Junior Middleweight: 2013, Jul 1-7
Friday in Liverpool, local undefeated prospect Liam Smith won a shutout on points against journeyman Max Maxwell.
A few hours later and across the pond, undefeated Brazilian Patrick Teixeira got the benefit of the doubt in winning a decision against journeyman and fringe prospect Marcus Willis in the Friday Night Fights co-feature from Jacksonville, Florida. Teddy Atlas and the FNF viewers were apparently in love with Teixeira’s volume, giving Willis just one round, but it was Willis who was countering effectively and often landing the clean and effective work. I scored it all even. Two of the judges, while having it for Willis, had it in a reasonable range, while Peter Trematerra went too wide at 98-92, all for the Brazilian. The fight was contested at a contract weight of 156 or 157, so it won’t affect the rankings here.
#17 Brian Rose was also in action at middleweight, winning on points by a 6-point margin against Bulgarian journeyman Alexey Ribchev in Bolton, England.
On the Golovkin-Macklin undercard later that night in Connecticut, #16 Willie Nelson got a tough test from 2-loss Argentine prospect Luciano Cuello, who hurt Nelson multiple times in the fight, but couldn’t manage to drop him as Vincent Arroyo had done a couple years ago. Nelson generally landed more and better punches anytime he wasn’t trying to recover from a hard shot, though, and managed to carry the decision on my card 96-94. It easily could have gone the other way, though. Judge Peter Hary had it exactly as I did, while judges Sammartino and Lombardi had it a round too wide in favor of Nelson, as did HBO’s Steve Weisfeld.
Still, no changes this week.
Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in Current Position-Weeks in Top 10 if applicable-Weeks in Top 20) Champ: None 1) Carlos Molina (22-104-119) Last Fight: 2/1/2013- UD12 #11 Cory Spinks Next Fight: Unknown Molina’s scheduled fight with Ishe Smith is off now due to a Smith cut. 2) Saul Alvarez (22-122-137) Last Fight: 4/20/2013- W* (UD12) vs. #3 Austin Trout Next Fight: 9/14/2013- vs. WW Champ Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Floyd-Canelo on September 14 appeared to be made way back in February, but then appeared to be a distant memory for months. Now it’s back on, for the exact same date. The only difference is that Floyd got dropped for inactivity because the fight wasn’t signed when his 1-year anniversary at 154 came around. There will be a 152-pound catchweight. 3) Austin Trout (19-57-126) 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. He’ll have to wait until 2014 at the earliest, though, as Canelo is fighting Mayweather. 4) Erislandy Lara (19-104-126) Last Fight: 6/8/2013- TKO10 #8 Alfredo Angulo Next Fight: Unknown 5) Ishe Smith (19-19-19) Last Fight: 2/23/2013- W (MD12) vs. #3 Cornelius Bundrage Next Fight: Unknown See Molina’s notes, above. 6) Miguel Cotto (9-161-161) Last Fight: 12/1/2012- L (UD12) vs. #8 Austin Trout Next Fight: Unknown Cotto appears very likely to fight K9 Bundrage on September 28. 7) Cornelius Bundrage (9-152-152) Last Fight: 2/23/2013- L (MD12) vs. Ishe Smith (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown See Cotto’s notes, above. 8) Alfredo Angulo (9-197-197) Last Fight: 6/8/2013- L (TKO10) vs. #4 Erislandy Lara Next Fight: Unknown Angulo has shared the good news that there are no broken bones in his face after the devastating Lara combination that forced him to submit. On one hand, it demystifies Angulo’s warrior image, but it does give him a better outlook for his career going forward, as well. 9) Gabriel Rosado (9-15-126) Last Fight: 5/4/2013- NC vs. J’Leon Love (UNR) (at MW) Next Fight: Unknown With his already-questionable loss to Love overturned due to a positive drug test, Rosado now wants Cotto, Lara, or Trout. 10) Sergey Rabchenko (9-9-55) Last Fight: 3/30/2013- KO2 Adriano Nicchi (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Rabchenko has been ordered to fight new EBU mandatory challenger Ruben Varon after it appears Emanuele Della Rosa didn’t want the fight too badly. 11) Delvin Rodriguez (9-103) Last Fight: 5/24/2013- TKO8 Freddy Hernandez (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Rodriguez got a cuts stoppage over a guy that was beating him, but the judges had his back in case he needed their help. 12) Lukas Konecny (9-99) Last Fight: 3/23/2013- W (TD12) vs. Karim Achour (UNR) (at MW) Next Fight: 7/13/2013- vs. Moez Fhima (UNR) (at MW) Konecny is set to fight Tunisian high-level journeyman and/or fringe prospect Moez Fhima for an alphabet regional middleweight belt on July 13. Despite his apparent move up in weight, I’ll keep him ranked here until the anniversary of his last fight at 154 (October 6) or until he schedules an obviously middleweight fight for after that date. 13) Keith Thurman (9-32) Last Fight: 3/9/2013- UD12 #? WW Jan Zaveck (at WW) Next Fight: 7/27/2013- vs. Diego Chaves (UNR) (at WW) Thurman will be back on July 27 against undefeated Argentine prospect Diego Chaves, again at Welterweight. The fight will be in San Antonio. 14) Vanes Martirosyan (9-109) Last Fight: 6/15/2013- TKO2 Ryan Davis (UNR) (at MW) Next Fight: Unknown It appears likely that Martirosyan will fight Demetrius Andrade for a vacant belt sometime before the end of the year. 15) Yuri Foreman (9-23) Last Fight: 4/6/2013- UD6 Gundrick King (UNR) Next Fight: 7/24/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent Foreman is keeping his comeback at a very low level for the time being. 16) Willie Nelson (5-18) Last Fight: 6/29/2013- UD10 Luciano Cuello (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Nelson finally has an opponent for 6/29- decent Argentine journeyman Luciano Cuello. 17) Brian Rose (5-15) Last Fight: 6/29/2013- W (PTS10) vs. Alexey Ribchev (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Rose reportedly overcame a back injury to defeat Ribchev. 18) Jermell Charlo (4-4) Last Fight: 6/8/2013- UD12 Demetrius Hopkins (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Charlo didn’t exactly build his fan base with the Hopkins snoozer, but he satisfied the “win today, look good tomorrow” equation, and earned a ranking for his trouble. 19) Guido Pitto (4-10) 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 (4-9) 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: Julio Cesar Chavez’s youngest son Omar, whose only two losses were both close calls with Jorge Paez, Jr., will meet up with quality Venezuelan journeyman Charlie Navarro Saturday in Tepic, Mexico, though I’m not sure if it will happen here or at 147.
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