Junior Middleweight: 2013, Feb 4-10
On Friday Night Fights from Chicago, #2 Carlos Molina thoroughly whipped #11 Cory Spinks, winning the fight 119-106 on my card. It was about as bad a beating as you’ll ever see reach the cards. Spinks lost a point in the 9th for excessive holding, and was down in the 11th and 12th (the latter being a technical knockdown).
On the undercard, gatekeepers Antwone Smith and the naturally smaller Jose Luis Castillo met up, with Smith winning a comfortable 10-round decision. Not that it would have earned him a ranking anyway, but the fight doesn’t really count toward such a step, since Smith not only came in at over 155, but did so while Castillo weighed in at just 151.75. It’s one thing if a couple guys agree not to drain as much as normal, but if you’re a middleweight fighting a small junior middleweight that’s normally a welterweight and barely a top 50 fighter to begin with, you’re not going to get much love here.
Speaking of guys that are normally welterweights, Japanese prospect Yoshihiro Kamegai knocked out weak Mexican journeymean Jose Alberto Leal in the 2nd, while straying 2 and a half pounds north of his normal weight.
Anthony Mundine lost a clear decision to Daniel Geale at 160, but that has no effect here, since Geale is so highly-ranked, and not in this division.
Carlos Molina takes over the #1 spot. Canelo still has the quantity, but Molina has the quality by a wide margin. Alvarez has defeated just one top-20 contender in 7th-ranked Ryan Rhodes, while Molina has beaten 3, including #3 James Kirkland, #7 Kermit Cintron, and #11 Spinks. What it adds up to, despite the roughly 5 fringe contenders Canelo can boast of, is the fact that Canelo simply isn’t proven on the same level as Molina. Even if the Cintron wins cancel out (despite the fact that he was much more prestigious when Molina beat him), the Kirkland win stands out over anything Canelo can counter with. Spinks, who should probably think of retirement, backtracks to #12, allowing Sergey Rabchenko to pass him.
Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in Current Position-Weeks in Top 10 if applicable-Weeks in Top 20) Champ: None 1) Carlos Molina (1-83-98) Last Fight: 2/1/2013- UD12 #11 Cory Spinks Next Fight: Unknown Molina has now beaten 3 top-11 fighters, while Canelo has beaten just 1 ranked in the top 20 (along with a bunch of fringe contenders and smaller guys). 2) Saul Alvarez (1-101-116) Last Fight: 9/15/2012- TKO5 WW#? Josesito Lopez Next Fight: Unknown Canelo still hasn’t finalized the Trout match-up, but he says he’s got an agreement to fight Floyd on September 14 already. 3) Cornelius Bundrage (46-131-131) Last Fight: 6/30/2012- TKO7 #11 Cory Spinks Next Fight: 2/23/2013- vs. Ishe Smith (UNR) K9 returns to action against gatekeeper Ishe Smith on Showtime, February 23. 4) Austin Trout (10-36-105) Last Fight: 12/1/2012- UD12 #6 Miguel Cotto Next Fight: Unknown See Alvarez’s notes, above. 5) Erislandy Lara (10-83-105) Last Fight: 11/10/2012- D* (TD9) vs. #15 Vanes Martirosyan (robbery- should be win) Next Fight: Unknown Vanes has been stripped of his opportunity for a rematch eliminator with Lara, as he declined the fight. 6) Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (10-40-40) Last Fight: 5/5/2012- UD12* #4 Miguel Cotto Next Fight: Unknown Mayweather is in discussions to fight Robert Guerrero at welterweight sometime in the first half of 2013. 7) Miguel Cotto (10-140-140) Last Fight: 12/1/2012- L (UD12) vs. #8 Austin Trout Next Fight: Unknown Cotto finally appears to have taken a decided back seat to Trout in the Canelo sweepstakes. 8) James Kirkland (10-66-66) Last Fight: 3/24/2012- W*(DQ10) vs. #6 Carlos Molina (Robbery) Next Fight: Unknown Kirkland is apparently having managerial problems. 9) Alfredo Angulo (36-176-176) Last Fight: 12/15/2012- UD10 Jorge Silva (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Angulo proved he can still go to war after gutting out a tough fight with very hungry prospect Jorge Silva. 10) Gabriel Rosado (37-37-105) Last Fight: 1/19/2013- L (TKO7) vs. #3 MW Gennady Golovkin (at MW) Next Fight: Unknown Looks like Rosado should stick to 154. 11) Sergey Rabchenko (1-34) Last Fight: 11/24/2012- W (SD12) vs. Cedric Vitu (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Rabchenko’s next fight may be a combination EBU title defense and WBC eliminator against Emanuele Della Rosa. 12) Cory Spinks (1-54) Last Fight: 2/1/2013- L (UD12) vs. #2 Carlos Molina Next Fight: Unknown After getting thumped for 12 rounds by Carlos Molina, Spinks may be retired. His wife announced it, but I won’t remove him until either he personally or someone responsible for his career confirms it. 13) Delvin Rodriguez (37-82) Last Fight: 6/2/2012- L (UD12) vs. #12 Austin Trout Next Fight: 2/15/2013- vs. George Tahdooahnippah (UNR) Rodriguez will fight undefeated but totally untested Comanche tribesman George Tahdooahnippah on Friday Night Fights in Uncasville, CT in mid-February. 14) Lukas Konecny (18-78) Last Fight: 10/6/2012- L* (UD12) vs. Zaurbek Baysangurov (UNR) (Robbery) Next Fight: Unknown Konecny all but dominated Baysangurov, but walked away with one of the worst robbery losses I’ve ever seen. 15) Keith Thurman (11-11) Last Fight: 11/24/2012- TKO4 #16 Carlos Quintana Next Fight: Unknown Thurman might be in line to fight welterweight contender Jan Zaveck on HBO March 9 in Brooklyn. 16) Vanes Martirosyan (11-88) Last Fight: 11/10/2012- D* (TD9) vs. #6 Erislandy Lara (robbery- should be L) Next Fight: Unknown Vanes was given a gift when the WBC ordered a rematch of a draw that he clearly lost against Erislandy Lara. Vanes threw that gift away by turning down the fight, and is now no longer in position for an eliminator for a Canelo shot. 17) Yuri Foreman (2-2) Last Fight: 1/23/2013- UD6 Brandon Baue (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Foreman appeared to be retired, but is now back. 18) Sechew Powell (2-151) Last Fight: 6/1/2012- L (TKO9) vs. #10 Gabriel Rosado Next Fight: Unknown 19) Roberto Garcia (2-35) Last Fight: 3/23/2012- UD10 Antwone Smith (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown 20) Anthony Mundine (2-22) Last Fight: 1/30/2013- L (UD12) vs. #1 MW Daniel Geale (at MW) Next Fight: Unknown
The Week Ahead: Saturday in Buenos Aires, local prospect/gatekeeper hybrid Javier Maciel takes on low-level Colombian journeyman Emilio Julio.
Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog 
Leave a Reply