Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog

Detroit played host to a huge upset on Saturday, as veteran gatekeeper Ishe Smith got the biggest win of his career by dominantly outboxing #3 Cornelius Bundrage.  Smith swept rounds 3-7 and 9-12 on my card.  Bundrage was never graceful, but this time he looked as lackadaisical as he was musclebound.  He even spent a part of the fight running, which just plain doesn’t make sense.  Frankly, he looked like a mediocre clubfighter.

 

Charlie Ota was supposed to fight on Thursday in New York, but the fight was canceled late for an unknown reason.

 

Smith rockets all the way up to debut at #5.  He’s technically got a better win than Trout and Lara do, but Smith’s only win in the last 5 years that makes any difference here was against a then only somewhat proven Pawel Wolak over 4 years ago, while both Lara and Trout have several solid fringe contenders in a reasonable time frame to add to their respective wins over #6 contenders.  Bundrage falls to #9, just ahead of Alfredo Angulo.  Angulo fell from his high perch with a similarly unexpected loss, and the overall resumes are similar, as well.  Bundrage wins out because Angulo’s loss to Kirkland is obviously much older, and Angulo hasn’t been able to reverse things with a significant win since. 

 

Overall, Trout and Lara move up one.  Everyone ranked #6-8 stay put, while everyone #9-17 and below last week falls back to accommodate Sugar Shay.  The #19 spot is occupied by Frenchman Michel Soro, whose victory over Kris Carslaw somehow escaped my notice.  He should have been ranked for the six weeks prior to this, and without editing previous entries, I’m going to pretend he was.  This forces Brian Rose and Anthony Mundine out.  Likewise, Gabe Rosado drops out of the top 10 after 39 consecutive weeks in.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in Current Position-Weeks in Top 10 if applicable-Weeks in Top 20)

Champ: None

1) Carlos Molina (4-86-101)

Last Fight: 2/1/2013- UD12 #11 Cory Spinks

Next Fight: Unknown

Ishe Smith says he plans to offer Molina a shot at his alphabet belt.

2) Saul Alvarez (4-104-119)

Last Fight: 9/15/2012- TKO5 WW#? Josesito Lopez

Next Fight: 5/4/2013- vs. #4 Austin Trout

After months of speculation, it’s now official: Canelo’s opponent for May 4 is Austin Trout.

3) Austin Trout (1-39-108)

Last Fight: 12/1/2012- UD12 #6 Miguel Cotto

Next Fight: Unknown

See Alvarez’s notes, above.

4) Erislandy Lara (1-86-108)

Last Fight: 11/10/2012- D* (TD9) vs. #15 Vanes Martirosyan (robbery- should be win)

Next Fight: Unknown

Lara has been ordered by the WBC to fight Emanuele Della Rosa in an eliminator, but his side says he may fight that fight, take on Sergey Rabchenko, or may even go direct to a Canelo fight.

5) Ishe Smith (1-1-1)

Last Fight: 2/23/2013- W (MD12) vs. #3 Cornelius Bundrage

Next Fight: Unknown

See Molina’s notes, above.

6) Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (13-43-43)

Last Fight: 5/5/2012- UD12* #4 Miguel Cotto

Next Fight: 5/4/2013- vs. WW #? Robert Guerrero (at WW)

Mayweather will officially be fighting Robert Guerrero on Showtime PPV on May 4.  That’s just a day before the 1-year anniversary of his last fight at 154, and since the fight will be at 147, he will likely be removed the following week.

7) Miguel Cotto (13-143-143)

Last Fight: 12/1/2012- L (UD12) vs. #8 Austin Trout

Next Fight: Unknown

Cotto has laid out the plans for the rest of his career.  He says he’ll fight in October or November, twice in 2014, and then retire.

8) James Kirkland (13-69-69)

Last Fight: 3/24/2012- W*(DQ10) vs. #6 Carlos Molina (Robbery)

Next Fight: Unknown

Kirkland is apparently having managerial problems.

9) Cornelius Bundrage (1-134-134)

Last Fight: 2/23/2013- L (MD12) vs. Ishe Smith (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Bundrage should probably retire after how awful he looked against Smith.

10) Alfredo Angulo (1-179-179)

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.

11) Gabriel Rosado (1-108)

Last Fight: 1/19/2013- L (TKO7) vs. #3 MW Gennady Golovkin (at MW)

Next Fight: Unknown

Rosado wants Ishe Smith.

12) Sergey Rabchenko (1-37)

Last Fight: 11/24/2012- W (SD12) vs. Cedric Vitu (UNR)

Next Fight: 3/30/2013- vs. Adriano Nicchi (UNR)

Rabchenko will fight Tuscan journeyman Adriano Nicchi in Monte Carlo on March 30.

13) Delvin Rodriguez (1-85)

Last Fight: 2/15/2013- TKO6 George Tahdooahnippah (UNR) (at MW)

Next Fight: Unknown

Having not come all that close to making 154 against Tahdooahnippah, Rodriguez will need to schedule a fight at 154 before June 2 to maintain his ranking.

14) Lukas Konecny (1-81)

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 (1-14)

Last Fight: 11/24/2012- TKO4 #16 Carlos Quintana

Next Fight: 3/9/2013- vs. #? WW Jan Zaveck (at WW)

Thurman will fight welterweight contender Jan Zaveck on HBO March 9 in Brooklyn, at 147.

16) Vanes Martirosyan (1-91)

Last Fight: 11/10/2012- D* (TD9) vs. #6 Erislandy Lara (robbery- should be L)

Next Fight: 4/6/2013- vs. Javier Maciel (UNR)

After ducking a rematch of his robbery draw with Lara, Vanes will fight April 6 in Macau, China against Argentine Champ Javier Maciel.

17) Yuri Foreman (1-5)

Last Fight: 1/23/2013- UD6 Brandon Baue (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Foreman appeared to be retired, but is now back. 

18) Sechew Powell (1-154)

Last Fight: 6/1/2012- L (TKO9) vs. #10 Gabriel Rosado

Next Fight: Unknown

19) Michel Soro (1-7)

Last Fight: 1/12/2013- UD12 Kris Carslaw (UNR)

Next Fight: 3/2/2013- vs. Frederic Serre (UNR)

I missed Soro’s win over an underrated Carslaw, and missed getting him in the rankings as a result.  He fights Frederic Serre for the French title this weekend.

20) Roberto Garcia (1-38)

Last Fight: 3/23/2012- UD10 Antwone Smith (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: Friday in Mashantucket, Connecticut, prospect Willie Nelson takes on fringe contender Michael Medina on Friday Night Fights.

 

On the undercard, fringe contending prospect Charlie Ota takes on low-level journeyman Brandon Baue in a stay-busy fight, after his fight last week was canceled late. 

 

Saturday in Villeurbanne, France, #19 Michel Soro battles mid-level journeyman Frederic Serre.

 

Later that night in Vegas, two-loss Puerto Rican prospect Jorge Melendez gets a stay-busy fight against low-level journeyman Ryan Davis.

This entry was posted on June 17, 2013 at 12:37 am and is filed under Junior Middleweight, Rankings with tags Carlos Molina, Charlie Ota, Cornelius Bundrage, Ishe Smith, Jorge Melendez, Michael Medina, Michel Soro, Willie Nelson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.