Middleweight: 2013, Nov 4-10

#15 Curtis Stevens hung in there admirably- and much tougher than I expected- against bona fide destroyer #2 Gennady Golovkin on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Ultimately, though, Golovkin was too powerful and too skilled. I did give Stevens 3 rounds, making the fight relatively close on my card (not on the official ones, as those rounds were all toss-ups), but the fight was stopped in his corner after the 8th, with the game Stevens broken down and busted up.

There are no changes this week. The #1 contender pretty clearly beat the Champion, so he’s basically got that spot on lock until he loses or takes the Championship himself. Stevens’ loss doesn’t hurt him much, since Billi Godoy’s roughly comparable record is a bit older, generally speaking.

Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in Current Position-Weeks in Top 10 if applicable-Weeks in Top 20)

Champ: Sergio Martinez (186-186-186)

Last Fight: 4/27/2013- UD12* #9 Martin Murray (Robbery- draw at best)

Next Fight: Unknown

Martinez wants to fight Miguel Cotto at 158. Golovkin is now openly challenging him, as well.

1) Martin Murray (28-101-101)

Last Fight: 4/27/2013- L* (UD12) vs. Champ Sergio Martinez (Robbery- D at worst)

Next Fight: 12/11/2013- vs. Garth Wood (UNR)

Murray-Wood has a new date of December 11 in Sydney.

2) Gennady Golovkin (19-62-125)

Last Fight: 11/2/2013- RTD8 #15 Curtis Stevens

Next Fight: Unknown

Golovkin continues to roll. He’s now beaten nine top-50 contenders in less than three years, and they’ve all been stopped.

3) Darren Barker (12-12-108)

Last Fight: 8/17/2013- W (SD12) vs. #3 Daniel Geale

Next Fight: 12/7/2013- vs. #4 Felix Sturm

Another excellent middleweight match-up in 2013, as Barker will take on Felix Sturm in Germany on December 7.

4) Felix Sturm (19-529-529)

Last Fight: 7/6/2013- TKO4 Predrag Radosevic (UNR)

Next Fight: 12/7/2013- vs. #3 Darren Barker

See Barker’s notes, above.

5) Daniel Geale (12-229-229)

Last Fight: 8/17/2013- L (SD12) vs. #15 Darren Barker

Next Fight: Unknown

Geale wants a rematch, but will probably have to wait until at least 2014, since it appears likely Barker will make a mandatory defense in December against Sturm, instead. March appears to be the current target.

6) Matthew Macklin (12-124-215)

Last Fight: 6/29/2013- L (KO3) vs. #4 Gennady Golovkin

Next Fight: 12/7/2013- vs. JMW #14 Willie Nelson

According to sources close to Willie Nelson, the tall Cleveland fringe contender is in talks to move up to 160 to fight Macklin on HBO in early December. There is also talk of a March bout with Andy Lee.

7) Peter Quillin (28-55-76)

Last Fight: 10/26/2013- TKO10 Gabriel Rosado (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Golden Boy is looking to match Quillin with Danny Jacobs in Brooklyn on February 1.

8) Sergio Mora (3-19-19)

Last Fight: 6/28/2013- UD10 #9 Grzegorz Proksa

Next Fight: 11/16/2013- vs. Milton Nunez (UNR)

Mora will fight Milton Nunez- best known for nearly knocking out Deandre Latimore a couple years ago- on the Ward-Rodriguez undercard.

9) Marco Antonio Rubio (3-5-145)

Last Fight: 7/27/2013- KO2 Dionisio Miranda (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

10) Anthony Mundine (3-3-145)

Last Fight: 1/30/2013- L (UD12) vs. #1 Daniel Geale

Next Fight: Unknown

Mosley-Mundine is off, due to an apparent monetary breach of the fight contract by Mundine’s side.

11) Max Bursak (3-145)

Last Fight: 9/21/2013- UD12 Nick Blackwell (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Bursak got a bit of a scare from underdog Blackwell, and it will be important for him to look strong in his next fight.

12) Caleb Truax (3-7)

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

Next Fight: Unknown

The Twin Cities Pioneer Press reports that Truax plans to fight again in January.

13) Bryan Vera (3-55)

Last Fight: 9/28/2013- L* (UD10) vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (UNR) (at LHW)

Next Fight: Unknown

There was talk of a December rematch with Chavez, but February now looks more likely.

14) Grzegorz Proksa (3-134)

Last Fight: 6/28/2013- L (UD10) vs. Sergio Mora (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Proksa had another hand operation in August, but thinks he’ll be ready to go for a proposed February fight in Poland with undefeated prospect Maciej Suleckim.

15) Curtis Stevens (3-14)

Last Fight: 11/2/2013- L (RTD8) vs. #2 Gennady Golovkin

Next Fight: Unknown

Stevens did nothing close to winning against Golovkin, and far from backed up his trash talk. Even so, he did better than I think could have reasonably been expected of him.

16) Billi Godoy (3-12)

Last Fight: 7/19/2013- UD12 Mateo Veron (UNR)

Next Fight: 11/29/2013- vs. Jorge Heiland (UNR)

Godoy will fight high-level domestic journeyman Jorge Heiland in Neuquen, Argentina on November 29, in a rematch of their July 2012 fight.

17) Danny Jacobs (3-11)

Last Fight: 8/19/2013- TKO3 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Golden Boy is apparently looking to match Jacobs and Quillin on February 1 in Brooklyn.

18) Dmitry Chudinov (3-11)

Last Fight: 9/21/2013- W (PTS8) vs. Max Maxwell (UNR) (at SMW/LHW)

Next Fight: Unknown

Chudinov weighed in at 174 to fight his already hopeless 162-pound opponent on September 21. He’s invited a great deal of scrutiny over his weight and discipline in doing so.

19) Akio Shibata (3-5)

Last Fight: 8/25/2013- L (TKO2) vs. Ryoto Murata (UNR) (at SMW)

Next Fight: Unknown

20) Nobuhiro Ishida (3-3)

Last Fight: 8/4/2013- KO2 Elly Pangaribuan (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

The Week Ahead:The middleweight week begins and ends on Monday, when undefeated Russian Andrey Meryasev faces by far his toughest test to date in Argentine gatekeeper Sergio Sanders in St. Petersburg, Russia.

This entry was posted on January 7, 2014 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Middleweight, Rankings with tags Curtis Stevens, Daniel Geale, Darren Barker, Felix Sturm, Gennady Golovkin, Martin Murray, Sergio Martinez, Sergio Sanders. 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.

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