fighter than the guy that just outfought the division’s #1 contender. Here’s hoping he starts hunting for good fights like a starving mountain man any second now. 4) Ola Afolabi (7-211-211) Last Fight: 5/5/2012- Draw* (MD12) vs. #4 Marco Huck Next Fight: 5/11/2013- vs. #7 Marco Huck Originally scheduled for May 25, the Huck-Afolabi trilogy fight is now on for May 11 in Hannover, Germany. 5) Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (7-405-405) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- UD12 #13 Francisco Palacios Next Fight: Unknown
After Mormeck withdrew with injury, Wlodarczyk has a fight with Fragomeni on the horizon, but probably after a voluntary defense.
6) Firat Arslan (7-46-89) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- L*(UD12) vs. #5 Marco Huck (Robbery) Next Fight: Unknown A rematch with Huck might be in the offing for the summer, but there’s plenty that can happen between now and then. 7) Marco Huck (7-329-329) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- W*(UD12) vs. #10 Firat Arslan (Robbery) Next Fight: 5/11/2013- vs. #4 Ola Afolabi See Afolabi’s notes, above. 8) Lateef Kayode (7-43-123) Last Fight: 6/2/2012- Draw (SD12) vs. ‘Roided up #3 Antonio Tarver Next Fight: Unknown All indications are that Kayode will next fight at heavyweight, but the plan to get him in the ring in February obviously didn’t work. 9) Danny Green (7-20-173) Last Fight: 11/21/2012- UD12 Shane Cameron (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown As has been the case after every fight since he had very serious surgery a couple years ago, there is speculation that Green may retire following his win over Shane Cameron. Green himself remains non-committal. 10) B.J. Flores (7-7-144) Last Fight: 10/6/2012- TKO2 David McNemar (UNR) Next Fight: 5/11/2013- vs. #15 Francisco Palacios Flores will be fighting Puerto Rico’s Francisco Palacios in Germany on May 11.
11) Giacobbe Fragomeni (7-228) Last Fight: 12/15/2012- W*(SD12) vs. #13 Silvio Branco Next Fight: Unknown After limping to back-to-back tossup fights with the painfully old Silvio Branco, Fragomeni is now looking to step up to what would have to be seen as a cash-out trilogy fight with the much better Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. 12) Silvio Branco (7-54) Last Fight: 12/15/2012- L*(SD12) vs. #12 Giacobbe Fragomeni Next Fight: Unknown Branco can still hang with whippersnappers like 43 year-old countryman Fragomeni, but you’ve gotta think his active days are numbered at 46. 13) Alexander Alekseev (5-115) Last Fight: 2/22/2013- UD12* Garrett Wilson (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Alekseev barely squeaked by after building an early lead against Wilson, but it’s still an improvement from his previous fight. 14) Mateusz Masternak (5-52) Last Fight: 12/15/2012- UD12 Juho Haapoja (UNR) Next Fight: 4/13/2013- vs. Sean Corbin (UNR) Masternak’s scheduled meeting with Jeremy Ouanna gave way to an even less impressive match-up against Sean Corbin, a mediocre Guyana journeyman best known for beating a totally shot Wayne Braithwaite after being inactive for 2 years. 15) Francisco Palacios (5-104) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- L(UD12) vs. #7 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk Next Fight: 5/11/2013- vs. #10 B.J. Flores Palacios will look to renew his relevance with a win over B.J. Flores in Germany. 16) Thabiso Mchunu (7-20) Last Fight: 11/10/2012- TKO5 #20 Danie Venter Next Fight: Unknown The promoter of Congolese prospect Ilunga Makabu has offered to fight Mchunu, but reportedly met with tepid interest from Mchunu’s camp. 17) Dmytro Kucher (7-39) Last Fight: 3/21/2013- UD12 Julio Cesar Dos Santos (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown 18) Enad Licina (7-144) Last Fight: 11/10/2012- TKO2 Koeksal Orduhan Next Fight: Unknown 19) Grigory Drozd (7-20) Last Fight: 12/17/2012- UD12 Jean-Marc Monrose (UNR) Next Fight: 6/8/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent Drozd will apparently be fighting in an unpronounceable Russian town in early June, but no opponent has been named yet. He suffered a hand injury in his last fight, and is on the shelf from training until April. 20) Pawel Glazewski (7-7) Last Fight: 2/23/2013- UD10 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR) Next Fight: 6/29/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent Glazewski returns in late June in Ostroda, Poland. Probably more or less at light heavyweight.
THE WEEK AHEAD: Nothing notable going on in the division this week.
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