Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog

I guess you could say it was a bit of a vintage type of week at Heavyweight, in that we got three fights, and they all ended with a stoppage.  I don’t know if that was really all that much more common in bygone eras than today, but it certainly seems so through the good ‘ole days filter.  Granted, two of the three featured less than stellar opponents for ranked or undefeated fighters.  

 

The most significant of the three contests came on the undercard of the Zou Shiming circus in Macao, China, and was disappointingly not televised despite being of much more empirical import than the vastly overblown main event.  I did catch the Top Rank stream, however, and was very impressed as grossly overweight but highly-skilled undefeated Mexican Andy Ruiz destroyed fellow undefeated prospect Joe Hanks in just 4 rounds.  Ruiz dominated the first two rounds with his signature overhand chopping right from close range, along with an array of other well-developed punches and surprising handspeed from a guy who looks like a flabbier version of 2009 Chris Arreola.  Hanks made a bit of a last stand in the 3rd and may have edged that round, but the 4th was all Ruiz.  He put Hanks down hard with his chopping right hand plus a left hook, with Hanks beating the count by the barest fraction of a second.  Seconds later, Ruiz finished the job by dropping him again with an impressive combination that sent Hanks nearly through the ropes.  Referee Rafael Ramos didn’t bother with the count this time, waving it off.

 

In the also-ran category, #9 Odlanier Solis did about as well as you might expect against Turkish journeyman Yakup Saglam, stopping the smaller man in the latter part of the 7th round.  I confess I didn’t see this fight, as there was a lot of boxing to watch this weekend.

 

In another fight I didn’t manage to check out, undefeated but aging Australian prospect Lucas Browne tasted the canvas when his glove touched on a flash knockdown in the first, but easily handled journeyman Travis Walker thereafter, knocking the American down 3 times en route to his own 7th round stoppage, as Walker didn’t answer the bell for round 8.

 

Hanks was a very significant step up for the young Ruiz, but despite his undefeated record, had not been tested at a high enough level to qualify as a top 50 fighter and thus provide the needed line on Ruiz’s resume to get him into the mix for a ranking.  No changes this week.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)

Champ: Wladimir Klitschko (214-427-427)

Last Fight: 5/4/2013- TKO6 Francesco Pianeta

Next Fight: 10/5/2013- vs. #4 Alexander Povetkin

Klitschko-Povetkin is now officially signed for 10/5 in Moscow.

1) Vitali Klitschko (251-251-251)

Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO4 Manuel Charr (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Klitschko requested and was granted an extension on purse bids by the WBC for his mandated showdown with Bermane Stiverne, frustrating the would-be challenger to no end.

2) Tyson Fury (15-106-106)

Last Fight: 4/20/2013- KO7 #3 Steve Cunningham

Next Fight: 9/28/2013- vs. #3 David Haye

Fury-Haye is a done deal for September 28 in Manchester.

3) David Haye (15-55-55)

Last Fight: 7/14/2012- TKO5 #6 Dereck Chisora

Next Fight: 9/28/2013- vs. #2 Tyson Fury

See Fury’s notes, above.

4) Alexander Povetkin (55-301-301)

Last Fight: 5/17/2013- TKO3 Andrzej Wawryzk (UNR)

Next Fight: 10/5/2013- vs. Champ Wladimir Klitschko

See Wlad’s notes, above.

5) Steve Cunningham (15-32-32)

Last Fight: 4/20/2013- L (KO7) vs. #6 Tyson Fury

Next Fight: Unknown

Only time will tell where Cunningham goes form here.  His hopes for a title shot are dashed at least for awhile.  Perhaps a trilogy with Adamek would make sense at this point.

6) Tomasz Adamek (15-171-171)

Last Fight: 12/22/2012- W (SD12)* vs. CW #4 Steve Cunningham (Robbery)

Next Fight: 8/3/2013- vs. Dominick Guinn (UNR)

Adamek has replaced high-level journeyman Tony Grano with high-level journeyman Dominick Guinn for August 3.

7) Dereck Chisora (2-87-150)

Last Fight: 7/20/2013- KO6* #17 Malik Scott

Next Fight: 9/21/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent

Frank Warren has Chisora scheduled again already for 9/21, promising a big name.  He also has a purse bid scheduled for a EBU mandatory with Kubrat Pulev on August 20.

8) Kubrat Pulev (2-65-142)

Last Fight: 9/29/2012- KO11 Alexander Ustinov (UNR)

Next Fight: 8/24/2013- vs. #11 Tony Thompson

Pulev is scheduled for a high-stakes battle with Tony Thompson in Schwerin, Germany on August 24, and will also be involved with a purse bid on the 20th for one whale of an EBU title defense against Dereck Chisora, as well.

9) Odlanier Solis (8-19-166)

Last Fight: 7/27/2013- TKO7 Yakup Saglam (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Solis has a likely fight on the horizon on October 18 in Mexico.

10) Bermane Stiverne (6-6-22)

Last Fight: 4/27/2013- UD12 #15 Chris Arreola

Next Fight: Unknown

Stiverne was the victim of another delayed purse bid, as Vitali asked for and was granted another extension from the scheduled 7/22 date.

11) Tony Thompson (6-166)

Last Fight: 7/6/2013- TKO5 David Price (UNR)

Next Fight: 8/24/2013- vs. #8 Kubrat Pulev

Thompson gets a final eliminator on the 24th against Kubrat Pulev.  The upside would theoretically be another fight with Wladimir Klitschko.  That feels like a score that’s been settled, but I can’t say the winner wouldn’t reasonably deserve it.

12) Seth Mitchell (6-8)

Last Fight: 6/22/2013- UD12 #10 Johnathon Banks

Next Fight: 9/6/2013- vs. Chris Arreola (UNR)

Mitchell-Arreola appears done for September 6 in Carson, California.

13) Deontay Wilder (8-14)

Last Fight: 4/27/2013- TKO1 Audley Harrison (UNR)

Next Fight: 8/9/2013- vs. Sergei Liakhovich (UNR)

Wilder will fight Sergei Liakhovich in Indio, California on August 9.

14) Robert Helenius (8-166)

Last Fight: 3/23/2013- W*(UD10) vs. Michael Sprott (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

If Helenius’ team was accurate on the severity of his hand injury, it should be long healed by now, although there were immediate rumors that the injury was more serious.

15) Alexander Dimitrenko (8-133)

Last Fight: 3/9/2013- UD8 Ivica Perkovic (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Dimitrenko turned down a Pulev rematch.

16) Vyacheslav Glazkov (8-32)

Last Fight: 2/23/2013- Draw* (SD10) vs. Malik Scott (UNR)

Next Fight: 8/3/2013- vs. Byron Polley (UNR)

Glazkov will be back in action for the Main Events/NBC Sports card on August 3 in Connecticut against weak and overweight Missouri journeyman Byron Polley.

17) Malik Scott (8-23)

Last Fight: 7/20/2013- L (KO6*) vs. #8 Dereck Chisora

Next Fight: Unknown

Scott was up at 9.5 and ready to go, but Phil Edwards called the fight off in an unfortunate SNAFU.  That being said, Chisora was coming on and I already had him ahead.  Scott probably would have gone on to lose anyway.

18) Johnathon Banks (6-37)

Last Fight: 6/22/2013- L (UD12) vs. #20 Seth Mitchell

Next Fight: Unknown

19) Denis Boytsov (6-215)

Last Fight: 6/15/2013- KO3 Alexander Nesterenko (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Boytsov has signed with Sauerland, and looks to make his debut under their banner in August or September.

20) Franklin Lawrence (6-22)

Last Fight: 1/25/2013- Mark Brown (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

 

THE WEEK AHEAD: Uncasville, Connecticut plays host to two heavyweight mismatches on Saturday.  Both might be televised by NBC Sports, but I’m not real sure.  My program guide says the card will be headlined by Curtis Stevens vs. Saul Roman, with Chambers-Mchunu as the co-feature.  I figure they’ve got to get their long-time cash cow #6 Tomasz Adamek on TV.  He fights journeyman Dominick Guinn.  Guinn sometimes finds himself well within the top 50 heavyweights in his career, but has lost 3 of his last 4 and is coming off more than a year of inactivity.

 

Still, that matchup is much more competitive than the other heavyweight fight on the card, which is probably much less likely to make TV.  #16 Vyacheslav Glazkov takes on Missouri journeyman Byron Polley.  I’ve seen Polley fight live.  He’s so overweight that he makes “Two Ton” Tony Galento look like Charles Atlas.  The night I saw him, he gassed out after about one round of decent work against a borderline top 100 opponent.  Should be easy pickings for Glazkov.

This entry was posted on August 1, 2013 at 9:04 pm and is filed under Heavyweight, Rankings with tags Andy Ruiz, Lucas Browne, Odlanier Solis, Tomasz Adamek, Tyson Fury, Vitali Klitschko, Vyacheslav Glazkov, Wladimir Klitschko. 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.