Cruiserweight: 2014, Jun 16-22
Two-loss Nigerian prospect Olanrewaju Durodola notched an apparently easy win over an easy opponent in low-level New Mexico journeyman Max Heyman on Friday in St. Joseph, Missouri, stopping his man early in the 2nd round.
No changes.
Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20) Champ: None 1) Marco Huck (5-393-393) Last Fight:1/25/2014- TKO6 #5 Firat Arslan Next Fight: Unknown Huck’s TV deal in Germany is set to expire, he’s reportedly leaving Sauerland, and has met with HBO about coming to the US. Ovill McKenzie would like to fight him. 2) Yoan Pablo Hernandez (5-208-208) Last Fight: 11/23/2013- TKO10 #12 Alexander Alekseev Next Fight: 8/16/2014- vs. #6 Firat Arslan Hernandez is set to fight Arslan on August 16, in Erfurt, Germany. 3) Denis Lebedev (5-228-228) Last Fight: 5/17/2013- L (TKO11) vs. Guillermo Jones (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Given his legitimate injury that shelved him for a big chunk of the year and the fact that his opponent screwed him over via PED use, I’m going to use my discretion and leave Lebedev ranked at this point. Still, his best work is simply getting too old to stay at the very top. Some reports have him returning in the fall against Pawel Kolodziej. 4) Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (40-469-469) Last Fight: 12/6/2013- TKO6 #9 Giacobbe Fragomeni Next Fight: Unknown Wlodarczyk probably won’t return until the fall, with Drozd and BJ Flores being considered. 5) Thabiso Mchunu (21-46-84) Last Fight: 1/24/2014- UD10 Olanrewaju Durodola (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Mchunu’s scheduled fight with Brazilian prospect was scrapped on just a day’s notice due to the surprise withdrawal of the card’s sponsors. 6) Firat Arslan (21-110-153) Last Fight: 6/7/2014- UD8 Tamas Bajzath (UNR) Next Fight: 8/16/2014- vs. #2 Yoan Pablo Hernandez See Hernandez’s notes, above. 7) Grigory Drozd (30-37-84) Last Fight: 3/15/2014- KO1 Jeremy Ouanna (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown See Wlodarczyk’s notes, above. 8) Rakhim Chakhkiev (3-3-3) Last Fight: 5/30/2014- UD12 #11 Santander Silgado Next Fight: Unknown Chakhkiev has finally cashed in a high-level win to go with his hype and promise. Most likely another title shot is not far off. 9) Ola Afolabi (3-275-275) Last Fight: 11/2/2013- W* (MD12) vs. Lukasz Janik (UNR) Next Fight: 7/26/2014- vs. Pawel Kolodziej (UNR) After we got no news on the fight for months, Afolabi-Kolodziej is now scheduled for the Golovkin-Geale undercard on July 26. 10) Giacobbe Fragomeni (3-40-292) Last Fight: 4/26/2014- vs. Olegs Lopajevs (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown The fight with Lopajevs was purely a stay-busy contest, but he’s talking about another title shot even at 44 years old. 11) Ilunga Makabu (3-49) Last Fight: 2/1/2014- TKO2 Ruben Angel Mino (UNR) Next Fight: 6/28/2014- vs. Glen Johnson (UNR) Initially sketchy reports of a June 28 fight with Glen Johnson appear true. 12) Mateusz Masternak (8-116) Last Fight: 4/12/2014- UD8 Stjepan Vugdelija (UNR) Next Fight: 6/21/2014- vs. Youri Kayembre Kalenga (UNR) Masternak’s fight with Makabu fell through, and he’ll instead be fighting crude and inconsistent one-loss prospect Youri Kalenga. 13) Lukasz Janik (8-33) Last Fight: 11/2/2013- L* (MD12) vs. #7 Ola Afolabi Next Fight: 6/28/2014- vs. Rico Hoye (UNR) Janik will dredge up a name from the past when he fights Rico Hoye on June 28. 14) Ovill McKenzie (8-10) Last Fight: 6/7/2014- TKO2 Jon-Lewis Dickinson (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown After blowing out the British Champion, McKenzie has his sites set on a European or perhaps World belt. He wants to fight Marco Huck most of all. 15) Santander Silgado (3-33) Last Fight: 5/30/2014- L (UD12) vs. Rakhim Chakhkiev (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown I don’t want to say Silgado made it easy for Chakhkiev, because it looked relatively difficult, but he sure didn’t help himself by taking a fight with a fringe contending Olympic Gold Medalist on 2 weeks’ notice. 16) Danie Venter (3-40) Last Fight: 9/21/2013- KO1 Shawn Cox (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Venter’s June 6 fight was cancelled a day in advance due to a withdrawal of the card’s sponsors. 17) Dmytro Kucher (3-103) Last Fight: 7/13/2013- L (MD12) vs. Ilunga Makabu (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown The inactive Kucher may now be in danger of losing his ranking in the next couple months, as his stay-busy fight in late May did not come off. 18) Nuri Seferi (3-26) Last Fight: 5/16/2014- UD12 Tamas Lodi (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Seferi looked pretty decent against Lodi, who fought the wrong fight. At this point, he ought to give Perdomo a rematch. 19) Gusmyr Perdomo (3-10) Last Fight: 4/11/2014- Robbery Loss (should be draw) vs. #15 Nuri Seferi Next Fight: Unknown Perdomo deserved at least a draw against Seferi, but the judges summoned just enough coincidental incompetence to take it from him. 20) Yunier Dorticos (3-9) Last Fight: 4/16/2014- KO4 Eric Fields (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown
THE WEEK AHEAD: Saturday #12 Mateusz Masternak vs. Youri Kayembre Kalenga; Monte Carlo, Monaco; PolSat Sport (Poland) This is for a silly alphabet title, but that’s meaningless. The real importance of the fight is that it’s Masternak’s first serious fight since his stoppage loss to Drozd back in October. Kalenga is a Congolese prospect who throws recklessly wild punches almost exclusively, throwing his entire body behind every shot. This gives him the power he needed for his upset knockout win over fellow unbeaten Iago Kiladze a year ago, as well as for his knockout of gatekeeper Cesar Crenz in his last fight in February. It also was a likely reason he was dominated by sub-.500 journeyman Arturs Kulikauskis in September. Kalenga is an all-or-nothing guy, and the fact that he’s gotten nothing against a guy wayyyyy below Masternak’s level in the past makes it hard to pick against the Polish prospect in this one.
Also, Chad Dawson takes on journeyman George Blades in Carson, California, but even though it’s contracted at 179, I’ll treat it as a light heavyweight fight, since its most likely impact is in that division.
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