Junior Middleweight: 2014, Mar 31- Apr 6
One-loss Belgian prospect Sasha Yengoyan appears to have more or less dominated mid-level Tunisian journeyman Ayoub Nefzi on Friday in Gent, but I can’t add much to that, since I can’t find a video. 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) Saul Alvarez (4-161-176) Last Fight: 3/8/2014- TKO10 #10 Alfredo Angulo Next Fight: Unknown Canelo-Lara is now being floated for late June, despite Lara having a current agreement to fight Ishe Smith. 2) Carlos Molina (4-143-158) Last Fight: 9/14/2013- W (SD12) vs. #5 Ishe Smith Next Fight: Unknown We found out some pretty bad info about Molina’s past when he was arrested on past warrants and detained for illegal immigration following an apparent deportation from several years ago. His fight with Jermall Charlo was cancelled, and Molina’s immediate future in the sport is up in the air. 3) Erislandy Lara (4-143-165) Last Fight: 12/7/2013- UD12 #4 Austin Trout Next Fight: 5/2/2014- vs. #6 Ishe Smith Mayweather says that his protege Smith will be fighting Lara on May 2, the day before Mayweather-Maidana. That being said, Canelo appears to have become interested in fighting the Cuban of late. 4) Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (4-29-29) Last Fight: 9/14/2013- W* (MD12) vs. #2 Saul Alvarez Next Fight: 5/3/2014- vs. #4 WW Marcos Maidana (at WW) Floyd will fight Maidana rather than Khan. Thank goodness. 5) Austin Trout (17-96-165) 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 (29-58-58) Last Fight: 9/14/2013- L (SD12) vs. #1 Carlos Molina Next Fight: 5/2/2014- vs. #3 Erislandy Lara See Lara’s notes, above. 7) Anthony Mundine (18-18-18) Last Fight: 1/29/2014- UD10 Gunnar Jackson (UNR) (at MW) Next Fight: 4/9/2014- vs. Joshua Clottey (UNR) Mundine’s fight with Clottey has been delayed a week, in the finest tradition of Australian last-minute delays. 8) Miguel Cotto (18-200-200) Last Fight: 10/5/2013- TKO3 #11 Delvin Rodriguez Next Fight: 6/7/2014- vs. MW Champ Sergio Martinez (at MW) Cotto and Martinez have now officially agreed to a Middleweight Championship fight on June 7 at MSG. 9) Cornelius Bundrage (18-191-191) Last Fight: 1/24/2014- UD12 Joey Hernandez (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown It appears that Bundrage has jumped to the front of the line to challenge for Molina’s belt, though there is uncertainty regarding that bout and Molina’s availability for it. 10) Alfredo Angulo (18-236-236) Last Fight: 3/8/2014- L (TKO10) vs. #4 Saul Alvarez Next Fight: Unknown Angulo could probably use a fight with a gatekeeper or low level fringe contender just to get his career momentum going. 11) Sergey Rabchenko (18-94) Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 Bradley Pryce (UNR) Next Fight: 5/17/2014- vs. Emanuele Della Rosa (UNR) Rabchenko will defend his European belt in Rome on May 17 against a local prospect, and is hoping for a shot at a vacant alphabet belt after that. 12) Javier Maciel (18-23) Last Fight: 10/26/2013- Robbery L (SD12) vs. #14 Brian Rose Next Fight: Unknown Maciel wants to fight Billi Godoy or Sebastian Heiland, saying he has no problem moving up to 160. 13) Demetrius Andrade (18-21) Last Fight: 11/9/2013- W* (SD12) vs. #13 Vanes Martirosyan Next Fight: 6/14/2014- vs. #19 Brian Rose Andrade and Rose have agreed to fight in the US, with a date of June 14. 14) Delvin Rodriguez (18-142) 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 (18-148) Last Fight: 3/21/2014- UD10 Mario Lozano (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Vanes successfully stayed busy against Lozano. I’m not sure what his endgame is. 16) Jermell Charlo (10-43) Last Fight: 1/25/2014- UD10 Gabriel Rosado (UNR) Next Fight: 5/2/2014- vs. Unknown Opponent Charlo is back on the Lara-Smith undercard in Vegas, apparently in an eliminator. 17) Gabriel Rosado (10-10) Last Fight: 1/25/2014- L (UD10) vs. #18 Jermell Charlo Next Fight: Unknown Atrocious judges and a fragile eyelid have helped put Rosado’s career more or less in tatters. 18) Willie Nelson (10-57) Last Fight: 6/29/2013- UD10 Luciano Cuello (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown The once-delayed fight with Kirkland is apparently in the works to headline a May 24 HBO card. 19) Brian Rose (10-54) Last Fight: 10/26/2013- Robbery W (Draw at best) vs. Javier Maciel (UNR) Next Fight: 6/14/2014- vs. #13 Demetrius Andrade See Andrade’s notes, above. 20) Guido Pitto (10-16) Last Fight: 10/26/2013- L* (UD12) vs. #20 Jack Culcay Next Fight: 4/12/2014- vs. Zaurbek Baysangurov (UNR) The fight was difficult to make due to Ukrainian turmoil and originally involved Javier Maciel, but Pitto is now slated to fight Baysangurov on April 12.
The Week Ahead: Thursday Czar Amonsot vs. Sapapetch Sor Sakaorat; Flemington, Australia; Fox (Australia) Both of these guys are really 140-pounders, but this fight is randomly being contested halfway between 147 and 154, with Amonsot’s level in his native weight class being sufficiently high to allow him a mention even 2 divisions to the north. Sakaorat is a veteran of 44 fights who has won more than twice as often as he’s lost, but the most proven fighter he’s beaten based on boxrec’s computerized system was 5-12 at the time, and had only 8 points on that site. Oh, and that was back in 2005. Literally every time he fights someone better than a complete tomato can, he gets knocked out- not that he hasn’t also been knocked out a time or two by that same level of opponent. This fight is basically a joke, but technically meets my requirements for including it.
Saturday Jack Culcay vs. Salim Larbi; Rostock, Germany; ARD (Germany) Culcay was once a top prospect, and maybe some still see him that way. But he had two pick ’em fights with internationally anonymous Argentine Guido Pitto, and then needed help from both the ref and the judges to pull out a debatable and perhaps tainted victory over lightly-regarded French journeyman Dieudonne Belinga in December. The latter result has me rather low on him. Larbi is a French journeyman, himself, and at least on paper appears to be equal to or greater than Belinga in terms of the threat he would have appeared to pose at the time of his fight with Culcay. He’s been in with the likes of Lukas Konecny (who stopped him) and Antonin Decarie (with whom he appears to have held his own in a close 6-round unanimous decision loss). Culcay, of course, remains the heavy favorite, but after his last performance, you never know.
Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog 
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