Welterweight: 2014, Jan 6-12

No action to report from the first week of the new year.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in Current Position-Weeks in Top 10 if applicable-Weeks in Top 20)
Champ: Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (193-225-225)
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.  Amir Khan has long been rumored as the May 3 opponent, but reports suggest Maidana may have supplanted him in that regard.
1) Timothy Bradley (13-13-83)
Last Fight: 10/12/2013- W (SD12) vs. #1 Juan Manuel Marquez
Next Fight: Unknown
Bradley-Pacquiao II is very likely for April 12, though rumors also have Marquez and Pacquiao renewing their rivalry.
2) Juan Manuel Marquez (13-113-113)
Last Fight: 10/12/2013- L (SD12) vs. #17 Timothy Bradley
Next Fight: Unknown
After retirement was mentioned a couple different times, Marquez now says he intends to fight twice in 2014.  He wants a tune-up in Mexico City, followed by a rematch with Bradley.  There are also rumors of a 5th fight with Pacquiao.
3) Manny Pacquiao (13-266-266)
Last Fight: 11/23/2013- UD12 #5? JWW Brandon Rios
Next Fight: Unknown
See Bradley and Marquez’s notes, above. 
4) Marcos Maidana (5-31-31)
Last Fight: 12/14/2013- UD12 LW Champ Adrien Broner
Next Fight: Unknown
After his 12-round beatdown of overhyped Broner, Maidana has set himself up for a big opportunity.  Malignaggi indicated interest in the winner, for starters, and Shawn Porter also seems interested.  Even better- Mayweather now says Maidana is in the mix for his May PPV.
5) Keith Thurman (4-4-44)
Last Fight: 12/14/2013- TKO9 #6 Jesus Soto-Karass
Next Fight: Unknown
After beating Soto-Karass, Thurman issued what amounts to a challenge to the entire division.
6) Shawn Porter (4-5-5)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- UD12 #5 Devon Alexander
Next Fight: Unknown
All indications are that Porter will fight his mandatory, Kell Brook, next, though he has also indicated interest in Maidana.
7) Robert Guerrero (5-59-76)
Last Fight: 5/4/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
Next Fight: Unknown
Guerrero wants Pacquiao next.  I see his style as potentially problematic for Pacquiao, which probably renders the match-up unlikely at this time, when combined with his lack of a recent win.
8) Kell Brook (5-141-141)
Last Fight:10/26/2013- TKO4 Vyacheslav Senchenko (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
See Porter’s notes, above.
9) Devon Alexander (5-98-98)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- L (UD12) vs. Shawn Porter (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Alexander would like to fight three times in 2014.
10) Randall Bailey (7-7-7)
Last Fight: 11/23/2013- W (DQ8) vs. Humberto Toledo (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
11) Josesito Lopez (7-81)
Last Fight: 12/13/2013- W (TD8) vs. Mike Arnaoutis (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Lopez appears set to return in mid-to-late March, according to a Boxingscene report.
12) Jesus Soto Karass (4-50)
Last Fight: 12/14/2013- L (TKO9) vs. #13 Keith Thurman
Next Fight: Unknown
His results are now decidedly mixed, but I suspect Soto Karass will continue to get decent TV fights, since his fights are almost always entertaining, and  always a test for his opponent.
13) Andre Berto (4-59)
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.
14) Paulie Malignaggi (5-5) 
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- UD12 #8? JWW Zab Judah 
Next Fight: Unknown 
Malignaggi expects a big money fight in the wake of his handy victory over Judah.  He is interested in Maidana. 
15) Chris van Heerden (5-82)
Last Fight: 3/2/2013- UD12 Matthew Hatton (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Amidst conflicting reports variously suggesting he would fight in February in the US or in South Africa, the truth has emerged.  He’s starting a 3-year contract with a US promoter, and supposedly has a fight planned for early in the new year.
16) Luis Carlos Abregu (5-37)
Last Fight: 4/27/2013- UD10 Antonin Decarie (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
At last check, Abregu was recovering from hand surgery, and the WBC is looking to match him with Antonin Decarie when he returns.
17) Jan Zaveck (5-213)
Last Fight: 10/19/2013- UD8 Sebastien Allais (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
As expected, Zaveck had little trouble with French journeyman Allais.
18) Ruslan Provodnikov (5-43)
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.
19) Pablo Cesar Cano (5-17)
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.

20) Leonard Bundu (4-4)
Last Fight: 12/14/2013- TKO12 Lee Purdy (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Bundu retains his European title and undefeated record with the impressive effort over Purdy.

 

The Week Ahead: Nothing to report this week.
Advertisement

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: