Junior Middleweight: 2013, Mar 4-10
In the Friday Night Fights main event from Mashantucket, Connecticut, 2-loss prospect Willie Nelson destroyed fringe contender Michael Medina, dropping Medina hard with a single shot, and then finishing him off just seconds later for a 1st round TKO. Medina appeared to have injured his ankle while falling awkwardly on the first knockdown.
Charlie Ota was supposed to fight on the undercard, but the fight fell through- the second consecutive weak that’s happened with Ota.
Speaking of fights that didn’t happen, #19 Michel Soro was supposed to take on Frederic Serre for the French title, but that has been postponed.
Saturday in Vegas, two-loss Puerto Rican prospect Jorge Melendez knocked out low-level journeyman Ryan Davis in 4 rounds, but the fight was contested at middleweight. Not that it mattered anyway.
What did matter was Nelson’s victory over Medina. Nelson beat hot prospect Yudel Jhonson in his prior fight, and has now earned a ranking. He checks in just behind Sechew Powell at #19. This forces Soro back to #20, and bumps out Roberto Garcia, just a few weeks before he may have been removed for inactivity, anyway.
Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in Current Position-Weeks in Top 10 if applicable-Weeks in Top 20) Champ: None 1) Carlos Molina (5-87-102) 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 (5-105-120) Last Fight: 9/15/2012- TKO5 WW#? Josesito Lopez Next Fight: 4/20/2013- vs. #3 Austin Trout Canelo’s fight with Trout has been moved to April 20 after he had a falling out with Floyd over the apparent cancellation of their agreement to fight each other on September 14. 3) Austin Trout (2-40-109) Last Fight: 12/1/2012- UD12 #6 Miguel Cotto Next Fight: 4/20/2013- vs. #2 Saul Alvarez See Alvarez’s notes, above. 4) Erislandy Lara (2-87-109) 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 (2-2-2) Last Fight: 2/23/2013- W (MD12) vs. #3 Cornelius Bundrage Next Fight: Unknown See Molina’s notes, above. 6) Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (14-44-44) 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 (14-144-144) 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 (14-70-70) Last Fight: 3/24/2012- W*(DQ10) vs. #6 Carlos Molina (Robbery) Next Fight: Unknown Kirkland is apparently having managerial problems. 9) Cornelius Bundrage (2-135-135) 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 (2-180-180) Last Fight: 12/15/2012- UD10 Jorge Silva (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Angulo may be fighting Rosado on May 4. 11) Gabriel Rosado (2-109) Last Fight: 1/19/2013- L (TKO7) vs. #3 MW Gennady Golovkin (at MW) Next Fight: Unknown See Angulo’s notes, above. 12) Sergey Rabchenko (2-38) 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 (2-86) 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 (2-82) Last Fight: 10/6/2012- L* (UD12) vs. Zaurbek Baysangurov (UNR) (Robbery) Next Fight: 3/23/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent (at MW) Konecny will fight March 23 on the Abraham-Stieglitz undercard in Magdeburg. The fight will be at 160, against an unknown opponent. 15) Keith Thurman (2-15) 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 (2-92) 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 (2-6) Last Fight: 1/23/2013- UD6 Brandon Baue (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Foreman appeared to be retired, but is now back. 18) Sechew Powell (2-155) Last Fight: 6/1/2012- L (TKO9) vs. #10 Gabriel Rosado Next Fight: Unknown 19) Willie Nelson (1-1) Last Fight: 3/1/2013- TKO1 Michael Medina (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown After being dropped multiple times in a close decision with fellow prospect Vincent Arroyo at 147, Nelson has gone on quite a hot streak. 20) Michel Soro (1-8) Last Fight: 1/12/2013- UD12 Kris Carslaw (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. Frederic Serre (UNR) Soro’s fight with Serre for the French title has been postponed, but I don’t know the new date yet.
The Week Ahead: Friday in Indio, California, undefeated California prospect Hugo Centeno, Jr. takes on one-loss and significantly less-proven Alabaman KeAndre Leatherwood on ShoBox.
The following night in Madrid, Argentine prospect Guido Pitto takes on awful bum Vasile Surcica, a Romanian who has no wins in his last 10 fights.
#15 Keith Thurman is also in action against Jan Zaveck, but at Welterweight.
Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog 
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