Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog

In a fight with tons of close rounds, as well as a fair amount of back-and-forth action considering the large amount of holding that accompanied it, Montreal-based Romanian gatekeeper/prospect hybrid Jo Jo Dan grabbed a split decision over undefeated Quebec native Kevin Bizier on the Stevenson-Bellew undercard in Quebec City Saturday.  I disagree with the decision, though only the most extreme Dan judge was out of line, at an incredible 116-111.  Kason Cheeks had it 114-113 for Dan, while Larry Layton had it 117-110, which was about as wide a card in favor of Bizier that I might call reasonable.  I personally had it 115-112 for Bizier.  That’s a tough way to lose your undefeated record, especially against a guy that was holding so much he lost a point for it.  Since I can’t say that a narrow win for Dan is an unreasonable result, I will give minimal deference to the official result, and treat the fight as essentially a draw, with the narrowest of edges to Dan.

 

The same night in Mexicali, Mexico, gatekeeper Jorge Paez, Jr. stopped low-level journeyman Ivan Hernandez in 7.

 

A bit earlier that night in Carolina, Puerto Rico, local one-loss prospect Thomas Dulorme won every round of an 8-round decision over 77-fight veteran and low-level journeyman Hector Velasquez.

 

Backtracking to Tuesday in Bangkok, undefeated Thai prospect Teerachai Kratingdaenggym stopped totally novice 1-1 fighter Omar Marabayev of Kazakhstan in 5 rounds.  I don’t know why I can’t call Kratingdaenggym by Tewa Kiram, which is his birth name according to Boxrec.

 

#4 Shane Mosley was stopped due to a back injury against #10 Middleweight Anthony Mundine at 154.  It certainly diminishes his reputation, but I can’t let a loss to a top 10 middleweight at junior middleweight affect his standing at Welterweight.

 

The Bizier-Dan fight actually had a lot more importance than I originally thought.  To be honest, I didn’t see Dan as much of a player, and thought the fact that he scored essentially a draw with a fringe contending prospect like Bizier was just going to force me to give some analysis to a totally unworthy fighter.  After all, the only time I’d ever seen him before was when he got a total gift against a post-prime Steve Forbes, in a fight he definitely didn’t win and almost certainly deserved to lose.  But when I analyze someone’s record for the rankings, I don’t usually mail it in.  Seeing that Dan had two very close losses on his record against Selcuk Aydin in Turkey, I decided I’d better watch those fights.  Sure enough, Dan easily won both of them, and was blatantly robbed both times.  Since I had Aydin ranked last week, that was a pretty momentous development, even if the most recent of those fights did come over 2 years ago.  Aydin goes from #17 to gatekeeper status, all while sitting on his couch at home.  I’m not going to go back and change history in terms of the rankings, as much as I’d like to, but I would like to note that even with the Forbes debacle, Dan would probably have been ranked going into this week.  I speculate that I might have had him #18 (with Aydin out) if I’d have known then what I know now.  That being the case, he unofficially slips to #19 this week, as Cano slips by him.  Bizier debuts just behind at #20.  This forces out Leonard Bundu after 23 weeks, but he’ll have something to say about that state of affairs next week when he battles Lee Purdy.

 

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

Champ: Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (188-220-220)

Last Fight: 9/14/2013- W* (MD12) vs. #2 JMW Saul Alvarez (at JMW)

Next Fight: Unknown

Floyd will likely be back on both May 3 and September 13, with Amir Khan being rumored as the May 3 opponent.

1) Timothy Bradley (8-8-78)

Last Fight: 10/12/2013- W (SD12) vs. #1 Juan Manuel Marquez

Next Fight: Unknown

Bradley says he wants a rematch with Pacquiao, and has also expressed interest in a likely impossible match-up with Mayweather.  

2) Juan Manuel Marquez (8-108-108)

Last Fight: 10/12/2013- L (SD12) vs. #17 Timothy Bradley

Next Fight: Unknown

Marquez indicates that he’ll most likely retire if he can’t get a Bradley rematch, but has also been challenged by Provodnikov.

3) Manny Pacquiao (8-261-261)

Last Fight: 11/23/2013- UD12 #5? JWW Brandon Rios

Next Fight: Unknown

Pacquiao’s logical next move after re-establishing himself against Rios would be a rematch against either Bradley or Marquez, since a Mayweather fight is now more impossible than ever before.

4) Shane Mosley (8-29-29)

Last Fight: 11/27/2013- L (TKO7) vs. #10 MW Anthony Mundine (at JMW)

Next Fight: Unknown

After a pretty spirited mini-comeback from his brief retirement, it might be worth thinking about calling it a career again, as his body may not be able to handle training hard anymore, if the freak back injury against Mundine is any indication.

5) Devon Alexander (8-93-93)

Last Fight: 5/18/2013- RTD7 Lee Purdy (UNR)

Next Fight: 12/7/2013- vs. Shawn Porter (UNR)

Alexander’s fight with prospect Shawn Porter has been bumped back from November 30 to December 7, and will now be in Brooklyn instead of San Antonio.

6) Marcos Maidana (8-26-26)

Last Fight: 6/8/2013- TKO6 #4 Josesito Lopez

Next Fight: 12/14/2013- vs. Adrien Broner (UNR)

The Maidana-Broner fight on December 14 will now headline a regular Showtime Championship boxing broadcast, instead of a PPV, as the undercard has suffered significant collapses.

7) Jesus Soto Karass (8-19-45)

Last Fight: 7/27/2013- TKO12 #7 Andre Berto

Next Fight: 12/14/2013- vs. #13 Keith Thurman

Soto Karass’s fight with Thurman has been moved from the December 7 Malignaggi-Judah undercard in Brooklyn to the following week’s pay-per-view tilt between Broner and Maidana.

8) Robert Guerrero (8-54-71)

Last Fight: 5/4/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

Next Fight: Unknown

Guerrero turned down Keith Thurman for a proposed November fight, according to both fighters’ promoter.  Dan Rafael reports that Guerrero might be waiting around to fight the winner of Maidana-Broner.  He’s also been rumored to be in the mix to fight Khan, though his team has denied it.

9) Kell Brook (8-136-136)

Last Fight:10/26/2013- TKO4 Vyacheslav Senchenko (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Brook is now the mandatory for the winner of Alexander-Porter, and has talked about wanting to fight Broner, as well as his domestic rival Khan.

10) Randall Bailey (2-2-2)

Last Fight: 11/23/2013- W (DQ8) vs. Humberto Toledo (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

11) Josesito Lopez (2-76)

Last Fight: 6/8/2013- L (TKO6) vs. #11 Marcos Maidana

Next Fight: 12/13/2013- vs. Mike Arnaoutis (UNR)

Just days after the fight was announced, Lopez’s December 13 opponent for on an FS1-televised card from Indio, California, Aaron Martinez, withdrew with injury.  He’ll now be fighting veteran Mike Arnaoutis, instead.

12) Andre Berto (2-54)

Last Fight: 7/27/2013- L (TKO12) vs. #11 Jesus Soto Karass

Next Fight: Unknown

 

Berto’s shoulder surgery will keep him out until sometime in 2014.

13) Keith Thurman (2-39)

Last Fight: 7/27/2013- KO10 Diego Chaves (UNR)

Next Fight: 12/14/2013- vs. #7 Jesus Soto Karass

See Soto Karass’s notes, above.

14) Chris van Heerden (2-77)

Last Fight: 3/2/2013- UD12 Matthew Hatton (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Van Heerden is said to be planning a momentous fight in the US in February, but there’s also an effort underway to get him on a South African show in February, as well.

15) Luis Carlos Abregu (2-32)

Last Fight: 4/27/2013- UD10 Antonin Decarie (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Abregu’s plans for an October fight have been scrapped, as he recently had 2013-ending hand surgery.  The WBC is looking to match him with Antonin Decarie when he returns.

16) Jan Zaveck (2-208)

Last Fight: 10/19/2013- UD8 Sebastien Allais (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

As expected, Zaveck had little trouble with French journeyman Allais.

17) Ruslan Provodnikov (1-38)

Last Fight: 10/19/2013- RTD10 #3 JWW Mike Alvarado (at JWW)

Next Fight: Unknown

Provodnikov proved against Alvarado that the Bradley fight was no fluke.  He’s a big-time fighter now.  Mostly it’s all rumor at this point, but there has been speculation of his fighting Rios or Marquez.  He said he would refuse a fight with Pacquiao, a friend with whom he shares a trainer.

18) Pablo Cesar Cano (1-12)

Last Fight: 9/14/2013- W (SD10*) vs. Ashley Theophane (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

Cano said after the 143-pound catchweight win against Theophane that he intends to seek title contention at 140 now.  I must say I’m surprised by the move, considering he failed to make weight for one of his biggest fights at 147 against Malignaggi.

19) Jo Jo Dan (1-1)

Last Fight: 11/30/2013- W* (SD12) vs. Kevin Bizier (UNR)

Next Fight: Unknown

When Dan deserves to win, he loses.  When he deserves to lose, he wins.  Win or lose, he’s doing it mostly at a reasonably high level.

20) Kevin Bizier (1-1)

Last Fight: 11/30/2013- L* (SD12) vs. unofficial #19 Jo Jo Dan

Next Fight: Unknown

Bizier has nothing to be ashamed of.  Decision notwithstanding, he narrowly outfought a guy that twice outboxed Selcuk Aydin for 12 rounds.

 

The Week Ahead: Friday in Northbridge, Australia, Tunisian-born local gatekeeper Naoufel Ben Rabeh puts his 13-fight winning streak on the line against undefeated but still fairly green Brisbane prospect Jeff Horn, who enters at just 5-0.  For Horn, it represents a quantum leap in class, though he has stopped all of his opponents except one with whom he had the equivalent of a no contest with after a head clash.

 

The following night in Brooklyn, top 10 contender (at 140) Zab Judah returns to 147 to meet high-profile fringe contender Paulie Malignaggi, as the two men vie for local bragging rights in their mutual hometown.

 

The undercard features an alphabet title defense by #5 Devon Alexander, as he fights his mandatory challenger, Shawn Porter.  Porter is technically undefeated, but needed a clear robbery against Alfonso Gomez and the benefit of the doubt in his first fight with Julio Diaz to stay that way.  His second fight with Diaz, while kind of ugly to watch, probably showed that he’s developing, but I seriously doubt he’s ready for a veteran contender like Alexander.

This entry was posted on February 5, 2014 at 3:13 am and is filed under Rankings, Welterweight with tags Devon Alexander, Jo Jo Dan, Jorge Paez Jr., Kevin Bizier, Naoufel Ben Rabeh, Paulie Malignaggi, Shawn Porter, Teerachai Kratingdaenggym, Thomas Dulorme, Zab Judah. 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.