Middleweight: 2014, Jun 30- Jul 6
Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska, undefeated prospects Jose Uzcategui of Colombia and Matt Korobov of Russia met up in a key showdown. It was a pretty solid fight, with the 7th round looming large on my card, at least. Korobov dropped Uzcategui twice in that round to seize control of a fight that I had scored even to that point. My final score was 96-92, a score judge Denny Nelson agreed with. Levi Martinez and Jeff Sinnett each had it a round wider at 97-91, which is entirely reasonable. The lanky Uzcategui simply didn’t maintain control enough on the outside, and his punches became less and less concise as he tired late in the fight. Korobov, for his part, had some lulls in his activity, but was aggressive just often enough to get the job done.
Next Fight: 7/26/2014- vs. #5 Daniel Geale Golovkin-Geale is official for July 26 in New York. 2) Sam Soliman (5-29-29) Last Fight: 5/31/2014- UD12 #2 Felix Sturm Next Fight: Unknown Soliman dominated Sturm in the rematch after getting a very fortunate decision the first time before a banned stimulant incident led to a no contest. So far as we know so far, he was clean this time, too, though he did look extremely energetic. His trainer wants Cotto, but Martin Murray looks more likely. 3) Sergio Martinez (4-220-220) Last Fight: 6/7/2014- L (RTD10) vs. #8 JMW Miguel Cotto
Next Fight: Unknown When assessing Maravilla’s viability as a contender at this point, it really comes down to one question: is his base athletic level and chin as bad as his performance against Cotto, or can it be blamed on a knee or other sort of leg injury? If the latter, he might stand some chance to come back given enough recuperation time. If the former, then he’s one of the most obviously finished fighters I’ve ever seen. His manager ominously said after the fight that his only injury was a broken nose. That’s incredible, if true, considering how bad his legs looked. A big soccer fan, he says he’ll determine his future after the World Cup. 4) Felix Sturm (4-563-563) Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (UD12) vs. #8 Sam Soliman
Next Fight: Unknown
Sturm passed on an eliminator with Curtis Stevens, right after David Lemieux passed on an eliminator with Sturm. Apparently nobody wants the IBF title. 5) Daniel Geale (4-263-263) Last Fight: 2/19/2014- RTD6 Garth Wood (UNR)
Next Fight: 7/26/2014- vs. #1 Gennady Golovkin See Golovkin’s notes, above. 6) Martin Murray (2-135-135) Last Fight: 6/21/2014- UD12 #15 Max Bursak Next Fight: Unknown Murray wants Cotto, in what would be his second shot at the lineal Championship. I thought he won the first one pretty clearly, and I’d favor him in this one. 7) Peter Quillin (2-89-110) Last Fight: 4/19/2014- UD12 Lukas Konecny (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown The WBO has mandated Quillin to fight British prospect Billy Joe Saunders next. There continues to be talk of an endlessly-theorized all-Golden Boy showdown with Daniel Jacobs, though, and perhaps a fight with Lemieux after that. Sergio Mora has also indicated interest. 8) Matthew Macklin (4-158-249) Last Fight: 12/7/2013- UD10 Lamar Russ (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Macklin is reportedly hoping to fight in Dublin soon. He’s suggested Soliman and Murray as possible opponents. 9) Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (4-29-29) Last Fight: 4/16/2014- UD10 Fulgencio Zuniga (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown With the first 3 of the first 4 guys offered the shot having turned it down already, the 4th- Curtis Stevens- is now in talks for an IBF eliminator with N’Dam. The winner would earn a shot at Soliman’s belt. 10) Sergio Mora (4-53-53) Last Fight: 5/31/2014- TKO5 Samuel Rogers (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Mora wants Quillin or Golovkin. 11) Osumanu Adama (4-22) Last Fight: 2/1/2014- L (TKO7) vs. #1 Gennady Golovkin Next Fight: Unknown Not the most pleasant entry into the rankings we’ve ever seen, but his resume stacks up pretty well as long as he’s active and on weight. 12) Dmitry Chudinov (4-14) Last Fight: 6/1/2014- UD12 Patrick Nielsen (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Chudinov’s promoter has verbally offered Sam Soliman a fight on August 8. 13) Marco Antonio Rubio (4-179) Last Fight: 4/5/2014- KO10* Domenico Spada (UNR)
Next Fight:Unknown Rubio wants a shot at Cotto. 14) Matt Korobov (1-1) Last Fight: 6/28/2014- UD10 Jose Uzcategui (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Korobov has finally started to make good on his talent and prior hype, and with his undefeated record still very much intact, the sky is theoretically the limit. I would assume he’s getting close to a big fight. 15) Jarrod Fletcher (1-22) Last Fight: 2/1/2014- W* (UD12) vs. #12 Max Bursak Next Fight: 8/9/2014- vs. Daniel Jacobs (UNR) Fletcher will fight fringe contender Daniel Jacobs on August 9 for a trumped up (aka WBA) title. 16) Max Bursak (1-179) Last Fight: 6/21/2014- L (UD12) vs. #7 Martin Murray
Next Fight: Unknown Monte Carlo isn’t kind to Bursak. He lost a debatable decision to Jarrod Fletcher there, and then was more or less dominated by Martin Murray. 17) David Lemieux (1-6) Last Fight: 5/24/2014- KO3 Fernando Guerrero (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Lemieux’s eye-popping domination of Guerrero has fueled idle speculation of a potential shot at Peter Quillin, who is short on options for high-level opponents due to the ongoing Showtime-HBO feud. In the meantime, he’s reportedly turned down an eliminator with Sturm. 18) Caleb Truax (4-41) Last Fight: 1/3/2014- Draw (UD10) vs. Ossie Duran (UNR) (at SMW) Next Fight: 7/25/2014- vs. Rogelio Medina (UNR) Truax fights the very serviceable Porky Medina, who comes off a split decision loss to to Jonathan Gonzalez that could have gone the other way. He’s on a similar level to Duran, who gave Truax all he could handle. 19) Curtis Stevens (4-48) Last Fight: 4/4/2014- TKO10* Tureano Johnson (UNR) (at SMW) Next Fight: Unknown Stevens will likely fight N’Dam for a shot at Soliman’s alphabet belt. 20) Andrey Meryasev (4-34) Last Fight: 4/26/2014- UD10 Carlos Baldomir (UNR) (at SMW) Next Fight: Unknown Meryasev dominated in pedestrian fashion against the now-retired Baldomir.
Mark Heffron’s scheduled fight on Saturday didn’t end up happening, so that’s all she wrote for the week.
Last week’s #17 Grzegorz Proksa is removed, having no fights scheduled and none on his resume in the past year. Korobov gets a sudden boost not only from his present win, but also from his impressive knockout of Ossie Duran last year that didn’t qualify to rank him on its own because it was fought at 162, but which is a big factor on his overall resume at this point. He debuts at #14, forcing Fletcher, Bursak, and Lemieux to recede one position each.
Dan’s Top 20 (Weeks in Current Position-Weeks in Top 10 if applicable-Weeks in Top 20) Champ: Miguel Cotto (4-4-4) Last Fight: RTD10 Champ Sergio Martinez Next Fight: Unknown Cotto is the Champion. The only question now is whether he will risk that Championship against the dominant #1 contender against whom he probably would have very little chance. His thoughts seem to be more in the direction of Canelo. 1) Gennady Golovkin (29-96-159) Last Fight: 2/1/2014- TKO7 Osumanu Adama (UNR)
Next Fight: 7/26/2014- vs. #5 Daniel Geale Golovkin-Geale is official for July 26 in New York. 2) Sam Soliman (5-29-29) Last Fight: 5/31/2014- UD12 #2 Felix Sturm Next Fight: Unknown Soliman dominated Sturm in the rematch after getting a very fortunate decision the first time before a banned stimulant incident led to a no contest. So far as we know so far, he was clean this time, too, though he did look extremely energetic. His trainer wants Cotto, but Martin Murray looks more likely. 3) Sergio Martinez (4-220-220) Last Fight: 6/7/2014- L (RTD10) vs. #8 JMW Miguel Cotto
Next Fight: Unknown When assessing Maravilla’s viability as a contender at this point, it really comes down to one question: is his base athletic level and chin as bad as his performance against Cotto, or can it be blamed on a knee or other sort of leg injury? If the latter, he might stand some chance to come back given enough recuperation time. If the former, then he’s one of the most obviously finished fighters I’ve ever seen. His manager ominously said after the fight that his only injury was a broken nose. That’s incredible, if true, considering how bad his legs looked. A big soccer fan, he says he’ll determine his future after the World Cup. 4) Felix Sturm (4-563-563) Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (UD12) vs. #8 Sam Soliman
Next Fight: Unknown
Sturm passed on an eliminator with Curtis Stevens, right after David Lemieux passed on an eliminator with Sturm. Apparently nobody wants the IBF title. 5) Daniel Geale (4-263-263) Last Fight: 2/19/2014- RTD6 Garth Wood (UNR)
Next Fight: 7/26/2014- vs. #1 Gennady Golovkin See Golovkin’s notes, above. 6) Martin Murray (2-135-135) Last Fight: 6/21/2014- UD12 #15 Max Bursak Next Fight: Unknown Murray wants Cotto, in what would be his second shot at the lineal Championship. I thought he won the first one pretty clearly, and I’d favor him in this one. 7) Peter Quillin (2-89-110) Last Fight: 4/19/2014- UD12 Lukas Konecny (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown The WBO has mandated Quillin to fight British prospect Billy Joe Saunders next. There continues to be talk of an endlessly-theorized all-Golden Boy showdown with Daniel Jacobs, though, and perhaps a fight with Lemieux after that. Sergio Mora has also indicated interest. 8) Matthew Macklin (4-158-249) Last Fight: 12/7/2013- UD10 Lamar Russ (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Macklin is reportedly hoping to fight in Dublin soon. He’s suggested Soliman and Murray as possible opponents. 9) Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (4-29-29) Last Fight: 4/16/2014- UD10 Fulgencio Zuniga (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown With the first 3 of the first 4 guys offered the shot having turned it down already, the 4th- Curtis Stevens- is now in talks for an IBF eliminator with N’Dam. The winner would earn a shot at Soliman’s belt. 10) Sergio Mora (4-53-53) Last Fight: 5/31/2014- TKO5 Samuel Rogers (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Mora wants Quillin or Golovkin. 11) Osumanu Adama (4-22) Last Fight: 2/1/2014- L (TKO7) vs. #1 Gennady Golovkin Next Fight: Unknown Not the most pleasant entry into the rankings we’ve ever seen, but his resume stacks up pretty well as long as he’s active and on weight. 12) Dmitry Chudinov (4-14) Last Fight: 6/1/2014- UD12 Patrick Nielsen (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Chudinov’s promoter has verbally offered Sam Soliman a fight on August 8. 13) Marco Antonio Rubio (4-179) Last Fight: 4/5/2014- KO10* Domenico Spada (UNR)
Next Fight:Unknown Rubio wants a shot at Cotto. 14) Matt Korobov (1-1) Last Fight: 6/28/2014- UD10 Jose Uzcategui (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Korobov has finally started to make good on his talent and prior hype, and with his undefeated record still very much intact, the sky is theoretically the limit. I would assume he’s getting close to a big fight. 15) Jarrod Fletcher (1-22) Last Fight: 2/1/2014- W* (UD12) vs. #12 Max Bursak Next Fight: 8/9/2014- vs. Daniel Jacobs (UNR) Fletcher will fight fringe contender Daniel Jacobs on August 9 for a trumped up (aka WBA) title. 16) Max Bursak (1-179) Last Fight: 6/21/2014- L (UD12) vs. #7 Martin Murray
Next Fight: Unknown Monte Carlo isn’t kind to Bursak. He lost a debatable decision to Jarrod Fletcher there, and then was more or less dominated by Martin Murray. 17) David Lemieux (1-6) Last Fight: 5/24/2014- KO3 Fernando Guerrero (UNR) Next Fight: Unknown Lemieux’s eye-popping domination of Guerrero has fueled idle speculation of a potential shot at Peter Quillin, who is short on options for high-level opponents due to the ongoing Showtime-HBO feud. In the meantime, he’s reportedly turned down an eliminator with Sturm. 18) Caleb Truax (4-41) Last Fight: 1/3/2014- Draw (UD10) vs. Ossie Duran (UNR) (at SMW) Next Fight: 7/25/2014- vs. Rogelio Medina (UNR) Truax fights the very serviceable Porky Medina, who comes off a split decision loss to to Jonathan Gonzalez that could have gone the other way. He’s on a similar level to Duran, who gave Truax all he could handle. 19) Curtis Stevens (4-48) Last Fight: 4/4/2014- TKO10* Tureano Johnson (UNR) (at SMW) Next Fight: Unknown Stevens will likely fight N’Dam for a shot at Soliman’s alphabet belt. 20) Andrey Meryasev (4-34) Last Fight: 4/26/2014- UD10 Carlos Baldomir (UNR) (at SMW) Next Fight: Unknown Meryasev dominated in pedestrian fashion against the now-retired Baldomir.
The Week Ahead: Saturday Akio Shibata vs. Hikaru Nishida; Tokyo, Japan; TV Unknown Shibata is a fringe contender who would certainly be ranked if he hadn’t lost to Olympic Gold Medalist Ryota Murata in Murata’s pro debut. Nishida is a high-level journeyman.
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