Cruiserweight: 2013: Apr 22-28
This week played host to several notable fights, but with no surprises or sea changes involved.
1) Denis Lebedev (32-168-168) 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 (32-148-148) 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 (32-32-64) 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 (11-215-215) Last Fight: 5/5/2012- Draw* (MD12) vs. #4 Marco Huck Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #7 Marco Huck Sauerland is now promoting the Huck-Afolabi trilogy match after Don King botched it. 5) Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (11-409-409) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- UD12 #13 Francisco Palacios Next Fight: 6/22/2013- vs. Rakhim Chakhkiev (UNR)
Apparently an agreement has been reached for Wlodarczyk to fight undefeated and fringe-contending Russian Olympian Rakhim Chakhkiev in Moscow, June 22. Wlodarczyk will reportedly have a rematch clause in the event he loses.
6) Firat Arslan (11-50-93) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- L*(UD12) vs. #5 Marco Huck (Robbery) Next Fight: 4/27/2013- vs. Varol Vekiloglu (UNR) Arslan’s first fight under the Sauerland banner is unfortunately a waste of time, as he will fight lower-mid-level German journeyman Varol Vekiloglu. Too bad. At 42, it’s hard not tho think that every fight he takes outside the top level is seriously damaging his chances of getting to the very top of the division. 7) Marco Huck (11-333-333) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- W*(UD12) vs. #10 Firat Arslan (Robbery) Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #4 Ola Afolabi See Afolabi’s notes, above. 8) Lateef Kayode (11-47-127) 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 (11-24-177) 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 (11-11-148) Last Fight: 10/6/2012- TKO2 David McNemar (UNR) Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. Nuri Seferi (UNR) Don King’s embarrassing failure to make the Huck-Afolabi card happen has claimed Flores-Palacios as collateral damage. Flores instead will be fighting a couple weeks later against Albanian gatekeeper Nuri Seferi, in Albania.
11) Giacobbe Fragomeni (11-232) 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 (11-58) 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 (9-119) 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 (9-56) Last Fight: 4/13/2013- TKO9 Sean Corbin (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown 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 (9-108) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- L(UD12) vs. #7 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk Next Fight: Unknown Okay so maybe this was me and maybe it wasn’t. But about a week ago I tweeted to Palacios after Flores pulled out on him that Eddie Chambers is looking for a cruiserweight fight. Chambers re-tweeted it, and now the two both seem extremely interested in making it happen. If it actually happens, I must say I’ll view that fight as my baby, whether justified or not. 16) Thabiso Mchunu (11-24) 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 (11-43) Last Fight: 3/21/2013- UD12 Julio Cesar Dos Santos (UNR) Next Fight: 5/17/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent Kucher will be figthing on May 17 just outside of Moscow. No opponent yet. 18) Enad Licina (11-148) Last Fight: 11/10/2012- TKO2 Koeksal Orduhan Next Fight: Unknown 19) Grigory Drozd (11-24) 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 (11-11) 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.
British titlist Jon Lewis Dickinson successfully defended his title in Sunderland, England on Friday, winning what appears to have been a pretty average decision over unproven one-loss prospect Mike Stafford, finishing strong to make the decision unanimous despite the close 115-113 card of John Keane.
Finnish gatekeeper Juho Haapoja make quick work of low-level Italian journeyman Michele De Meo, stopping his man at 2:34 of the first round in Tampere, Finland.
Undefeated fringe contending Polish prospect Krzysztof Glowacki dropped inexperienced and unproven one-loss Gabon prospect Taylor Mabika once en route to a decision win in Rsezsow, Poland. According to two of the theoretically friendly local judges, though, he lost a couple rounds. Not really an overwhelmingly impressive performance. On the same card, fellow Polish unbeaten Pawel Kolodziej looked a little better. He also dropped his opponent- the more proven veteran journeyman Richard Hall- but also dominated the scorecards with 3 clean shutouts.
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 (32-168-168) 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 (32-148-148) 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 (32-32-64) 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 (11-215-215) Last Fight: 5/5/2012- Draw* (MD12) vs. #4 Marco Huck Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #7 Marco Huck Sauerland is now promoting the Huck-Afolabi trilogy match after Don King botched it. 5) Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (11-409-409) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- UD12 #13 Francisco Palacios Next Fight: 6/22/2013- vs. Rakhim Chakhkiev (UNR)
Apparently an agreement has been reached for Wlodarczyk to fight undefeated and fringe-contending Russian Olympian Rakhim Chakhkiev in Moscow, June 22. Wlodarczyk will reportedly have a rematch clause in the event he loses.
6) Firat Arslan (11-50-93) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- L*(UD12) vs. #5 Marco Huck (Robbery) Next Fight: 4/27/2013- vs. Varol Vekiloglu (UNR) Arslan’s first fight under the Sauerland banner is unfortunately a waste of time, as he will fight lower-mid-level German journeyman Varol Vekiloglu. Too bad. At 42, it’s hard not tho think that every fight he takes outside the top level is seriously damaging his chances of getting to the very top of the division. 7) Marco Huck (11-333-333) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- W*(UD12) vs. #10 Firat Arslan (Robbery) Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #4 Ola Afolabi See Afolabi’s notes, above. 8) Lateef Kayode (11-47-127) 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 (11-24-177) 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 (11-11-148) Last Fight: 10/6/2012- TKO2 David McNemar (UNR) Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. Nuri Seferi (UNR) Don King’s embarrassing failure to make the Huck-Afolabi card happen has claimed Flores-Palacios as collateral damage. Flores instead will be fighting a couple weeks later against Albanian gatekeeper Nuri Seferi, in Albania.
11) Giacobbe Fragomeni (11-232) 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 (11-58) 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 (9-119) 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 (9-56) Last Fight: 4/13/2013- TKO9 Sean Corbin (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown 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 (9-108) Last Fight: 9/22/2012- L(UD12) vs. #7 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk Next Fight: Unknown Okay so maybe this was me and maybe it wasn’t. But about a week ago I tweeted to Palacios after Flores pulled out on him that Eddie Chambers is looking for a cruiserweight fight. Chambers re-tweeted it, and now the two both seem extremely interested in making it happen. If it actually happens, I must say I’ll view that fight as my baby, whether justified or not. 16) Thabiso Mchunu (11-24) 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 (11-43) Last Fight: 3/21/2013- UD12 Julio Cesar Dos Santos (UNR) Next Fight: 5/17/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent Kucher will be figthing on May 17 just outside of Moscow. No opponent yet. 18) Enad Licina (11-148) Last Fight: 11/10/2012- TKO2 Koeksal Orduhan Next Fight: Unknown 19) Grigory Drozd (11-24) 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 (11-11) 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: A couple likely mismatches populate the landscape over the weekend. In the most egregious of the two, #6 Firat Arslan headlines a less-than-scintillating fight between two Germans of Turkish descent, when he pounds on lower mid-level journeyman Varol Vekiloglu in Hamburg.
Sunday in Melbourne, Australia, gatekeeper Daniel Ammann steps in with local mediocre prospect Kane Watts.
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