Light Heavyweight: 2013, May 20-26
An upset alert from Pont-Audemer, France, as local gatekeeper Jonathan Profichet was upended on Friday in his quest for the vacant French title by one-loss fringe prospect Patrick Bois. It was apparently close and a split decision, but unfortunately I can’t find any video to confirm or refute the result. Therefore, it will have to stand as a razor thin win for Bois unless and until I can eventually watch the contest.
Champ: Andre Ward (37-37-37) Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO10 Champ Chad Dawson (at SMW) Next Fight: Unknown Ward is looking to return in August, and is reportedly thinking about fighting one of the winners of Kessler-Froch and Pascal-Bute, at least at some point. 1) Chad Dawson (37-364-364)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- L(TKO10) vs. SMW Champ Andre Ward (at SMW)
Next Fight: 6/8/2013- vs. SMW #6 Adonis Stevenson Dawson will fight Adonis Stevenson (who moves up from 168) on June 8 in Montreal. 2) Bernard Hopkins (37-363-363)
Last Fight: 3/9/2012- UD12 #6 Tavoris Cloud
Next Fight: 7/13/2013- vs. Karo Murat (UNR) All the buzz had been revolving around a Hopkins-Cleverly showdown, but with little or no warning, he signed to fight his mandatory, the slightly more proven but inactive Karo Murat, instead. 3) Sergey Kovalev (2-18-18) Last Fight: 1/19/2013- TKO3 #4 Gabriel Campillo Next Fight: 6/14/2013- vs. #8 Cornelius White Kovalev is back in action against another pretty tough opponent on June 14. 4) Gabriel Campillo (2-152-152)
Last Fight: 1/19/2013- L(TKO3) vs. Sergey Kovalev (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/16/2013- vs. #13 Andrzej Fonfara Campillo will fight Fonfara in an interesting crossroads fight at Comiskey Park in Chicago. 5) Tavoris Cloud (2-195-195)
Last Fight: 3/9/2013- L (UD12) vs. #2 Bernard Hopkins
Next Fight: Unknown Cloud’s manager expects him back in action by the end of the year. Normally that wouldn’t be saying much, but that would be against type for Cloud. 6) Nathan Cleverly (2-172-172)
Last Fight: 4/20/2013- UD12 Robin Krasniqi (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Cleverly has offered a fight to the Froch-Kessler winner. 7) Isaac Chilemba (2-8-68) Last Fight: 3/30/2013- Draw* (SD12) vs. #9 Tony Bellew (should be win) Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #9 Tony Bellew That didn’t take long! Chilemba will rematch Bellew on the Froch-Kessler undercard in London, less than two months removed from getting borderline robbed the first time around. 8) Cornelius White (2-45-75) Last Fight: 3/9/2013- UD8 Otis Griffin (UNR) Next Fight: 6/14/2013- vs. #3 Sergey Kovalev Moment of truth time for White. On June 14 we’ll find out if he’s more the guy that beat up Dmitri Sukhotski, or the guy that got sparked out in just seconds by Don George. If he’s the latter, Kovalev should prove it pretty quickly. 9) Tony Bellew (2-84-84) Last Fight: 3/30/2013- Draw* (SD12) vs. #13 Isaac Chilemba (should be loss) Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #7 Isaac Chilemba See Chilemba’s notes, above. 10) Cedric Agnew (2-2-6) Last Fight: 4/12/2013- UD12 #14 Yusaf Mack Next Fight: Unknown Agnew may have caught a fading Yusaf Mack at the right time, but he’s clearly a climber, having now beaten both Mack and Otis Griffin. 11) Jürgen Brähmer (2-57) Last Fight: 4/27/2013- TKO2 Tony Averlant (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Braehmer made an easy first defense of his European belt against Averlant. He is currently the mandatory for Cleverly’s alphabet strap, as well, though it sounds like the Welshman would prefer bigger fish- or at least fish with bigger belts. 12) Beibut Shumenov (2-152) Last Fight: 6/2/2012- UD12 Enrique Ornelas (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown At one point, it appeared that Shumenov might step in to fight Pascal when Bute withdrew, but that appears to have gone nowhere, as the card was canceled. 13) Andrzej Fonfara (2-45) Last Fight: 11/16/2012- TKO7 Tommy Karpency (UNR) Next Fight: 8/16/2013- vs. #4 Gabriel Campillo Fonfara will get a huge opportunity to launch himself into the top 5 when he takes on Gabriel Campillo in Chicago. 14) Lucian Bute (2-29) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD12 #16 Denis Grachev Next Fight: 12/7/2013- vs. Jean Pascal (UNR) Bute-Pascal has been rescheduled tentatively for December 7 after Bute suffered a hand injury. They’ve also reserved January 25 as a back-up plan. Either way, it will be in Montreal. 15) Denis Grachev (2-56) Last Fight: 3/30/2013– W* (SD10) vs. Zsolt Erdei (UNR) (should be draw) Next Fight: 7/13/2013- vs. SMW #14 Edwin Rodriguez Grachev will be fighting Edwin Rodriguez at a catchweight of 171.5 in Monte Carlo for a million dollar prize. 16) Dmitri Sukhotski (2-134) Last Fight: 12/8/2012- TKO1 Vladimir Borovsky (UNR) Next Fight: 6/4/2013- vs. Mikhail Krinitsin (UNR) Sukhotski will fight in Barnaul, Russia on June 4 against low-level Kazakh journeyman Mikhail Krinitsin. 17) Eleider Alvarez (2-17)
Last Fight: 3/22/2013- TKO3 Nicholson Poulard (UNR) Next Fight: 6/8/2013- vs. Allan Green (UNR) Alvarez will now be fighting Green on the Dawson-Stevenson undercard. 18) Yunieski Gonzalez (2-10) Last Fight: 3/15/2013- KO8 Rowland Bryant (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Gonzalez took a huge step up in competition and made good, knocking out strong fringe contender Bryant. 19) Doudou Ngumbu (2-7) Last Fight: 3/16/2013- UD12 #14 Vyacheslav Uzelkoff Next Fight: Unknown 20) Glen Johnson (2-2) Last Fight: 4/19/2013- TKO2 Junior Ramos (UNR) (at CW) Next Fight: Unknown Strangely, even though Johnson looks completely spent, he is once again ranked (barely) at both 175 and 168.
The following night in Marseilles, fringe contender Nadjib Mohammedi had little problem with an overmatched Georgian opponent, Shalva Jomardashvili, knocking out the journeyman- who outweighed Mohammedi by 10 pounds- in the 3rd round.
No changes.
Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)
Champ: Andre Ward (37-37-37) Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO10 Champ Chad Dawson (at SMW) Next Fight: Unknown Ward is looking to return in August, and is reportedly thinking about fighting one of the winners of Kessler-Froch and Pascal-Bute, at least at some point. 1) Chad Dawson (37-364-364)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- L(TKO10) vs. SMW Champ Andre Ward (at SMW)
Next Fight: 6/8/2013- vs. SMW #6 Adonis Stevenson Dawson will fight Adonis Stevenson (who moves up from 168) on June 8 in Montreal. 2) Bernard Hopkins (37-363-363)
Last Fight: 3/9/2012- UD12 #6 Tavoris Cloud
Next Fight: 7/13/2013- vs. Karo Murat (UNR) All the buzz had been revolving around a Hopkins-Cleverly showdown, but with little or no warning, he signed to fight his mandatory, the slightly more proven but inactive Karo Murat, instead. 3) Sergey Kovalev (2-18-18) Last Fight: 1/19/2013- TKO3 #4 Gabriel Campillo Next Fight: 6/14/2013- vs. #8 Cornelius White Kovalev is back in action against another pretty tough opponent on June 14. 4) Gabriel Campillo (2-152-152)
Last Fight: 1/19/2013- L(TKO3) vs. Sergey Kovalev (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/16/2013- vs. #13 Andrzej Fonfara Campillo will fight Fonfara in an interesting crossroads fight at Comiskey Park in Chicago. 5) Tavoris Cloud (2-195-195)
Last Fight: 3/9/2013- L (UD12) vs. #2 Bernard Hopkins
Next Fight: Unknown Cloud’s manager expects him back in action by the end of the year. Normally that wouldn’t be saying much, but that would be against type for Cloud. 6) Nathan Cleverly (2-172-172)
Last Fight: 4/20/2013- UD12 Robin Krasniqi (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Cleverly has offered a fight to the Froch-Kessler winner. 7) Isaac Chilemba (2-8-68) Last Fight: 3/30/2013- Draw* (SD12) vs. #9 Tony Bellew (should be win) Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #9 Tony Bellew That didn’t take long! Chilemba will rematch Bellew on the Froch-Kessler undercard in London, less than two months removed from getting borderline robbed the first time around. 8) Cornelius White (2-45-75) Last Fight: 3/9/2013- UD8 Otis Griffin (UNR) Next Fight: 6/14/2013- vs. #3 Sergey Kovalev Moment of truth time for White. On June 14 we’ll find out if he’s more the guy that beat up Dmitri Sukhotski, or the guy that got sparked out in just seconds by Don George. If he’s the latter, Kovalev should prove it pretty quickly. 9) Tony Bellew (2-84-84) Last Fight: 3/30/2013- Draw* (SD12) vs. #13 Isaac Chilemba (should be loss) Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #7 Isaac Chilemba See Chilemba’s notes, above. 10) Cedric Agnew (2-2-6) Last Fight: 4/12/2013- UD12 #14 Yusaf Mack Next Fight: Unknown Agnew may have caught a fading Yusaf Mack at the right time, but he’s clearly a climber, having now beaten both Mack and Otis Griffin. 11) Jürgen Brähmer (2-57) Last Fight: 4/27/2013- TKO2 Tony Averlant (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Braehmer made an easy first defense of his European belt against Averlant. He is currently the mandatory for Cleverly’s alphabet strap, as well, though it sounds like the Welshman would prefer bigger fish- or at least fish with bigger belts. 12) Beibut Shumenov (2-152) Last Fight: 6/2/2012- UD12 Enrique Ornelas (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown At one point, it appeared that Shumenov might step in to fight Pascal when Bute withdrew, but that appears to have gone nowhere, as the card was canceled. 13) Andrzej Fonfara (2-45) Last Fight: 11/16/2012- TKO7 Tommy Karpency (UNR) Next Fight: 8/16/2013- vs. #4 Gabriel Campillo Fonfara will get a huge opportunity to launch himself into the top 5 when he takes on Gabriel Campillo in Chicago. 14) Lucian Bute (2-29) Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD12 #16 Denis Grachev Next Fight: 12/7/2013- vs. Jean Pascal (UNR) Bute-Pascal has been rescheduled tentatively for December 7 after Bute suffered a hand injury. They’ve also reserved January 25 as a back-up plan. Either way, it will be in Montreal. 15) Denis Grachev (2-56) Last Fight: 3/30/2013– W* (SD10) vs. Zsolt Erdei (UNR) (should be draw) Next Fight: 7/13/2013- vs. SMW #14 Edwin Rodriguez Grachev will be fighting Edwin Rodriguez at a catchweight of 171.5 in Monte Carlo for a million dollar prize. 16) Dmitri Sukhotski (2-134) Last Fight: 12/8/2012- TKO1 Vladimir Borovsky (UNR) Next Fight: 6/4/2013- vs. Mikhail Krinitsin (UNR) Sukhotski will fight in Barnaul, Russia on June 4 against low-level Kazakh journeyman Mikhail Krinitsin. 17) Eleider Alvarez (2-17)
Last Fight: 3/22/2013- TKO3 Nicholson Poulard (UNR) Next Fight: 6/8/2013- vs. Allan Green (UNR) Alvarez will now be fighting Green on the Dawson-Stevenson undercard. 18) Yunieski Gonzalez (2-10) Last Fight: 3/15/2013- KO8 Rowland Bryant (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Gonzalez took a huge step up in competition and made good, knocking out strong fringe contender Bryant. 19) Doudou Ngumbu (2-7) Last Fight: 3/16/2013- UD12 #14 Vyacheslav Uzelkoff Next Fight: Unknown 20) Glen Johnson (2-2) Last Fight: 4/19/2013- TKO2 Junior Ramos (UNR) (at CW) Next Fight: Unknown Strangely, even though Johnson looks completely spent, he is once again ranked (barely) at both 175 and 168.
The Week Ahead: Two fights with real potential to impact the division on Saturday.
On the London undercard for Froch-Kessler II, we get another important rematch, as #9 Tony Bellew looks for redemption after he got a very generous draw against underdog (but now #7) Isaac Chilemba just a couple months ago.
In Buenos Aires, we find still another rematch, as cruiserweight fringe contender Alejandro Valori once again faces prospect Marcos Ahumada. Their first fight a couple months ago ended controversially, when Valori went down twice in the first round, but was credited with a 4th-round TKO after Ahumada was deemed unable to continue with a cut that clearly appeared to have been caused by a headbutt. This fight could be at 175, 200, or anywhere in between.
Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog 
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