Junior Middleweight: 2013, Sep 23-29
French gatekeeper Frank Haroche Horta dispatched Kevin Bertogal- a 3-7 nobody- by TKO in the 8th round. The only question is why it took so long. Horta, though no world-beater, has shown good power and won some 50-50 type fights by knockout recently. But it appears that Bertogal, while hardly a threat to beat anyone worthwhile, might be one of those guys that’s just plain durable. Criticize Haroche Horta if you must for letting his man hang around, but know when you do so that he’s the first man to ever stop his counterpart. 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 (34-116-131) Last Fight: 9/14/2013- W (SD12) vs. #5 Ishe Smith Next Fight: Unknown Molina’s team wants to match him against Canelo, a proposition that Mayweather himself blessed in the aftermath of his own fight with Alvarez. He also has an eye on Cotto, and has drawn interest from Angulo, as well. 2) Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (2-2-2) Last Fight: 9/14/2013- W* (MD12) vs. #2 Saul Alvarez Next Fight: Unknown Mayweather intends to fight twice in 2014: on May 3 and September 13, if all goes to plan. Danny Garcia and a potential Alexander-Khan winner seem like possibilities. Bernard Hopkins pledges to make 160 for May 3 if Floyd is interested, as well. 3) Saul Alvarez (2-134-149) Last Fight: 9/14/2013- L* (MD12) vs. WW Champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Next Fight: Unknown See Molina’s notes, above. 4) Austin Trout (2-69-138) Last Fight: 4/20/2013- L* (UD12) vs. #2 Saul Alvarez Next Fight: Unknown Trout is suing his former promoter over allegations that the promoter threatened to sue Showtime if they put his ex-fighter on the Mayweather-Canelo undercard, something he had no authority to do since their contract had already expired. 5) Erislandy Lara (2-116-138) Last Fight: 6/8/2013- TKO10 #8 Alfredo Angulo Next Fight: Unknown See Trout’s notes, above. 6) Ishe Smith (2-31-31) Last Fight: 9/14/2013- L (SD12) vs. #1 Carlos Molina Next Fight: Unknown No word on Ishe’s next move after losing his alphabet belt in a close fight. 7) Miguel Cotto (2-173-173) Last Fight: 12/1/2012- L (UD12) vs. #8 Austin Trout Next Fight: 10/5/2013- vs. #11 Delvin Rodriguez After a proposed fight with Bundrage was scrapped by the networks, and a brief flirtation with Carlos Molina, Cotto will now be fighting Delvin Rodriguez on HBO on October 5. 8) Cornelius Bundrage (2-164-164) Last Fight: 2/23/2013- L (MD12) vs. Ishe Smith (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Bundrage might be fighting a re-match with gatekeeper Zaurbek Baysangurov on November 9 in Russia. 9) Alfredo Angulo (2-209-209) Last Fight: 6/8/2013- L (TKO10) vs. #4 Erislandy Lara Next Fight: Unknown Angulo has been in a war of words with his last opponent, Lara, that may or may not lead anywhere, and would like to fight Carlos Molina. 10) Sergey Rabchenko (21-21-67) Last Fight: 7/16/2013- TKO3 Gari Abajian (UNR) Next Fight: 11/16/2013- vs. Cedric Vitu (UNR) Rabchenko is already in camp for his re-match with Cedric Vitu, with the fight set for November in Bulgaria. 11) Delvin Rodriguez (21-115) Last Fight: 5/24/2013- TKO8 Freddy Hernandez (UNR) Next Fight: 10/5/2013- vs. #7 Miguel Cotto See Cotto’s notes, above. 12) Lukas Konecny (21-111) Last Fight: 7/13/2013- UD12 Moez Fhima (UNR) (at MW) Next Fight: Unknown Konecny took care of business against Fhima at 160. We’ll have to see whether he stays at that weight or not. My guess would be yes, since he’s fighting for minor titles up there at this point. 13) Keith Thurman (21-44) Last Fight: 7/27/2013- KO10 Diego Chaves (UNR) (at WW) Next Fight: Unknown Thurman and Guerrero appeared destined to fight in November, but according to Golden Boy- which promotes both fighters- Guerrero turned it down. 14) Vanes Martirosyan (21-121) Last Fight: 6/15/2013- TKO2 Ryan Davis (UNR) (at MW) Next Fight: 11/9/2013- vs. Demetrius Andrade (UNR) Martirosyan-Andrade has been moved up a week to November 9. 15) Yuri Foreman (21-35) Last Fight: 7/24/2013- UD8 Jamaal Davis (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Foreman is very slowly stepping up his level of opposition as his comeback gradually picks up steam. 16) Willie Nelson (17-30) Last Fight: 6/29/2013- UD10 Luciano Cuello (UNR) Next Fight: 9/28/2013- vs. Dante Moore (UNR) When it comes to Nelson’s September 28 opponent, a Cleveland hometown and one-loss record is about all they have in common. Moore has lost to and drawn with absolute scrubs, and shouldn’t be much of a challenge for Nelson despite a decent-looking 8-1 record. 17) Brian Rose (17-27) Last Fight: 6/29/2013- W (PTS10) vs. Alexey Ribchev (UNR) (at MW) Next Fight: 10/26/2013- vs. Javier Maciel (UNR) Rose will be back on the Brook-Senchenko undercard in Sheffield, and will be fighting Argentine prospect Javier Maciel- certainly his toughest opponent since capturing the British title. 18) Jermell Charlo (16-16) Last Fight: 6/8/2013- UD12 Demetrius Hopkins (UNR) Next Fight: 10/14/2013- vs. Jose Angel Rodriguez (UNR) Charlo will headline a Fox Sports 1 card on October 14 against mid-range journeyman Jose Angel Rodriguez. 19) Guido Pitto (16-22) Last Fight: 4/27/2013- W* (SD12) vs. Jack Culcay (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown A Culcay-Pitto rematch was postponed due to headliner Marco Huck’s elbow injury. I’m assuming it’ll go down on the rescheduled card in early winter, if not before. 20) Kell Brook (11-11) Last Fight: 7/13/2013- TKO8 Carson Jones (UNR) Next Fight: 10/26/2013- vs. Vyacheslav Senchenko (UNR) (at WW?) Brook gets Senchenko in late October in Sheffield. Since it’s a non-title fight, there’s always the chance it could creep up over 147 and thus affect his ranking here.
The Week Ahead: #16 Willie Nelson was scheduled to fight low-level prospect Dante Moore in Cleveland on Friday, but boxrec is showing the opponent as TBA right now. I spoke to Nelson’s promoter a few weeks ago about the bout, and he told me the Ohio commission was giving him some trouble regarding the fight being a mismatch. A mismatch it may be, but you can find about 20 worse ones on any given weekend. Anyway, we’ll see if Nelson actually ends up fighting or not.
On the Chavez-Vera undercard in Carson, California Saturday, two-loss Mexican prospect Daniel Sandoval is scheduled against an opponent to be announced.
The same night in Atlantic City, 23 year old undefeated “Jersey boy” Glen Tapia returns to the ring for the first time since his career-best win in July over fellow undefeated Abie Han. He is in against a possibly even better opponent this time in Mexican borderline top-50 gatekeeper Elco Garcia.
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