Junior Middleweight: 2013, Oct 7-13
#7 Miguel Cotto demolished #11 Delvin Rodriguez in Orlando on Saturday. In doing so, he looked like the aggressive destroyer of days gone by, and silenced at least some of the critics that have been suggesting he’s on his way to mediocrity to varying degrees essentially since the Margarito loss. He needed just over 2 rounds to get rid of Rodriguez, who was totally overwhelmed. Cotto’s devastating body shots re-emerged after roughly a half-decade in mothballs. Very impressive outing.
Larry Ekundayo was supposed to be fighting earlier that night in London, but the fight fell through.
Friday in Ghent, Belgium, local one-loss prospect Sasha Yengoyan got the best win of his career so far, stopping French gatekeeper Frank Haroche Horta in four. I can’t find a video of the fight anywhere, so I can’t report anything more specific than the result.
Cotto-Rodriguez, perhaps surprisingly, does not produce a shake-up, as the result basically stands in equilibrium with the status quo (too much Latin for one sentence?), and thus both men retain their prior ranking. Two chanes do occur this week, however, as last week’s #12 Lukas Konecny is removed, since he has moved up to 160 and hasn’t fought at this weight in a year, and #13 Keith Thurman is removed for scheduling a fight at welterweight for after the one year anniversary of his last fight at 154. This allows the older Charlo twin, Jermall, to debut at #19 on the strength of his August stoppage of Antwone Smith, while Jack Culcay debuts at #20. Last week’s #14 Vanes Martirosyan moves up two spots to #12. This major shake-up gives me occasion to re-examine the resume of Yuri Foreman (#15 last week), and since his second-best win is well over 5 years old at this point and his resume in general is decaying, he actually loses ground and slides back to #16. This allows #16 Willie Nelson to catapult all the way to #13. Brian Rose and the younger Charlo brother also see the benefit of all these moves, settling in at #14 and 15 respectively. Pitto and Brook each move up two spots to #17 and 18, as well.
Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in Current Position-Weeks in Top 10 if applicable-Weeks in Top 20) Champ: None 1) Carlos Molina (36-118-133) 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. (4-4-4) 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. Amir Khan is the rumored opponent for May 3. 3) Saul Alvarez (4-136-151) Last Fight: 9/14/2013- L* (MD12) vs. WW Champion Floyd Mayweather Next Fight: Unknown See Molina’s notes, above. 4) Austin Trout (4-71-140) Last Fight: 4/20/2013- L* (UD12) vs. #2 Saul Alvarez Next Fight: Unknown Trout says he would like a rematch with Canelo or Cotto, and it’s also not clear if the prospect of a Lara fight is entirely a thing of the past or not. 5) Erislandy Lara (4-118-140) Last Fight: 6/8/2013- TKO10 #8 Alfredo Angulo Next Fight: Unknown Lara says he must beat guys like Canelo, Molina, or Trout before deserving a Mayweather shot. He might be co-headlining a November 30 card in San Antonio. 6) Ishe Smith (4-33-33) Last Fight: 9/14/2013- L (SD12) vs. #1 Carlos Molina Next Fight: Unknown Smith sounds like he’s open to a variety of options for his next fight. Anything from a Molina rematch, to Trout, to Angulo or Lara. 7) Miguel Cotto (4-175-175) Last Fight: 10/5/2013- TKO3 #11 Delvin Rodriguez Next Fight: Unknown Cotto looked beastly against Rodriguez, and despite not getting much of a rankings bump off of it, appears to be back on track for big fights. 8) Cornelius Bundrage (4-166-166) 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 (4-211-211) 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. He expects to be back in December. 10) Sergey Rabchenko (23-23-69) 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 (23-117) Last Fight: 10/5/2013- L (TKO3) vs. #7 Miguel Cotto Next Fight: Unknown Rodriguez appears to be solid against borderline top-10 types (see Wolak), but completely out of his depth at just a tad higher level. 12) Vanes Martirosyan (1-123) 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. 13) Willie Nelson (1-32) Last Fight: 6/29/2013- UD10 Luciano Cuello (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #6 MW Matthew Macklin (at MW) Nelson’s stay-busy fight with Dante Moore was cancelled on short notice, but he appears poised to move up to 160 to fight proven contender Matthew Macklin at that weight, likely in December. 14) Brian Rose (1-29) 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. 15) Jermell Charlo (1-18) 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. 16) Yuri Foreman (1-37) 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. 17) Guido Pitto (1-24) Last Fight: 4/27/2013- W* (SD12) vs. Jack Culcay (UNR) Next Fight: 10/26/2013- vs. Jack Culcay (UNR) A Culcay-Pitto rematch was postponed due to headliner Marco Huck’s elbow injury, and will now happen on October 26 in Oldenburg. 18) Kell Brook (1-13) 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. 19) Jermall Charlo (1-1) Last Fight: 9/12/2013- TKO7 Rogelio De la Torre (UNR) (as MW) Next Fight: Unknown 20) Jack Culcay (1-1) Last Fight: 4/27/2013- L* (SD12) vs. Guido Pitto (UNR) Next Fight: 10/26/2013- vs. #17 Guido Pitto See Pitto’s notes, above.
The Week Ahead: Saturday in Guarulhos, near Sao Paolo, Brazil, local gatekeeper Anderson Clayton looks to follow up on his April victory over serious prospect Sebastien Madani by taking on unproven one-loss Argentine fringe prospect Dario Pucheta.
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