Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog

No meaningful action to report from last week.

 

Dan’s Top 20

Champ: Andre Ward (95-229-229)

Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO10 LHW Champ Chad Dawson
Next Fight: 11/16/2013- vs. #12 Edwin Rodriguez

Ward has finally secured an opponent for his November 16 return: two-division fringe contender Edwin Rodriguez.

1) Carl Froch (72-382-382)
Last Fight: 5/25/2013- UD12 #3 Mikkel Kessler
Next Fight: 11/23/2013- vs. #7 George Groves

Froch-Groves is set for November 23 in Manchester.

2) Robert Stieglitz (29-215-215)

Last Fight: 7/13/2013- TKO10 Yuzo Kiyota (UNR)

Next Fight: 10/19/2013- vs. Isaac Ekpo (UNR)

Stieglitz and Abraham seem to be competing on who can fight the more mediocre opponents before rematching.  Ekpo is the worst yet- a low-level Nigerian prospect.

3) Mikkel Kessler (43-461-461)

Last Fight: 5/25/2013- L (UD12) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: Unknown

Froch is interested in a trilogy on neutral ground, perhaps even more so than a Ward rematch.  But it’s not even clear that Kessler will fight again, after saying pre-fight he might retire.

4) Arthur Abraham (21-207-207)
Last Fight: 8/24/2013- UD12 Wilbeforce Shihepo (UNR)
Next Fight: 10/26/2013- vs. Giovanni De Carolis (UNR)

Abraham continues to pursue a trilogy with Stieglitz, with both men fighting inferior opposition in the interim.  Abraham is in a little tougher this time around than is Stieglitz, at least on paper.  He faces borderline top 50 Italian Giovanni De Carolis.  It’s a little sad that that looks good by comparison to Stieglitz’s opponent.

5) Brandon Gonzales (15-15-15)

Last Fight: 6/29/2013- D* vs. #5 Thomas Oosthuizen

Next Fight: Unknown

Gonzales says that his team is working on a fight for the Ward-Rodriguez card on November 16.

6) Thomas Oosthuizen (2-123-171)
Last Fight: 6/29/2013- D* vs. Brandon Gonzales (UNR)
Next Fight: 11/9/2013- vs. #14 Ezequiel Maderna

Oosthuizen has a significant- albeit risky- opportunity to redeem himself against credible Argentine fringe contender Ezequiel Maderna in South Africa on November 9.

7) George Groves (2-43-65)

Last Fight: 5/25/2013- TKO5 Noe Gonzalez (UNR)

Next Fight: 11/23/2013- vs. #1 Carl Froch

Groves and Froch will face off on November 23 in Manchester.

8) Sakio Bika (2-34-340)

Last Fight: 6/22/2013- MD12 Marco Antonio Periban (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Bika apparently is dealing with a shoulder injury.  He was evidently planning to fight Anthony Dirrell on October 26, but will instead fight him at some undetermined later date.  He’s looking to return in December.

9) James DeGale (2-18-104)

Last Fight: 6/8/2013- RTD4 Stjepan Bozic (UNR)

Next Fight: 11/16/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent

DeGale will return to action in Bluewater, Kent on November 16, with an opponent to be named.

10) Christopher Rebrasse (2-2-18)

Last Fight: 6/8/2013- Robbery Draw (W) vs. #10 Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye

Next Fight: 11/30/2013- vs. Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (UNR)

Rebrasse should have no reason to rematch Ndiaye, having beaten him decisively in June, but the judges’ completely corrupt ripoff has somehow conspired to make Rebrasse waste time and take a risk to confirm a very clear result.

11) Maxim Vlasov (2-48)

Last Fight: 7/12/2013- UD8 Mark Suarez (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Vlasov will fight in Krasnodar, Russia this November, on the undercard of a rather silly heavyweight fight between 44 year-old has-been Oleg Maskaev and Corey Sanders (not to be confused with the late Corrie Sanders, who has actually fought more recently).  I don’t have the exact date or opponent yet.

12) Edwin Rodriguez (2-38)

Last Fight: 7/13/2013- TKO1 #16 LHW Denis Grachev (at LHW)

Next Fight: 11/16/2013- vs. Champ Andre Ward

Rodriguez will get a shot at reigning two-division Champion Andre Ward in mid-November, after a drama-filled negotiation.

13) Ezequiel Maderna (2-41)

Last Fight: 9/6/2013- UD10 Arnaldo Alcides Benitez (UNR)

Next Fight: 11/9/2013- vs. #6 Thomas Oosthuizen

Maderna will get a big opportunity in South Africa against Oosthuizen, who showed a great deal of vulnerability in his last fight.  That being said, from what I’ve seen of Maderna, his style is night and day different from Brandon Gonzales.

14) Andy Lee (2-21)

Last Fight: 5/15/2013- TKO1 Darryl Cunningham (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Lee is pushing hard for an interim title fight with Rubio, which he hopes would lead to a shot at the full title against Martinez.

15) Ryoto Murata (2-7)

Last Fight: 8/25/2013- TKO2 #14 MW Akio Shibata

Next Fight: Unknown

Murata joins Lee and Truax as Middleweights who can claim a ranking in this very shallow division by beating an opponent a few pounds or less over 160.  But he comes with a twist…he’s done so in his very first fight.

16) Caleb Truax (2-16)

Last Fight: 9/21/2013- TKO4 Ceresso Fort (UNR) (at MW)

Next Fight: Unknown

Truax has made good on his move back down to 160, knocking out a halfway decent prospect in Ceresso Fort.

17) Hadillah Mohoumadi (2-32)

Last Fight: 6/29/2013- TKO7 #20 CW Pawel Glazewski (at LHW)

Next Fight: Unknown

Mohoumadi-De Carolis was cancelled on short notice, and I’ve heard nothing of his next move.

18) Glen Johnson (2-23)

Last Fight: 4/19/2013- TKO2 Junior Ramos (UNR) (at CW)

Next Fight: Unknown

Johnson needs to schedule a fight at 168 before mid-December to keep his ranking.

19) Badou Jack (2-12)

Last Fight: 9/12/2013- Draw (MD12) vs. Marco Antonio Periban (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Jack would like a shot at Sakio Bika next, though Bika appears to be tied up with Dirrell at present.

20) Don Mouton (2-2)

Last Fight: 5/13/2013- L* (UD8) vs. #10 Anthony Dirrell

Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: This is to be a second consecutive quiet week in the division.

This entry was posted on November 4, 2013 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Rankings, Super Middleweight with tags Andre Ward, Arthur Abraham, Brandon Gonzales, Carl Froch, George Groves, Mikkel Kessler, Robert Stieglitz, Thomas Oosthuizen. 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.