Junior Middleweight: 2014, Jan 20-26
#11 Javier Maciel was supposed to be in action against a Brazilian journeyman this week, but the show was cancelled for reasons that weren’t immediately apparent.
No changes this week.
Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in Current Position-Weeks in Top 10 if applicable-Weeks in Top 20) Champ: None 1) Carlos Molina (51-133-148) Last Fight: 9/14/2013- W (SD12) vs. #5 Ishe Smith Next Fight: 3/8/2014- vs. Jermall Charlo (UNR) Molina will put his belt on the line against the lower-ranked Charlo brother on the Canelo-Angulo undercard. 2) Erislandy Lara (7-133-155) Last Fight: 12/7/2013- UD12 #4 Austin Trout Next Fight: Unknown Lara wants Canelo next, but has reportedly been ruled out by the Mexican superstar. In the meantime, Ishe Smith is trying to fight him. 3) Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (7-19-19) 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. Bradley is getting a bit of buzz lately, too, as is Bernard Hopkins, at middleweight- though Floyd Sr. has said the latter will never happen. The new kid on the block is Maidana, who it has been said has moved to the front of the line after his win over Broner. 4) Saul Alvarez (7-151-166) Last Fight: 9/14/2013- L* (MD12) vs. WW Champion Floyd Mayweather Next Fight: 3/8/2014- vs. #10 Alfredo Angulo Canelo says he will fight Angulo on March 8. 5) Austin Trout (7-86-155) Last Fight: 12/7/2013- L (UD12) vs. #5 Erislandy Lara Next Fight: Unknown Trout might be getting to that unfortunate position of having a record underwhelming enough to be low-reward, while still being easily skilled enough to be high-risk. He says essentially that he wants worthwhile fights in 2014, rather than a soft diet for rebuilding purposes. 6) Ishe Smith (19-48-48) 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. And even more various than that- he says he wants one UFC fight. 7) Anthony Mundine (8-8-8) Last Fight: 11/27/2013- vs. #4 WW Shane Mosley Next Fight: 1/29/2014- vs. Billy Lyell (UNR) Mundine has replaced Carson Jones with a roughly lateral move of an opponent in Billy Lyell after Jones withdrew with illness. 8) Miguel Cotto (8-190-190) Last Fight: 10/5/2013- TKO3 #11 Delvin Rodriguez Next Fight: 6/7/2014- vs. MW Champ Sergio Martinez (at MW) Cotto is said to be all but signed for a June 7 superfight with Sergio. 9) Cornelius Bundrage (8-181-181) Last Fight: 2/23/2013- L (MD12) vs. Ishe Smith (UNR) Next Fight: 1/24/2014- vs. Joey Hernandez (UNR) Bundrage has been approved to fight Joey Hernandez in an IBF eliminator. Golden Boy won the purse bid at a paltry $11,000, meaning Bundrage will bank just $6,600. The fight is set for Indio, California on January 24, but incredibly is not on the card’s telecast. 10) Alfredo Angulo (8-226-226) Last Fight: 6/8/2013- L (TKO10) vs. #4 Erislandy Lara Next Fight: 3/8/2014- vs. #4 Saul Alvarez Angulo gets a big shot against Canelo on a March 8 PPV. 11) Sergey Rabchenko (8-84) Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 Bradley Pryce (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Rabchenko is in line for an alphabet eliminator at any time. The EBU, meanwhile, has set a date of January 21 for purse bids for his mandatory European title defense against Emanuele Della Rosa. 12) Javier Maciel (8-13) Last Fight: 10/26/2013- Robbery L (SD12) vs. #14 Brian Rose Next Fight: Unknown Maciel’s scheduled January 17 fight was abruptly cancelled- with no real explanation- on about 2 days’ notice. 13) Demetrius Andrade (8-11) Last Fight: 11/9/2013- W* (SD12) vs. #13 Vanes Martirosyan Next Fight: Unknown Andrade wants to unify against Carlos Molina, but negotiations are underway for a Brian Rose fight, with purse bids set for this week. 14) Delvin Rodriguez (8-132) 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. 15) Vanes Martirosyan (8-138) Last Fight: 11/9/2013- L* (SD12) vs. Demetrius Andrade (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Vanes recently challenged Austin Trout, which seems like a good but unlikely matchup considering their ties to rival promoters. 16) Willie Nelson (8-47) Last Fight: 6/29/2013- UD10 Luciano Cuello (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Nelson’s promoter tells me that he’s recovered from the elbow injury that nixed his fight with Matthew Macklin, and that he might be in line for an alphabet title against Sergey Rabchenko if Mayweather chooses to vacate. 17) Brian Rose (8-44) Last Fight: 10/26/2013- Robbery W (Draw at best) vs. Javier Maciel (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown See Andrade’s notes, above. 18) Jermell Charlo (8-33) Last Fight: 10/14/2013- TKO10 Jose Angel Rodriguez (UNR) Next Fight: 1/25/2014- vs. Gabriel Rosado (UNR) Charlo gets likely his toughest test to date in former junior middleweight contender Gabe Rosado, who has recently been used as an opponent at 160, but with mixed results. 19) Guido Pitto (4-6) Last Fight: 10/26/2013- L* (UD12) vs. #20 Jack Culcay Next Fight: Unknown 20) Kell Brook (4-4) Last Fight: 10/26/2013- vs. Vyacheslav Senchenko (UNR) (at WW) Next Fight: 3/15/2014- vs. Unknown Opponent Brook will be back on March 15 in what is being tabbed as a stay-busy fight, and is interested in the winner of a proposed fight between Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter, too.
The Week Ahead: Friday #9 Cornelius Bundrage vs. Joey Hernandez; Indio, California; Off TV In a pathetic decision by Golden Boy and/or FS1, they’re leaving the most important fight of the Indio card off the TV broadcast. Apparently it wasn’t enough that the two fighters were only going to make $11,000 between them, so the powers that be had to make sure that both quality fighters got no exposure either. Hopefully some sort of video will pop up afterward, or else the fight will forever be just a line on boxrec. Bundrage obviously has to be the favorite, but he looked so bad against Smith that Hernandez has to be considered a very live dog. He’s a one-loss Miami prospect who’s been tested at the gatekeeper level.
Saturday #18 Jermell Charlo vs. Gabriel Rosado; Washington, D.C.; Showtime (US) This is a heck of a test for the unbeaten Charlo. Rosado was a bona fide top-10 contender at 154 when various promoters started using him, about a year ago, to test their undefeated fighters at 160. He’s been put in with J’Leon Love, Gennady Golovkin, and Peter Quillin, and the only one that outfought him was Golovkin. Golden Boy has every reason to be confident in Charlo’s ability, but I hope they’ve given serious thought to this one. If they’re putting him in with Rosado, they must feel that he’s potentially about one fight away from Championship-level competition. Think about it. Even if Charlo is able to perform as well as #6 Peter Quillin did against Rosado, that’s a 50/50 fight at best. Quillin was looking like he was going to lose that fight until Rosado’s face fell apart. If Charlo passes this test, he’s gone beyond a mere prospect and proven himself a Championship-level contender.
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