Cruiserweight: 2014, Apr 7-13
Nothing of note to report on at cruiserweight last week.
Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20) Champ: None 1) Denis Lebedev (37-218-218) Last Fight: 5/17/2013- L (TKO11) vs. Guillermo Jones (UNR) Next Fight: 4/25/2014- vs. Guillermo Jones (UNR) Reports of a done deal for April 19 were premature…the real date for Lebedev-Jones II will be April 25, in Moscow. 2) Marco Huck (11-383-383) Last Fight:1/25/2014- TKO6 #5 Firat Arslan Next Fight: Unknown Huck fractured his thumb in training, and his fight with Mirko Larghetti is off. 3) Yoan Pablo Hernandez (11-198-198) Last Fight: 11/23/2013- TKO10 #12 Alexander Alekseev Next Fight: Unknown Hernandez’s fight with Kolodziej- originally postponed- has now been cancelled due to an illness to Hernandez. 4) Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (30-459-459) Last Fight: 12/6/2013- TKO6 #9 Giacobbe Fragomeni Next Fight: Unknown Wlodarczyk probably won’t return until the fall, with Huck and Adamek being discussed as options. 5) Thabiso Mchunu (11-36-74) Last Fight: 1/24/2014- UD10 Olanrewaju Durodola (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown 6) Firat Arslan (11-100-143) Last Fight: 1/25/2014- L (TKO6) vs. #3 Marco Huck Next Fight: Unknown Having visibly regressed since his excellent first effort against Huck, it might be time for the 43 year-old Arslan to consider retirement. 7) Grigory Drozd (20-27-74) Last Fight: 3/15/2014- KO1 Jeremy Ouanna (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Drozd made quick work of Ouanna, and will hopefully get a short at a top contender soon. 8) Ola Afolabi (20-265-265) Last Fight: 11/2/2013- W* (MD12) vs. Lukasz Janik (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown An alphabet eliminator has been ordered between Afolabi and unbeaten but unproven Italian prospect Mirko Larghetti. 9) Giacobbe Fragomeni (20-30-282) Last Fight: 12/6/2013- L (TKO6) vs. #4 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk Next Fight: Unknown I really hope that Fragomeni will call it a career. 10) Silvio Branco (20-20-108) Last Fight: 7/6/2013- W (TD10) vs. Juho Haapoja (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Branco says that Chakhkiev lowered their monetary offer at the last minute, and that is why the fight didn’t come off. He’s saying now that he may soon announce his retirement if he doesn’t get a good fight offer soon. 11) Ilunga Makabu (20-39) Last Fight: 2/1/2014- TKO2 Ruben Angel Mino (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Makabu will no doubt look for a big fight after his last one was changed into a stay-busy outing without his consent. 12) Santander Silgado (18-23) Last Fight: 11/1/2013- TKO2 #20 Steve Herelius Next Fight: Unknown Silgado was slammed by his own (now former) manager after he declined an arranged fight with Thabiso Mchunu. 13) Mateusz Masternak (18-106) Last Fight: 2/1/2014- KO4 Sandro Siproshvili (UNR) Next Fight: 4/12/2014- vs. Gogita Gorgiladze (UNR) Masternak will be back on April 12 at Esbjerg, Denmark against generic opponent Gogita Gorgiladze of Georgia. 14) Lukasz Janik (18-23) Last Fight: 11/2/2013- L* (MD12) vs. #7 Ola Afolabi Next Fight: Unknown Janik would like a well-deserved rematch with Afolabi. 15) Nuri Seferi (16-16) Last Fight: 12/20/2013- W (DQ7*) vs. Steve Herelius (UNR) Next Fight: 4/11/2014- vs. Gusmyr Perdomo (UNR) Seferi will now fight on April 11 in Berlin against former super middleweight and light heavyweight fringe contender Gusmyr Perdomo of Venezuela. 16) Danie Venter (11-30) Last Fight: 9/21/2013- KO1 Shawn Cox (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown 17) Dmytro Kucher (11-93) Last Fight: 7/13/2013- L (MD12) vs. Ilunga Makabu (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown 18) Tony Conquest (7-7) Last Fight: 2/22/2014- UD12 Daniel Ammann (UNR) Next Fight: 4/12/2014- vs. Ovill McKenzie (UNR) Conquest is set to fight in London on April 12 against Ovill McKenzie, who takes the fight on just 2 weeks notice after the original opponent, Carl Dilks, was deemed too light a challenge for the Commonwealth title. It’s rare to see a major upgrade on short notice, but that’s definitely the case here. 19) Krzysztof Glowacki (7-37) Last Fight: 12/14/2013- TKO9 Varol Vekiloglu (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Glowacki is the top contender for the title held by Huck, but might never get that exact shot, since Huck is making noise about moving up. 20) Yunier Dorticos (6-6) Last Fight: 2/28/2014- KO1 Hamilton Ventura (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Dorticos- after making one step up recently- is shooting for the stars. He says he wants either Wlodarczyk or the winner of Jones-Lebedev next.
THE WEEK AHEAD: Wednesday Brad Pitt vs. David Aloua; Newcastle, Australia; Main Event (Australia) Pitt is a fairly impressive undefeated prospect from down under who has been known to knock out pretty solid fighters at the top of at least the domestic level. On the other hand, he’s spent less than one round in the ring since 2012, so there’s bound to be some rust there. As for Aloua, he’s technically a one-loss Kiwi prospect, having lost a wide decision to gatekeeper Daniel Ammann in early 2013- a guy Pitt had already scored an early knockout against. But it’s a little worse than that. He took a split decision victory from gatekeeper Anthony McCracken in 2012, despite clearly losing at least 7 of the 10 rounds. It’s hard to see him as a top 50 fighter, even though Boxrec has him ranked there, and I see nothing on his record that would suggest he can trouble Pitt much.
Friday #15 Nuri Seferi vs. Gusmyr Perdomo; Berlin, Germany; Eurosport Seferi is a late-blooming fringe contender who is coming off a controversy-laden DQ win over Steve Herelius in a fight that was even going into the final round before referee Holger Wiemann pulled the plug for little or no reason. Seferi was easily winning that round, so I credit the Albanian with a narrow victory. Even so, his place in the rankings is debatable. He faces Gusmyr Perdomo, a Venezuelan perhaps best remembered as a knockout victim of a pre-Super Six version of Mikkel Kessler. Perdomo does have some decent wins sprinkled into his record, and you could make the case that he remains gatekeeper material, but he has been in the ring only 5 times in the last 5 years, and 3 of those have been against no-hope opponents. Also, he’s probably a natural light heavyweight at most currently, and had never fought above 179 pounds until ballooning up to 215 for his last fight. Advantage Seferi, though if Perdomo can avoid rust and carry the extra weight, he might make it interesting.
Saturday Enad Licina vs. TBA; Bonn, Germany; Off TV Licina hasn’t beaten anybody worth fighting in over five years, but he hasn’t really don’t anything to prove he’s definitely anything less than a top 20 fighter, either. I doubt his opponent Saturday will turn out to be anyone who can shed light on that topic one way or another, so it’s just another no doubt modest paycheck for the former fringe contender.
#13 Mateusz Masternak vs. Stjepan Vugdelija; Esbjerg, Denmark; BoxNation (UK) Masternak is still at the drawing board after his crushing loss to Drozd in October. He’s taking on an inexperienced and low-level Croatian journeyman in Vugdelija, and a guy who has faced only two opponents with any pulse- Ismail Abdoul and Mirko Larghetti- and lost clear decisions both times. If nothing else, he might give the Pole some needed rounds. I’m actually not entirely sure if this is scheduled to make the TV card or not.
#18 Tony Conquest vs. Ovill McKenzie; London, England; BoxNation (UK) Conquest is a ranked contender, but a vulnerable guy. He showed classy boxing skill aplenty in basically dominating the more rugged Daniel Ammann for the Commonwealth title back in February, but his KO loss to the only moderately powerful Neil Dawson indicates he might not be able to hang with real heavy hitters for long. McKenzie has shown some pop, but he’s not a prolific knockout artist by any means. Still, he’s a solid gatekeeper, and so I make Conquest only a slight favorite, even though McKenzie is making the big jump up from 175. Working against McKenzie perhaps more than anything is that he’s coming in on only two weeks notice, and so he’s had very little time to put on the kind of muscle he’d need to be anything but a blown up light heavyweight.
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