Junior Middleweight: 2013, May 20-26

Both of the favorites on Saturday came out on top.  In London, undefeated prospect Larry Ekundayo moved to 6-0 against more experienced yet less advanced French prospect Howard Cospolite, winning all but one round in the opinion of the referee and sole judge.
 

Across the pond in Atlantic City, undefeated prospect Shawn Porter looked pretty spectacular against the slow but durable Phil Lo Greco.  His speed, quickness, and footwork are all clearly top-notch.  I gave him every round, plus knockdowns he scored in rounds 8 and 10.  Lo Greco may have nicked round 3, but that’s splitting hairs.

 

No changes.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in Current Position-Weeks in Top 10 if applicable-Weeks in Top 20)
Champ: None
1) Carlos Molina (16-98-113)
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, and has since reported that the fight is almost signed.
2) Saul Alvarez (16-116-131)
Last Fight: 4/20/2013- W* (UD12) vs. #3 Austin Trout
Next Fight: Unknown
Canelo wants Floyd next.  That fight had already appeared set for September up until a few weeks before he fought Trout.  Floyd says he wants the fight at 147, which might be a big ask of Alvarez at this point.
3) Austin Trout (13-51-120)
Last Fight: 4/20/2013- L* (UD12) vs. #2 Saul Alvarez
Next Fight: Unknown
Trout wants a rematch of his very dubious loss to Alvarez.  He certainly deserves it.
4) Erislandy Lara (13-98-120)
Last Fight: 11/10/2012- D* (TD9) vs. #15 Vanes Martirosyan (robbery- should be win)
Next Fight: 6/8/2013- vs. #8 Alfredo Angulo
Lara will fight Angulo on Showtime, June 8 in Carson, California.
5) Ishe Smith (13-13-13)
Last Fight: 2/23/2013- W (MD12) vs. #3 Cornelius Bundrage
Next Fight: Unknown
See Molina’s notes, above.
6) Miguel Cotto (3-155-155)
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.
7) Cornelius Bundrage (3-146-146)
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.
8) Alfredo Angulo (3-191-191)
Last Fight: 12/15/2012- UD10 Jorge Silva (UNR)
Next Fight: 6/8/2013- vs. #4 Erislandy Lara
After it looked for awhile that he might fight Rosado next, Angulo will instead battle #4 Lara in Carson, California in early June.
9) Gabriel Rosado (3-9-120)
Last Fight: 5/4/2013- L* (SD10) vs. J’Leon Love (UNR) (at MW)
Next Fight: Unknown
In addition to the fight result barely being credible to begin with, it turns out Love was on a banned diuretic that helped him make weight at 160 (which he managed to do only by the skin of his teeth).  Most likely this will end up as a no-contest, thus adding even more reasons for me to not hold it against Rosado’s ranking at 154.
10) Sergey Rabchenko (3-3-49)
Last Fight: 3/30/2013- KO2 Adriano Nicchi (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Rabchenko might be fighting Italian prospect Emanuele Della Rosa on July 13 in Monaco.
11) Delvin Rodriguez (3-97)
Last Fight: 2/15/2013- TKO6 George Tahdooahnippah (UNR) (at MW)
Next Fight: 5/24/2013- vs. Freddy Hernandez (UNR)
Rodriguez will fight gatekeeper Freddy Hernandez on May 24, on Friday Night Fights.
12) Lukas Konecny (3-93)
Last Fight: 3/23/2013- W (TD12) vs. Karim Achour (UNR) (at MW)
Next Fight: Unknown
13) Keith Thurman (3-26)
Last Fight: 3/9/2013- UD12 #? WW Jan Zaveck (at WW)
Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. Diego Chaves (UNR) (at WW)
Thurman will be back on either July 20 or 27 against undefeated Argentine prospect Diego Chaves, again at Welterweight.
14) Vanes Martirosyan (3-103)
Last Fight: 11/10/2012- D* (TD9) vs. #6 Erislandy Lara (robbery- should be L)
Next Fight: Unknown
Martirosyan was set to fight Javier Maciel on April 6 in China, but broke his thumb.
15) Yuri Foreman (3-17)
Last Fight: 4/6/2013- UD6 Gundrick King (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Foreman is keeping his comeback at a very low level for the time being.
16) Sechew Powell (3-166)
Last Fight: 6/1/2012- L (TKO9) vs. #10 Gabriel Rosado
Next Fight: Unknown
17) Willie Nelson (3-12)
Last Fight: 3/1/2013- TKO1 Michael Medina (UNR)
Next Fight: 6/29/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent
Nelson is set to return on the Golovkin-Macklin undercard on June 29, but no opponent yet.  He was rumored to fight Joshua Clottey, but those rumors appear false.
18) Brian Rose (3-9)
Last Fight: 4/20/2013- TKO12 Joachim Alcine (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Rose has officially vacated his British title.
19) Guido Pitto (3-4)
Last Fight: 4/27/2013- W* (SD12) vs. Jack Culcay (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
It took an “upset” over highly-touted prospect Culcay for Pitto to get the recognition he earned but was denied against Veron.
20) Jack Culcay (3-3)
Last Fight: 4/27/2013- L* (SD12) vs. Guido Pitto (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Most see Culcay’s squeaker of a loss to Pitto to be a major setback in his career.  Not I.  First, he barely lost it, if at all.  Second, he held his own with a true and more proven fringe contender, who was underrated due to a robbery.

 

The Week Ahead:  #11 Delvin Rodriguez returns on Friday Night Fights this week, taking on gatekeeper Freddy Hernandez in Uncasville, Connecticut.
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