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Super Middleweight: 2014, Jul 14-20

Posted in Rankings, Super Middleweight with tags , , , , , , , on November 26, 2014 by danboxing
Undefeated Liverpool prospect Rocky Fielding got his first win on Saturday over a really solid opponent, stopping top 50 gatekeeper Noe Gonzalez of Uruguay in 5 rounds, in what to that point had been an extremely competitive scrap.  I had given Fielding the first and fourth in clear fashion, while I thought Gonzalez had just nicked the third and fourth.  In the 5th, Gonzalez appeared to be fading just a bit when he was caught and dropped hard at center ring.  He managed to get up and convince referee Terry O’Connor that he was good to go, but Fielding followed up with a merciless assault in the corner that led to a very timely stoppage by the veteran Birmingham ref.  All in all, it was an impressive and exciting performance, as he did what only George Groves and Adonis Stevenson were able to do by stopping Gonzalez.

 

Two fights later on the same card, fellow Liverpool undefeated prospect Callum Smith got his sternest test to date against quality journeyman Vladine Biosse, who took a ton of hard shots from Smith for 10 rounds, and put the Brit in an uncomfortable position more often than any other fighter has to date, including some with better resumes.  As the Sky commentators constantly pointed out, this was a very valuable fight for Smith, in that he got quality rounds in, something that has been hard for him to come by up to now.  I had Smith winning 99-91, with a few rounds that could have potentially swung one direction or the other.  Anything between 100-90 and 97-93 Smith would have been okay with me.  The judges more or less saw it right at 99-91 (x2), but Italy’s Franco Ciminale (never one of my favorite judges) saw it a shutout and then also somehow found a 10-8 round that clearly didn’t exist.

 

Fielding gets the only real resume boost of the two, even though Smith maybe progressed more on the night in subjective terms.  Fielding is now, in my opinion, a top 25 fighter, though he falls short of the top 20.  No changes.
 
 

 

Dan’s Top 20
Champ: Andre Ward (135-269-269)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 #13 Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward lost an arbitration with his promoter, but it sounds like the rift between the two is far from solved.  Kessler is the latest guy to renew a stated desire to fight him.
1) Carl Froch (112-422-422)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- KO8 #7 George Groves
Next Fight: Unknown
Talk of a Chavez fight is quickly being superseded by DeGale discussions.
2) Arthur Abraham (20-247-247)
Last Fight: 5/3/2014- UD12 Nikola Sjekloca (UNR)
Next Fight: 9/27/2014- vs. Paul Smith (UNR)
Abraham gets what should be a relatively easy defense on September 27 against gatekeeper Paul Smith of England.
3) Robert Stieglitz (20-255-255)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (SD12) vs. #4 Arthur Abraham
Next Fight: 7/26/2014- vs. Sergey Khomitsky (UNR)
I thnk I read the initial report wrong, as Stieglitz will fight on July 26 instead of June 26.  His opponent will be the dangerously underrated Sergey Khomitsky, who arguably ought to own a win over Martin Murray.
4) James DeGale (7-8-144)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- TKO4* #4 Brandon Gonzales
Next Fight: Unknown
See Froch’s notes, above.
5) Thomas Oosthuizen (8-163-211)
Last Fight: 11/9/2013- W* (MD12) vs. #13 Ezequiel Maderna
Next Fight: Unknown
Oosthuizen was supposed to fight Doudou Ngumbu on 6/21 and then enter his promoter’s Super 6 Tournament at 175.  Instead, Johnny Muller replaced him and lost, and thus ruined his own chances to fight in that tournament.  Now the word is that Oosthuizen is “in no position” to get in the ring for the tournament.  I wonder if that’s a reference to an injury, or just more weight issues.  Either way, it’s entirely clear that the South African is done at 168.
6) Ezequiel Maderna (8-36-81)
Last Fight: 4/25/2014- TKO3 Richard Vidal (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
7) George Groves (8-83-105)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (KO8) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: 9/20/2014- vs. #11 Christopher Rebrasse
Groves is scheduled to fight again on September 20, in an eliminator for a shot at the Bika-Dirrell winner.
8) Brandon Gonzales (7-55-55)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (TKO4*) vs. #10 James DeGale
Next Fight: Unknown
Gonzales deserved a shot to continue, but he certainly didn’t look like an eventual winner under the best of circumstances against DeGale.
9) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (7-20-20)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- UD10 #5 MW Bryan Vera
Next Fight: Unknown
Despite Froch’s #1 contender being DeGale now, Chavez is getting buzz as a possible next opponent for the world-beating Brit.
10) Bryan Vera (7-20-20)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (UD10) vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/16/2014- vs. #17 JMW Gabriel Rosado (BKB)
In a surprise move, Vera will fight Gabriel Rosado in the main event of a “Big Knockout Boxing” card.  This is not quite the boxing you’re used to, with different rules regarding knockdowns and a circular “pit” replacing the traditional ring.  I haven’t yet decided if I will let it affect the rankings, considering that it will theoretically be a fair fight between two legitimate boxers.  I may have to see it in action before I know how I feel about its applicability to normal boxing.
11) Christopher Rebrasse (8-58)
Last Fight: 3/22/2014- TKO4 Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (UNR)
Next Fight: 9/20/2014- vs. #7 George Groves
See Groves’ notes, above.
12) Sakio Bika (8-380)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. Anthony Dirrell (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/16/2014- vs. #17 Anthony Dirrell
Bika will re-match Anthony Dirrell on August 16 in Carson, California.
13) Maxim Vlasov (8-88)
Last Fight: 3/15/2014- UD8 Derrick Findley (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vlasov looked very good against Findley, but he’ll need to schedule a fight at Super Middleweight before May 5 and make weight in order to keep his ranking, since he hasn’t made the divisional limit since November 2012.
14) Edwin Rodriguez (8-78)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez was briefly scheduled to fight Marcus Johnson on May 24, but Johnson withdrew.
15) Gilberto Ramirez (8-24)
Last Fight: 4/11/2014- TKO5 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)
Next Fight: 7/19/2014- vs. Junior Talipeau (UNR)
Ramirez will fight in Macau on July 19.  The opponent is Junior Talipeau, a relatively high-level Samoan-Kiwi-Australian journeyman.
16) Ryota Murata (8-47)
Last Fight: 5/22/2014- KO6 Jesus Angel Nerio (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Murata is rumored to be fighting in Singapore in October.
17) Anthony Dirrell (8-32)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. #11 Sakio Bika
Next Fight: 8/16/2014- vs. #12 Sakio Bika
Dirrell will get a second crack at Bika on August 16.
18) Hadillah Mohoumadi (8-72)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO5 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
19) Caleb Truax (8-14)
Last Fight: 1/3/2014- Draw (MD10) vs. Ossie Duran (UNR)
Next Fight: 7/25/2014- vs. Derek Ennis (UNR)
Truax’s July 25 Friday Night Fights opponent is now Derek Ennis, rather than Porky Medina.  Basically a lateral move, but maybe a bit of a downgrade.
20) Derek Edwards (8-8)
Last Fight: 2/28/2014- TKO1 #20 Badou Jack
Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: 
Saturday
#15 Gilberto Ramirez vs. Junior Talipeau; Macao, China; HBO2 (US)
Ramirez gets a decent if unspectacular match-up this weekend on the Zou Shiming undercard in Macao.  Talipeau is a Kiwi-born resident of Australia.  He’s never beaten anyone on Ramirez’s level, but he did beat a top-50 version of Shannan Taylor back in 2010.  He comes off 3 consecutive wins over nobody in particular, while Ramirez has really been picking up steam with stoppage wins over the likes of underrated gatekeepers Derrick Findley and Don Mouton, along with faded former fringe contender Giovanni Lorenzo.  Talipeau should give him some resistance, but I can’t see him as a real threat to knock off the unbeaten Ramirez.
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Super Middleweight: 2014, Jul 7-13

Posted in Rankings, Super Middleweight with tags , , , , , , , on November 21, 2014 by danboxing
Nothing to report from the division last week.

 

Dan’s Top 20
Champ: Andre Ward (134-268-268)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 #13 Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward lost an arbitration with his promoter, but it sounds like the rift between the two is far from solved.  Kessler is the latest guy to renew a stated desire to fight him.
1) Carl Froch (111-421-421)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- KO8 #7 George Groves
Next Fight: Unknown
Froch now says he doesn’t want Ward due to a lack of marketability on the part of the American Champion.  Bika has offered him a unification, but I imagine there would be similar problems with that.  Chavez, Jr. might be the answer, and that fight is definitely in talks, with Froch apparently targeting November or December.
2) Arthur Abraham (19-246-246)
Last Fight: 5/3/2014- UD12 Nikola Sjekloca (UNR)
Next Fight: 9/27/2014- vs. Paul Smith (UNR)
Abraham gets what should be a relatively easy defense on September 27 against gatekeeper Paul Smith of England.
3) Robert Stieglitz (19-254-254)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (SD12) vs. #4 Arthur Abraham
Next Fight: 7/26/2014- vs. Sergey Khomitsky (UNR)
I thnk I read the initial report wrong, as Stieglitz will fight on July 26 instead of June 26.  His opponent will be the dangerously underrated Sergey Khomitsky, who arguably ought to own a win over Martin Murray.
4) James DeGale (6-7-143)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- TKO4* #4 Brandon Gonzales
Next Fight: Unknown
DeGale is now set up for a shot at Froch’s title, in a fight that would no doubt do huge numbers in the UK again.  Froch appears cold to the matchup, for his part.  DeGale is likely back on October 11, in any event.
5) Thomas Oosthuizen (7-162-210)
Last Fight: 11/9/2013- W* (MD12) vs. #13 Ezequiel Maderna
Next Fight: Unknown
Oosthuizen was supposed to fight Doudou Ngumbu on 6/21 and then enter his promoter’s Super 6 Tournament at 175.  Instead, Johnny Muller replaced him and lost, and thus ruined his own chances to fight in that tournament.  Now the word is that Oosthuizen is “in no position” to get in the ring for the tournament.  I wonder if that’s a reference to an injury, or just more weight issues.  Either way, it’s entirely clear that the South African is done at 168.
6) Ezequiel Maderna (7-35-80)
Last Fight: 4/25/2014- TKO3 Richard Vidal (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Maderna stayed busy in impressive fashion against Vidal.
7) George Groves (7-82-104)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (KO8) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: 9/13/2014- vs. Unknown Opponent
Groves is scheduled to fight again on September 13, in what is expected to be an eliminator for a shot at the Bika-Dirrell winner.
8) Brandon Gonzales (6-54-54)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (TKO4*) vs. #10 James DeGale
Next Fight: Unknown
Gonzales deserved a shot to continue, but he certainly didn’t look like an eventual winner under the best of circumstances against DeGale.
9) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (6-19-19)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- UD10 #5 MW Bryan Vera
Next Fight: Unknown
Despite Froch’s #1 contender being DeGale now, Chavez is getting buzz as a possible next opponent for the world-beating Brit.
10) Bryan Vera (6-19-19)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (UD10) vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/16/2014- vs. #17 JMW Gabriel Rosado (BKB)
In a surprise move, Vera will fight Gabriel Rosado in the main event of a “Big Knockout Boxing” card.  This is not quite the boxing you’re used to, with different rules regarding knockdowns and a circular “pit” replacing the traditional ring.  I haven’t yet decided if I will let it affect the rankings, considering that it will theoretically be a fair fight between two legitimate boxers.  I may have to see it in action before I know how I feel about its applicability to normal boxing.
11) Christopher Rebrasse (7-57)
Last Fight: 3/22/2014- TKO4 Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Rebrasse now has two dominant wins over what was a top 10 contender the first time around.  He didn’t need the judges to notice the second time.
12) Sakio Bika (7-379)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. Anthony Dirrell (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/16/2014- vs. #17 Anthony Dirrell
Bika will re-match Anthony Dirrell on August 16, with the location yet to be determined.
13) Maxim Vlasov (7-87)
Last Fight: 3/15/2014- UD8 Derrick Findley (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vlasov looked very good against Findley, but he’ll need to schedule a fight at Super Middleweight before May 5 and make weight in order to keep his ranking, since he hasn’t made the divisional limit since November 2012.
14) Edwin Rodriguez (7-77)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez was briefly scheduled to fight Marcus Johnson on May 24, but Johnson withdrew.
15) Gilberto Ramirez (7-23)
Last Fight: 4/11/2014- TKO5 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)
Next Fight: 7/19/2014- vs. Junior Talipeau (UNR)
Ramirez will fight in Macau on July 19.  The opponent is Junior Talipeau, a relatively high-level Samoan-Kiwi-Australian journeyman.
16) Ryota Murata (7-46)
Last Fight: 5/22/2014- KO6 Jesus Angel Nerio (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Murata is rumored to be fighting in Singapore in October.
17) Anthony Dirrell (7-31)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. #11 Sakio Bika
Next Fight: 8/16/2014- vs. #12 Sakio Bika
Dirrell will get a second crack at Bika on August 16.
18) Hadillah Mohoumadi (7-71)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO5 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
19) Caleb Truax (7-13)
Last Fight: 1/3/2014- Draw (MD10) vs. Ossie Duran (UNR)
Next Fight: 7/25/2014- vs. Derek Ennis (UNR)
Truax’s July 25 Friday Night Fights opponent is now Derek Ennis, rather than Porky Medina.  Basically a lateral move, but maybe a bit of a downgrade.
20) Derek Edwards (7-7)
Last Fight: 2/28/2014- TKO1 #20 Badou Jack
Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: 
Saturday
Callum Smith vs. Vladine Biosse; Liverpool, England; Sky (UK)
Smith is an undefeated English prospect, and the younger brother of gatekeeper Paul Smith.  He’s been almost entirely impressive in every fight I’ve seen him in so far, using his long arms to get great leverage on his shots.  Biosse is a Rhode Island journeyman originally from Cape Verde.  He was once a promising prospect, but he’s just 1-2-1 in his last four fights, and it’s not like he was fighting Andre Ward.  He’s been stopped in all three of his career losses, so this should be a golden opportunity for Smith to shine.

 

Rocky Fielding vs. Noe Gonzalez; Liverpool, England; Sky (UK)
Fielding is an undefeated Liverpool native.  He’s yet to really be tested above the mid-level journeyman tier of competition.  Now he will be.  Gonzalez is a reliable gatekeeper who has a win over a top 50 fighter within the last 5 years.  The Uruguayan has 3 losses in his career, and they read like a who’s who: Felix Sturm, Adonis Stevenson, and George Groves.  The latter two stopped Gonzalez with little difficulty, though, and that is an accomplishment to which Fielding would love to lay claim.

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Super Middleweight: 2014, Jun 30- Jul 6

Posted in Rankings, Super Middleweight with tags , , , , , , , on November 20, 2014 by danboxing
Wednesday in the boxing hotbed of Flemington, Australia, undefeated prospect Jake Carr got a dominant decision over less advanced undefeated Dane Mulivai to capture the Australian title.  Carr got the nod from every one of the three judges in 9 of the 10 rounds, while judge Samantha Bulner gave Mulivai a share of one single round.  

 

Friday’s ShoBox telecast from Las Vegas featured, as I predicted, a well-matched fight between prospects Dominic Wade and Nick Brinson.  It was a very tight contest.  I had it 95-95, but 4 of the 10 rounds were fairly classified as toss-ups (two of which I gave to each fighter).  I thought anything between 97-93 either way would have been reasonable.  Tim Cheatham and Robert Hoyle both took that opportunity, giving all of the toss-ups to Wade, it would appear, to score it 97-93 for the more well-connected of the two prospects.  Adelaide Byrd had a perhaps more impartial view, scoring it only 96-94 for Wade.  The Showtime crew, as is often the case, was horrifically biased toward the house fighter, and I won’t even mention how they saw it.  Overall, Wade liked to dance a bit much on the outside for my taste, and wasted some potential by letting the fight get away from him a bit late, as Brinson closed strong by clearly winning two of the last 3, and maybe even all three if you’re generous.  Brinson was more aggressive in general over the second half, and was the harder worker overall.  That being said, he was forced to work harder to land punches, it appeared, due to his shots being a little wider than Wade’s.  A clear win for either man might have put the winner in the hunt for a ranking, but the indecisive result keeps them both on the fringes for the moment.  By the way, this was barely a super middleweight fight, with the bigger of the two guys coming in under 162.  But with neither guy having a top 50 victory at 160, this is the only division that this could have an impact upon.

 

Saturday in Santo Domingo of the Dominican Republic. undefeated prospect Fedor Chudinov scored a 3rd-round TKO over undefeated but completely untested prospect Andy Ruiz, who was also a late replacement.  Along the way, Chudinov knocked the hopeless Ruiz down once in each round.

 

Another mismatch scheduled to proceed in Kinshasa, Congo failed to come off, with #11 Christopher Rebrasse not getting his expected opportunity to beat up on the hopeless Cedric Sperra.

 

Wade and Brinson each top out at about the lower reaches of the top 40, with none of the other fights having the necessary level to have any effect.  No changes this week.

 

Dan’s Top 20
Champ: Andre Ward (133-267-267)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 #13 Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward lost an arbitration with his promoter, but it sounds like the rift between the two is far from solved.  Kessler is the latest guy to renew a stated desire to fight him.
1) Carl Froch (110-420-420)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- KO8 #7 George Groves
Next Fight: Unknown
Froch now says he doesn’t want Ward due to a lack of marketability on the part of the American Champion.  Bika has offered him a unification, but I imagine there would be similar problems with that.  Chavez, Jr. might be the answer, and that fight is definitely in talks, with Froch apparently targeting November or December.
2) Arthur Abraham (18-245-245)
Last Fight: 5/3/2014- UD12 Nikola Sjekloca (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
September 27 will likely feature a fight with Paul Smith.
3) Robert Stieglitz (18-253-253)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (SD12) vs. #4 Arthur Abraham
Next Fight: 7/26/2014- vs. Sergey Khomitsky (UNR)
I thnk I read the initial report wrong, as Stieglitz will fight on July 26 instead of June 26.  His opponent will be the dangerously underrated Sergey Khomitsky, who arguably ought to own a win over Martin Murray.
4) James DeGale (5-6-142)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- TKO4* #4 Brandon Gonzales
Next Fight: Unknown
DeGale is now set up for a shot at Froch’s title, in a fight that would no doubt do huge numbers in the UK again.  Froch appears cold to the matchup, for his part.  DeGale is likely back on October 11, in any event.
5) Thomas Oosthuizen (6-161-209)
Last Fight: 11/9/2013- W* (MD12) vs. #13 Ezequiel Maderna
Next Fight: Unknown
Oosthuizen was scheduled to fight at 175 against Doudou Ngumbu on 6/21, but was replaced by countryman Johnny Muller on short notice.  I still haven’t heard why.
6) Ezequiel Maderna (6-34-79)
Last Fight: 4/25/2014- TKO3 Richard Vidal (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Maderna stayed busy in impressive fashion against Vidal.
7) George Groves (6-81-103)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (KO8) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: Unknown
Groves is rumored to be expected back in September.  Some unconfirmed theories suggest Groves might finally rematch DeGale soon, though DeGale is already in line for a shot at Froch.
8) Brandon Gonzales (5-53-53)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (TKO4*) vs. #10 James DeGale
Next Fight: Unknown
Gonzales deserved a shot to continue, but he certainly didn’t look like an eventual winner under the best of circumstances against DeGale.
9) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (5-18-18)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- UD10 #5 MW Bryan Vera
Next Fight: Unknown
Despite Froch’s #1 contender being DeGale now, Chavez is getting buzz as a possible next opponent for the world-beating Brit.
10) Bryan Vera (5-18-18)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (UD10) vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/16/2014- vs. #17 JMW Gabriel Rosado (BKB)
In a surprise move, Vera will fight Gabriel Rosado in the main event of a “Big Knockout Boxing” card.  This is not quite the boxing you’re used to, with different rules regarding knockdowns and a circular “pit” replacing the traditional ring.  I haven’t yet decided if I will let it affect the rankings, considering that it will theoretically be a fair fight between two legitimate boxers.  I may have to see it in action before I know how I feel about its applicability to normal boxing.
11) Christopher Rebrasse (6-56)
Last Fight: 3/22/2014- TKO4 Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Rebrasse now has two dominant wins over what was a top 10 contender the first time around.  He didn’t need the judges to notice the second time.
12) Sakio Bika (6-378)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. Anthony Dirrell (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/16/2014- vs. #17 Anthony Dirrell
Bika will re-match Anthony Dirrell on August 16, with the location yet to be determined.
13) Maxim Vlasov (6-86)
Last Fight: 3/15/2014- UD8 Derrick Findley (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vlasov looked very good against Findley, but he’ll need to schedule a fight at Super Middleweight before May 5 and make weight in order to keep his ranking, since he hasn’t made the divisional limit since November 2012.
14) Edwin Rodriguez (6-76)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez was briefly scheduled to fight Marcus Johnson on May 24, but Johnson withdrew.
15) Gilberto Ramirez (6-22)
Last Fight: 4/11/2014- TKO5 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)
Next Fight: 7/19/2014- vs. Junior Talipeau (UNR)
Ramirez will fight in Macau on July 19.  The opponent is Junior Talipeau, a relatively high-level Samoan-Kiwi-Australian journeyman.
16) Ryota Murata (6-45)
Last Fight: 5/22/2014- KO6 Jesus Angel Nerio (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Murata is rumored to be fighting in Singapore in October.
17) Anthony Dirrell (6-30)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. #11 Sakio Bika
Next Fight: 8/16/2014- vs. #12 Sakio Bika
Dirrell will get a second crack at Bika on August 16.
18) Hadillah Mohoumadi (6-70)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO5 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
19) Caleb Truax (6-12)
Last Fight: 1/3/2014- Draw (MD10) vs. Ossie Duran (UNR)
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.
20) Derek Edwards (6-6)
Last Fight: 2/28/2014- TKO1 #20 Badou Jack
Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: There’s no super middleweight action of importance planned for this week.

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Super Middleweight: 2014, Jun 23-29

Posted in Rankings, Super Middleweight with tags , , , , , , , on November 17, 2014 by danboxing
Super Middleweight was utterly devoid of any action last week.  Devoid, I say!

 

Dan’s Top 20
Champ: Andre Ward (132-266-266)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 #13 Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward lost an arbitration with his promoter, but it sounds like the rift between the two is far from solved.  Kessler is the latest guy to renew a stated desire to fight him.
1) Carl Froch (109-419-419)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- KO8 #7 George Groves
Next Fight: Unknown
Froch now says he doesn’t want Ward due to a lack of marketability on the part of the American Champion.  Bika has offered him a unification, but I imagine there would be similar problems with that.  Chavez, Jr. might be the answer, and that fight is lightly rumored.
2) Arthur Abraham (17-244-244)
Last Fight: 5/3/2014- UD12 Nikola Sjekloca (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
September 27 will likely feature a fight with Paul Smith.
3) Robert Stieglitz (17-252-252)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (SD12) vs. #4 Arthur Abraham
Next Fight: 7/26/2014- vs. Sergey Khomitsky (UNR)
I thnk I read the initial report wrong, as Stieglitz will fight on July 26 instead of June 26.  His opponent will be the dangerously underrated Sergey Khomitsky, who arguably ought to own a win over Martin Murray.
4) James DeGale (4-5-141)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- TKO4* #4 Brandon Gonzales
Next Fight: Unknown
DeGale is now set up for a shot at Froch’s title, in a fight that would no doubt do huge numbers in the UK again.  Froch appears cold to the matchup, for his part.
5) Thomas Oosthuizen (5-160-208)
Last Fight: 11/9/2013- W* (MD12) vs. #13 Ezequiel Maderna
Next Fight: Unknown
Oosthuizen was scheduled to fight at 175 against Doudou Ngumbu on 6/21, but was replaced by countryman Johnny Muller on short notice.  I still haven’t heard why.
6) Ezequiel Maderna (5-33-78)
Last Fight: 4/25/2014- TKO3 Richard Vidal (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Maderna stayed busy in impressive fashion against Vidal.
7) George Groves (5-80-102)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (KO8) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: Unknown
Groves is rumored to be expected back in September.  Some unconfirmed theories suggest Groves might finally rematch DeGale soon, though DeGale is already in line for a shot at Froch.
8) Brandon Gonzales (4-52-52)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (TKO4*) vs. #10 James DeGale
Next Fight: Unknown
Gonzales deserved a shot to continue, but he certainly didn’t look like an eventual winner under the best of circumstances against DeGale.
9) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (4-17-17)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- UD10 #5 MW Bryan Vera
Next Fight: Unknown
Despite Froch’s #1 contender being DeGale now, Chavez is getting buzz as a possible next opponent for the world-beating Brit.
10) Bryan Vera (4-17-17)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (UD10) vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/16/2014- vs. #17 JMW Gabriel Rosado (BKB)
In a surprise move, Vera will fight Gabriel Rosado in the main event of a “Big Knockout Boxing” card.  This is not quite the boxing you’re used to, with different rules regarding knockdowns and a circular “pit” replacing the traditional ring.  I haven’t yet decided if I will let it affect the rankings, considering that it will theoretically be a fair fight between two legitimate boxers.  I may have to see it in action before I know how I feel about its applicability to normal boxing.
11) Christopher Rebrasse (5-55)
Last Fight: 3/22/2014- TKO4 Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Rebrasse now has two dominant wins over what was a top 10 contender the first time around.  He didn’t need the judges to notice the second time.
12) Sakio Bika (5-377)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. Anthony Dirrell (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Bika is interested in a fight with Froch.
13) Maxim Vlasov (5-85)
Last Fight: 3/15/2014- UD8 Derrick Findley (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vlasov looked very good against Findley, but he’ll need to schedule a fight at Super Middleweight before May 5 and make weight in order to keep his ranking, since he hasn’t made the divisional limit since November 2012.
14) Edwin Rodriguez (5-75)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez was briefly scheduled to fight Marcus Johnson on May 24, but Johnson withdrew.
15) Gilberto Ramirez (5-21)
Last Fight: 4/11/2014- TKO5 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)
Next Fight: 7/19/2014- vs. Junior Talipeau (UNR)
Ramirez will fight in Macau on July 19.  The opponent is Junior Talipeau, a relatively high-level Samoan-Kiwi-Australian journeyman.
16) Ryota Murata (5-44)
Last Fight: 5/22/2014- KO6 Jesus Angel Nerio (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Murata set the bar high for himself by beating a fringe contender in his pro debut.  Fights like the Nerio domination are just stay-busy efforts by comparison.
17) Anthony Dirrell (5-29)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. #11 Sakio Bika
Next Fight: Unknown
His hard-fought draw with Sakio Bika gained Dirrell a measure of redemption for what pretty clearly should have been a loss against Don Mouton, and has him back in the hot prospect category.  He’s called for a rematch (good idea) and a fight with Golovkin (bad idea).
18) Hadillah Mohoumadi (5-69)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO5 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
19) Caleb Truax (5-11)
Last Fight: 1/3/2014- Draw (MD10) vs. Ossie Duran (UNR)
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.
20) Derek Edwards (5-5)
Last Fight: 2/28/2014- TKO1 #20 Badou Jack
Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: 
Wednesday
Jake Carr vs. Dane Mulivai; Flemington, Australia; FS2 (Australia)
This is an intriguing battle of two young undefeated prospects.  23 year-old Carr is the more advanced of the two in terms of accomplishment, as he’s already a top 50 fighter at just 8-0.  Mulivai is 4-0, and is still a relative novice, especially for a scheduled 10-round fight.

 

Friday
Dominic Wade vs. Nick Brinson; Las Vegas, Nevada; Showtime (US)
Like the fight above, both guys are prospects.  Wade is undefeated and is the better connected of the two.  He’s coming off an impressively quick stoppage win over the typically tough Marcus Upshaw that represents clearly the best opponent of his career, though maybe not top 50 at that point in his career.  Brinson has just one loss- a 2010 stoppage to Lennox Allen, a prospect that remains undefeated to this day.  He also boasts a clear decision win over Jorge Melendez at middleweight about a year ago, which is roughly equivalent to Wade’s win over Upshaw.  Brinson’s record features the slightly better level of overall competition, as well.  Should be a good fight.

 

Saturday
#11 Christopher Rebrasse vs. Cedric Spera; Kinshasa, Congo; TV Unknown
A Belgian vs. a Frenchman in the Congo.  Not sure why they decided to do that, but that’s what the schedule says.  Rebrasse is a contender due to his having twice dominated and once stopped Mohammed Ali Ndiaye, who was a top 10 contender the first time, if a bit under the radar.  Prior to that, Rebrasse had been a high-level journeyman and/or fringe prospect.  I’m not sure it’s quite established which one he’s going to look more like going forward, but he really was impressive in the Ndiaye fights.  Spera was an undefeated but unproven prospect until recently, but he comes off two consecutive losses to not particularly impressive opposition at 154.  Rebrasse should handle him easily, even if he’s not up to his recent performance level.

 

Fedor Chudinov vs. Emiliano Cayetano; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; TV Unknown
Chudinov is the slightly less advanced younger brother of middleweight prospect Dmitry.  It’s not particularly common to bring a Russian into the Caribbean to fight a big underdog of a local fighter like Cayetano will be, but that’s the scenario here.  Cayetano was an undefeated and eventually aging prospect while feasting on soft opposition in his first 16 fights from 1999-2007, but now nearly 42 years old, he’s just 6-7 since that point, and none of those 6 wins were against anyone even halfway decent.  Chudinov should do what 6 of those 7 victors did, and stop the Dominican journeyman.
 
 

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Super Middleweight: 2014, Jun 16-22

Posted in Rankings, Super Middleweight with tags , , , , , , , on November 8, 2014 by danboxing
In his second fight in as many weeks on Friday in Munich, one-loss German prospect Vincent Feigenbutz did what he does, slugging his way to a 2nd round TKO over low-level Hungarian journeyman Peter Orlik, whose best defense was usually to put his gloves over his ears and bend at the waist.  He was mostly just a target.  Feigenbutz only knows how to slug, and he squares himself up almost completely, but I must say that his punches land loudly.  He’ll get to a certain level (and maybe he’s already reached it) by just having good power.  Not sure if his boxing skills will ever really show up, though.

 

Later that night in Montreal, another one loss prospect, Haitian Schiller Hyppolite, looked pretty dynamic against Mohammed Akrong, a low-level Ghanaian journeyman who nevertheless showed a solid beard just to last the 5 completed rounds he did, considering how often and how apparently hard he got hit.  The corner called it off before the 6th.  Hyppolite looked miles and miles more polished than Feigenbutz, who on paper is at a similar level.

 

In last week’s tease, I proposed that the Saturday fight between Jesse Hart and Shujaa El Amin would be televised by Unimas.  I actually am not sure if it made that broadcast or not, since I can’t find any sort of video of the bout.  Looks like it was an entertaining, if one-sided, affair.  El Amin, a lower-mid-level Detroit journeyman, went down once each in rounds 1, 3, and 6, and referee Ricardo Vera stopped it without a count after the latter knockdown.

 

No changes this week.

 

Dan’s Top 20
Champ: Andre Ward (131-265-265)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 #13 Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward lost an arbitration with his promoter, but it sounds like the rift between the two is far from solved.  Kessler is the latest guy to renew a stated desire to fight him.
1) Carl Froch (108-418-418)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- KO8 #7 George Groves
Next Fight: Unknown
Froch now says he doesn’t want Ward due to a lack of marketability on the part of the American Champion.  Bika has offered him a unification, but I imagine there would be similar problems with that.  Chavez, Jr. might be the answer, and that fight is lightly rumored.
2) Arthur Abraham (16-243-243)
Last Fight: 5/3/2014- UD12 Nikola Sjekloca (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
While he recovers from a broken hand, Abraham’s promoter is working on a fall bout with English gatekeeper Paul Smith.
3) Robert Stieglitz (16-251-251)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (SD12) vs. #4 Arthur Abraham
Next Fight: 6/26/2014- vs. Unknown Opponent
Stieglitz will return on short notice on June 26 in Dessau, Germany.  His TBA opponent will have even less notice.
4) James DeGale (3-4-140)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- TKO4* #4 Brandon Gonzales
Next Fight: Unknown
DeGale is now set up for a shot at Froch’s title, in a fight that would no doubt do huge numbers in the UK again.  Froch appears cold to the matchup, for his part.
5) Thomas Oosthuizen (4-159-207)
Last Fight: 11/9/2013- W* (MD12) vs. #13 Ezequiel Maderna
Next Fight: 6/21/2014- vs. Doudou Ngumbu (UNR) (at LHW)
Oosthuizen and promoter Rodney Berman have patched things up, and the lanky South African will make effective his move to 175 on June 21 against fringe contender Doudou Ngumbu.  He’ll keep his ranking here until after November 9, or until he schedules a clearly light heavyweight fight for after that date.
6) Ezequiel Maderna (4-32-77)
Last Fight: 4/25/2014- TKO3 Richard Vidal (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Maderna stayed busy in impressive fashion against Vidal.
7) George Groves (4-79-101)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (KO8) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: Unknown
Groves is rumored to be expected back in September.  Some unconfirmed theories suggest Groves might finally rematch DeGale soon, though DeGale is already in line for a shot at Froch.
8) Brandon Gonzales (3-51-51)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (TKO4*) vs. #10 James DeGale
Next Fight: Unknown
Gonzales deserved a shot to continue, but he certainly didn’t look like an eventual winner under the best of circumstances against DeGale.
9) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (3-16-16)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- UD10 #5 MW Bryan Vera
Next Fight: Unknown
Despite Froch’s #1 contender being DeGale now, Chavez is getting buzz as a possible next opponent for the world-beating Brit.
10) Bryan Vera (3-16-16)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (UD10) vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vera is calling out Peter Quillin.
11) Christopher Rebrasse (4-54)
Last Fight: 3/22/2014- TKO4 Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Rebrasse now has two dominant wins over what was a top 10 contender the first time around.  He didn’t need the judges to notice the second time.
12) Sakio Bika (4-376)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. Anthony Dirrell (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Bika is interested in a fight with Froch.
13) Maxim Vlasov (4-84)
Last Fight: 3/15/2014- UD8 Derrick Findley (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vlasov looked very good against Findley, but he’ll need to schedule a fight at Super Middleweight before May 5 and make weight in order to keep his ranking, since he hasn’t made the divisional limit since November 2012.
14) Edwin Rodriguez (4-74)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez was briefly scheduled to fight Marcus Johnson on May 24, but Johnson withdrew.
15) Gilberto Ramirez (4-20)
Last Fight: 4/11/2014- TKO5 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)
Next Fight: 7/19/2014- vs. Unknown Opponent
Ramirez will fight in Macau on July 19.  The likely opponent is Junior Talipeau, a relatively high-level Samoan-Australian journeyman.
16) Ryota Murata (4-43)
Last Fight: 5/22/2014- KO6 Jesus Angel Nerio (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Murata set the bar high for himself by beating a fringe contender in his pro debut.  Fights like the Nerio domination are just stay-busy efforts by comparison.
17) Anthony Dirrell (4-28)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. #11 Sakio Bika
Next Fight: Unknown
His hard-fought draw with Sakio Bika gained Dirrell a measure of redemption for what pretty clearly should have been a loss against Don Mouton, and has him back in the hot prospect category.  He’s called for a rematch (good idea) and a fight with Golovkin (bad idea).
18) Hadillah Mohoumadi (4-68)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO5 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
19) Caleb Truax (4-10)
Last Fight: 1/3/2014- Draw (MD10) vs. Ossie Duran (UNR)
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.
20) Derek Edwards (4-4)
Last Fight: 2/28/2014- TKO1 #20 Badou Jack
Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: Nothing to see here.

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Super Middleweight: 2014, Jun 9-15

Posted in Rankings, Super Middleweight with tags , , , , , , , on November 3, 2014 by danboxing
Friday from Benavidez, Argentina, middleweight gatekeeper Jorge Sebastian Heiland kept a few extra pounds on and fought Mar Del Plata journeyman Cesar Reynoso in an 8 rounder.  It was a competitive fight early, with Reynoso looking to pressure Heiland, and having his share of moments while working the body effectively.  His chin simply couldn’t stand up to Heiland’s power, though, and he was increasingly hurt and pushed back as the fight progressed.  The game Reynoso never left his feet, but was properly administered a standing eight count in rounds three and five, the latter being just a matter of seconds before the fight was mercifully and reasonably stopped by referee Gustavo Tomas.  

 

The following night in Schwerin, Germany, one-loss prospect Vincent Feigenbutz scored a 3rd-round knockout over fellow one-loss prospect Gheorghe Sabau of Romania.  Sabau looked ready to outclass Feigenbutz after the first round and perhaps the second, but Feigenbutz went into caveman mode about halfway through the 3rd, bullying Sabau around the ring and pinning him in the corner.  It was there that he landed a vicious right while Sabau’s head was already resting on the large padded turnbuckle.  I’ve seen these large- I guess you might say German-style- turnbuckles many times, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen them contribute to a vicious knockout.  It seems fairly dangerous to me, honestly.  Ending aside, Feigenbutz did not shine, and looked like a guy who intends to rely on raw power as opposed to a balance between that and skill.

 

No changes this week.

 

Dan’s Top 20
Champ: Andre Ward (130-264-264)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 #13 Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward lost an arbitration with his promoter, but it sounds like the rift between the two is far from solved.  Kessler is the latest guy to renew a stated desire to fight him.
1) Carl Froch (107-417-417)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- KO8 #7 George Groves
Next Fight: Unknown
Froch now says he doesn’t want Ward due to a lack of marketability on the part of the American Champion.  Bika has offered him a unification, but I imagine there would be similar problems with that.  Chavez, Jr. might be the answer, and that fight is lightly rumored.
2) Arthur Abraham (15-242-242)
Last Fight: 5/3/2014- UD12 Nikola Sjekloca (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
While he recovers from a broken hand, Abraham’s promoter is working on a fall bout with English gatekeeper Paul Smith.
3) Robert Stieglitz (15-250-250)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (SD12) vs. #4 Arthur Abraham
Next Fight: Unknown
Sauerland prospect Tyron Zeuge has expressed interest in a fight with Stieglitz.
4) James DeGale (2-3-139)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- TKO4* #4 Brandon Gonzales
Next Fight: Unknown
DeGale is now set up for a shot at Froch’s title, in a fight that would no doubt do huge numbers in the UK again.  Froch appears cold to the matchup, for his part.
5) Thomas Oosthuizen (3-158-206)
Last Fight: 11/9/2013- W* (MD12) vs. #13 Ezequiel Maderna
Next Fight: 6/21/2014- vs. Doudou Ngumbu (UNR) (at LHW)
Oosthuizen and promoter Rodney Berman have patched things up, and the lanky South African will make effective his move to 175 on June 21 against fringe contender Doudou Ngumbu.  He’ll keep his ranking here until after November 9, or until he schedules a clearly light heavyweight fight for after that date.
6) Ezequiel Maderna (3-31-76)
Last Fight: 4/25/2014- TKO3 Richard Vidal (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Maderna stayed busy in impressive fashion against Vidal.
7) George Groves (3-78-100)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (KO8) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: Unknown
Some unconfirmed theories suggest Groves might finally rematch DeGale soon, though DeGale is already in line for a shot at Froch.
8) Brandon Gonzales (2-50-50)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (TKO4*) vs. #10 James DeGale
Next Fight: Unknown
Gonzales deserved a shot to continue, but he certainly didn’t look like an eventual winner under the best of circumstances against DeGale.
9) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (2-15-15)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- UD10 #5 MW Bryan Vera
Next Fight: Unknown
Despite Froch’s #1 contender being DeGale now, Chavez is getting buzz as a possible next opponent for the world-beating Brit.
10) Bryan Vera (2-15-15)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (UD10) vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vera is calling out Peter Quillin.
11) Christopher Rebrasse (3-53)
Last Fight: 3/22/2014- TKO4 Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Rebrasse now has two dominant wins over what was a top 10 contender the first time around.  He didn’t need the judges to notice the second time.
12) Sakio Bika (3-375)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. Anthony Dirrell (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Bika is interested in a fight with Froch.
13) Maxim Vlasov (3-83)
Last Fight: 3/15/2014- UD8 Derrick Findley (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vlasov looked very good against Findley, but he’ll need to schedule a fight at Super Middleweight before May 5 and make weight in order to keep his ranking, since he hasn’t made the divisional limit since November 2012.
14) Edwin Rodriguez (3-73)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez was briefly scheduled to fight Marcus Johnson on May 24, but Johnson withdrew.
15) Gilberto Ramirez (3-19)
Last Fight: 4/11/2014- TKO5 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)
Next Fight: 7/19/2014- vs. Unknown Opponent
Ramirez will fight in Macau on July 19.  The likely opponent is Junior Talipeau, a relatively high-level Samoan-Australian journeyman.
16) Ryota Murata (3-42)
Last Fight: 5/22/2014- KO6 Jesus Angel Nerio (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Murata set the bar high for himself by beating a fringe contender in his pro debut.  Fights like the Nerio domination are just stay-busy efforts by comparison.
17) Anthony Dirrell (3-27)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. #11 Sakio Bika
Next Fight: Unknown
His hard-fought draw with Sakio Bika gained Dirrell a measure of redemption for what pretty clearly should have been a loss against Don Mouton, and has him back in the hot prospect category.  He’s called for a rematch (good idea) and a fight with Golovkin (bad idea).
18) Hadillah Mohoumadi (3-67)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO5 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
19) Caleb Truax (3-9)
Last Fight: 1/3/2014- Draw (MD10) vs. Ossie Duran (UNR)
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.
20) Derek Edwards (3-3)
Last Fight: 2/28/2014- TKO1 #20 Badou Jack
Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: 
Friday
Vincent Feigenbutz vs. Peter Orlik; Munich, Germany; TV Unknown
Feigenbutz fights on back-to-back weeks.  Last week, as detailed above, he struggled for two rounds with fellow one-loss prospect Gheorghe Sabau before clubbing him into unconsciousness late in the 3rd.  His opponent this week, 3-2-1 Peter Orlik, is probably not nearly the challenge Sabau was, and fought at a weight of 153 as recently as a month ago.  This one shouldn’t last long.

 

Schiller Hyppolite vs. Mohammed Akrong; Montreal, Quebec; TV Unknown
Hyppolite is a one-loss Haitian prospect who lives in Quebec.  He comes off a quick knockout win over Rafael Sosa.  Akrong is a step down from Sosa, a Ghanaian journeyman with an almost totally empty 20-6 record.  He’s lost quickly by stoppage to a prospect or two on approximately Hyppolite’s level, and I don’t fancy this one to go too long, either.

 

Saturday
Jesse Hart vs. Shujaa El Amin; Atlantic City, New Jersey; UniMas (US)
Hart is an unbeaten Philadelphian who passed a test against Derrick Findley in January and Samuel Clarkson in April, and thus finds himself in the top 50.  El Amin is a Flint, Michigan journeyman roughly at mid-level, but coming off two consecutive losses.

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Super Middleweight: 2014, Jun 2-8

Posted in Rankings, Super Middleweight with tags , , , , , , , on October 28, 2014 by danboxing
In Saturday’s headliner from London, #1 Carl Froch notched another win in the rematch with bitter rival #7 George Groves, and this time avoided any of the controversy from the first fight.  It was still a good, competitive affair, and Groves still had his share of success early, but he wasn’t able to put Froch through anything approaching the same level of adversity he dealt out the first time.  The rounds Groves may have won early on were also significantly less clear than the first iteration.  If you really want to boil it down to the most fundamental difference, Groves was still the sharper and faster guy at the outset, but he countered with much less abandon- that is to say more cautiously- than he did the first time around.  You might describe him, at least relative to the first fight, as tense.  This tension allowed Froch to catch up to him much more quickly in terms of speed and timing, and with Froch ahead 67-66 on my card, he knocked Groves out in the 8th.  The fact that Froch was not concussed early in the fight, as he clearly was the first time, couldn’t have hurt.

 

In an excellent co-feature match-up that could have headlined many a fine Saturday TV card in its own right, #10 James DeGale looked sensational at times against #4 Brandon Gonzales, including the entire first round, and especially the 4th in which he dropped Gonzales with a blistering combination.  Gonzales gamely rose to his feet, and seemed to retain a surprising amount of his faculties considering how heavily and often he had just been hit.  DeGale didn’t let up, and once again landed a heavy shot that had Gonzales hurt with about 30 seconds remaining in the round.  That’s when it all went South, though, as British referee Steve Gray pulled a pathetic hometown move and stopped the fight ridiculously prematurely, with Gonzales having his hands up, and with DeGale having just missed wildly with two swings from the heels.  Obviously Gonzales was hurt and struggling at that moment, but he had been competitive in the fight- winning the 2nd round on my card- and with that little time left and with no landed punch actually necessitating the stoppage at that moment, I think it’s impossible to reasonably conclude that Gonzales didn’t stand a chance to make it out of the 4th, and didn’t stand some chance to come back in the fight overall.  We’ll never know because of Steve Gray, who probably unintentionally robbed James DeGale of an unquestionable, complete, and sensational win in the biggest fight of his career to this point, all while trying subconsciously to rob the visiting fighter Gonzales of a chance- shrinking though it was- to win the fight.  For rankings purposes, I’ll have to view it as something along the lines of a clear 4-round decision, since the ref’s error prevented a legitimate stoppage from occurring, and since DeGale would certainly have been clearly up on the cards if the 4th had been allowed to complete.  Technically, my own precedent might demand that I treat this as a no contest since the fight was ended before the completion of 4 rounds by what amounts to a foul by the referee.  But that would be a bad result given the spirit of that precedent.  I can’t give DeGale full credit for a stoppage he hadn’t fully earned, but a badly hurt Gonzales needed two knockdowns in less than 30 seconds to avoid being behind on the scorecards if and when the 4th round ended, and that would have been practically impossible.

 

In one of the most heinous robberies I’ve ever seen, Mariano Hilario was gifted a unanimous decision victory over Italian journeyman Roberto Cocco.  The fight wasn’t even particularly competitive.  Cocco suffered a flash knockdown that appeared to be more from balance than anything else in the 12th, but clearly won the round apart from that.  He may have won every round other than that one, and certainly lost no more than three.  Cocco was clearly the much harder puncher, landed much more, was constantly the aggressor, and fought the entirety of the fight with his back to the ring, while Hilario fought it with his back to the ropes.  Hilario contantly grabbed and pulled Cocco’s head down, to the point that he probably should have lost about three points, but yet referee Jan Christensen warned Cocco more often for absolutely nothing than he did Hilario for this and other assorted fouls.  Even aside from the pernicious bias, Christensen was WAY too fussy.  He interrupted the fight for various verbose warnings so much that he may have actually been speaking more often than the fighters were fighting.  While he didn’t take needed points from Hilario, though, he at least was sensible enough to limit his undeserved sanctions against Cocco to constant fussing rather than actually taking a point.  The same can’t be said for the frankly disgusting and pathetic judges.  Erkki Meronen turned in maybe the worst single card I’ve ever personally witnessed, scoring it 117-110 for Hilario.  To reach that score, it means he gave Hilario an undeserved 10-8 round, scored both close rounds in favor of Hilario, and then scored SIX clear Cocco rounds for Hilario.  SIX!  Andre Pasquier was nearly as bad, but managed to only give five clear Cocco rounds to Hilario, in addition to the other conditions.  Beat Hausammann turned in a card that’s harder to pin down because it had some undetermined number of even rounds added in, but he was pretty horrible, as well, though he had it only 115-114 in favor of the dominated loser, Hilario.  Obviously I’m going to treat this as the dominant win for Cocco that it truly was.

 

Groves and Froch merely confirmed their earlier result, and the fight has no material effect on either man’s ranking.  DeGale moves up to #4, while former #4 Gonzales falls back to #8 behind Groves, who arguably beat DeGale when those two met in 2011.  Cocco has a very poor overall record, and thus only moves to the borderline top 50 level, despite beating a borderline top 50 guy.  Hilario is just below that now.  With the movement of DeGale and Gonzales, Chavez and Vera each backtrack one spot.

 

Dan’s Top 20
Champ: Andre Ward (129-263-263)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 #13 Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward lost an arbitration with his promoter, but it sounds like the rift between the two is far from solved.  Kessler is the latest guy to renew a stated desire to fight him.
1) Carl Froch (106-416-416)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- KO8 #7 George Groves
Next Fight: Unknown
Froch dispelled any doubts with a more conclusive stoppage of Groves.
2) Arthur Abraham (14-241-241)
Last Fight: 5/3/2014- UD12 Nikola Sjekloca (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
While he recovers from a broken hand, Abraham’s promoter is working on a fall bout with English gatekeeper Paul Smith.
3) Robert Stieglitz (14-249-249)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (SD12) vs. #4 Arthur Abraham
Next Fight: Unknown
Sauerland prospect Tyron Zeuge has expressed interest in a fight with Stieglitz.
4) James DeGale (1-2-138)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- TKO4* #4 Brandon Gonzales
Next Fight: Unknown
DeGale is now set up for a shot at Froch’s title, in a fight that would no doubt do huge numbers in the UK again.
5) Thomas Oosthuizen (2-157-205)
Last Fight: 11/9/2013- W* (MD12) vs. #13 Ezequiel Maderna
Next Fight: 6/21/2014- vs. Doudou Ngumbu (UNR) (at LHW)
Oosthuizen and promoter Rodney Berman have patched things up, and the lanky South African will make effective his move to 175 on June 21 against fringe contender Doudou Ngumbu.  He’ll keep his ranking here until after November 9, or until he schedules a clearly light heavyweight fight for after that date.
6) Ezequiel Maderna (2-30-75)
Last Fight: 4/25/2014- TKO3 Richard Vidal (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Maderna stayed busy in impressive fashion against Vidal.
7) George Groves (2-77-99)
Last Fight: 11/23/2013- L (TKO9) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: 5/31/2014- vs. #1 Carl Froch
Some unconfirmed theories suggest Groves might finally rematch DeGale soon, though DeGale is already in line for a shot at Froch.
8) Brandon Gonzales (1-49-49)
Last Fight: 5/31/2014- L (TKO4*) vs. #10 James DeGale
Next Fight: Unknown
Gonzales deserved a shot to continue, but he certainly didn’t look like an eventual winner under the best of circumstances against DeGale.
9) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (1-14-14)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- UD10 #5 MW Bryan Vera
Next Fight: Unknown
Despite Froch’s #1 contender being DeGale now, Chavez is getting buzz as a possible next opponent for the world-beating Brit.
10) Bryan Vera (1-14-14)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (UD10) vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vera is calling out Peter Quillin.
11) Christopher Rebrasse (2-52)
Last Fight: 3/22/2014- TKO4 Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Rebrasse now has two dominant wins over what was a top 10 contender the first time around.  He didn’t need the judges to notice the second time.
12) Sakio Bika (2-374)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. Anthony Dirrell (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Bika is interested in a fight with Froch.
13) Maxim Vlasov (2-82)
Last Fight: 3/15/2014- UD8 Derrick Findley (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vlasov looked very good against Findley, but he’ll need to schedule a fight at Super Middleweight before May 5 and make weight in order to keep his ranking, since he hasn’t made the divisional limit since November 2012.
14) Edwin Rodriguez (2-72)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez was briefly scheduled to fight Marcus Johnson on May 24, but Johnson withdrew.
15) Gilberto Ramirez (2-18)
Last Fight: 4/11/2014- TKO5 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)
Next Fight: 7/19/2014- vs. Unknown Opponent
Ramirez will fight a TBA opponent in Macau on July 19.
16) Ryota Murata (2-41)
Last Fight: 5/22/2014- KO6 Jesus Angel Nerio (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Murata set the bar high for himself by beating a fringe contender in his pro debut.  Fights like the Nerio domination are just stay-busy efforts by comparison.
17) Anthony Dirrell (2-26)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. #11 Sakio Bika
Next Fight: Unknown
His hard-fought draw with Sakio Bika gained Dirrell a measure of redemption for what pretty clearly should have been a loss against Don Mouton, and has him back in the hot prospect category.  He’s called for a rematch (good idea) and a fight with Golovkin (bad idea).
18) Hadillah Mohoumadi (2-66)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO5 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
19) Caleb Truax (2-8)
Last Fight: 1/3/2014- Draw (MD10) vs. Ossie Duran (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
20) Derek Edwards (2-2)
Last Fight: 2/28/2014- TKO1 #20 Badou Jack
Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: 
Friday
Jorge Sebastian Heiland vs. Cesar Reynoso; Benavidez, Argentina; TyC Sports (Argentina)
Heiland is a gatekeeper at middleweight coming off the biggest win of his career- a very tight battle with Billi Godoy that ended controversially, in my view.  Reynoso is a mid-level journeyman from Mar del Plata, and not likely much of a threat

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Super Middleweight: 2014, May 19-25

Posted in Rankings, Super Middleweight with tags , , , , , , , on October 16, 2014 by danboxing
Both Smith brothers were in action Saturday in Cardiff.

 

In an 8-rounder, older brother Paul displayed a vicious 2-handed attack in dispatching low-level journeyman David Sarabia of Spain inside of two rounds.  Sarabia didn’t have a chance to do anything, and was completely overwhelmed, as one might have expected.

 

Younger brother Callum followed that with a bit tougher test against one-loss prospect Tobias Webb.  Webb actually took the fight to Smith in the first round and pretty clearly took that frame, as the longer-armed Smith was getting beaten to the punch consistently.  Webb’s jab, in particular, looked like it might be a major problem for the highly-touted prospect.  But what a difference a minute makes.  Having made whatever adjustment needed to be made and then some, Smith came out an obliterated Webb to the body, dropping him an incredible 4 times from body shots in that one round.  Webb was game enough to obviously get up from what were legitimately crippling blows, but the 4th blast kept him on his hands and knees for the count.  It’s hard to say just how good a measuring stick Webb is.  He certainly looked more than capable, and his only loss was forgivable in the sense that it came to a legitimate prospect in Rocky Fielding, and was in part a product of the quirky format that is Prizefighter.  He’s certainly the only opponent who has ever given Smith any kind of trouble so far, and that means he at least could be better in fact that Ruben Acosta, the only actual top 50 fighter Smith has mixed it up with.  In any case, the resume wasn’t there yet, and so this won’t help Smith ascend to the top 20.  

 

No changes this week.

 

Dan’s Top 20
Champ: Andre Ward (127-261-261)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 #13 Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward lost an arbitration with his promoter, but it sounds like the rift between the two is far from solved.  Kessler is the latest guy to renew a stated desire to fight him.
1) Carl Froch (104-414-414)
Last Fight: 11/23/2013- TKO9 #8 George Groves
Next Fight: 5/31/2014- vs. #8 George Groves
There is talk of a record gate when Froch meets Groves in a highly anticipated rematch in a London soccer stadium at the end of May.
2) Arthur Abraham (12-239-239)
Last Fight: 5/3/2014- UD12 Nikola Sjekloca (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
While he recovers from a broken hand, Abraham’s promoter is working on a fall bout with English gatekeeper Paul Smith.
3) Robert Stieglitz (12-247-247)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (SD12) vs. #4 Arthur Abraham
Next Fight: Unknown
Sauerland prospect Tyron Zeuge has expressed interest in a fight with Stieglitz.
4) Mikkel Kessler (12-493-493)
Last Fight: 5/25/2013- L (UD12) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: Unknown
Kessler says he won’t retire, but he hasn’t expressed anything but a wishlist when it comes to upcoming fights.  He’ll have to get a lot more concrete than that in a hurry, as he’s scheduled for removal next week if he doesn’t have something signed.
5) Brandon Gonzales (47-47-47)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD10 Jonathan Nelson (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/31/2014- vs. #11 James DeGale
Gonzales’ elminator with DeGale is finally set, for May 31 in London, on the Froch-Groves undercard.
6) Thomas Oosthuizen (34-155-203)
Last Fight: 11/9/2013- W* (MD12) vs. #13 Ezequiel Maderna
Next Fight: 6/21/2014- vs. Doudou Ngumbu (UNR) (at LHW)
Oosthuizen and promoter Rodney Berman have patched things up, and the lanky South African will make effective his move to 175 on June 21 against fringe contender Doudou Ngumbu.  He’ll keep his ranking here until after November 9, or until he schedules a clearly light heavyweight fight for after that date.
7) Ezequiel Maderna (28-28-73)
Last Fight: 4/25/2014- TKO3 Richard Vidal (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Maderna stayed busy in impressive fashion against Vidal.
8) George Groves (28-75-97)
Last Fight: 11/23/2013- L (TKO9) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: 5/31/2014- vs. #1 Carl Froch
See Froch’s notes, above.
9) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (12-12-12)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- UD10 #5 MW Bryan Vera
Next Fight: Unknown
Chavez is, at least for the time being, effectively a former Top Rank fighter, and he and Arum are at odds over who truly scuttled the now apparently unlikely Golovkin fight that appeared all but made at one point.
10) Bryan Vera (12-12-12)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (UD10) vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vera is calling out Peter Quillin.
11) James DeGale (12-136)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- TKO11 Gevorg Khatchikian (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/31/2014- vs. #5 Brandon Gonzales
See Gonzales’ notes, above.
12) Christopher Rebrasse (12-50)
Last Fight: 3/22/2014- TKO4 Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Rebrasse now has two dominant wins over what was a top 10 contender the first time around.  He didn’t need the judges to notice the second time.
13) Sakio Bika (12-372)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. Anthony Dirrell (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
After initially granting Julio Cesar Chavez the spot, the WBC has now made James DeGale the mandatory after it appeared Chavez would likely look at a different opportunity.  That may also have gone by the wayside by now, as DeGale is fighting Brandon Gonzales for a shot at the IBF title.
14) Maxim Vlasov (12-80)
Last Fight: 3/15/2014- UD8 Derrick Findley (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vlasov looked very good against Findley, but he’ll need to schedule a fight at Super Middleweight before May 5 and make weight in order to keep his ranking, since he hasn’t made the divisional limit since November 2012.
15) Edwin Rodriguez (12-70)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez was briefly scheduled to fight Marcus Johnson on May 24, but Johnson withdrew.
16) Gilberto Ramirez (6-16)
Last Fight: 4/11/2014- TKO5 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Ramirez was pencilled in to return on the Chavez-Golovkin card, but that fight now looks dead.
17) Ryota Murata (6-39)
Last Fight: 2/22/2014- TKO4 Carlos Nascimento (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/22/2014- vs. Jesus Angel Nerio (UNR)
Murata will stay busy in Kyoto on May 22 with Mexican journeyman Jesus Angel Nerio.
18) Anthony Dirrell (6-24)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. #11 Sakio Bika
Next Fight: Unknown
His hard-fought draw with Sakio Bika gained Dirrell a measure of redemption for what pretty clearly should have been a loss against Don Mouton, and has him back in the hot prospect category.  He’s called for a rematch (good idea) and a fight with Golovkin (bad idea).
19) Hadillah Mohoumadi (6-64)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO5 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
20) Caleb Truax (6-6)
Last Fight: 1/3/2014- Draw (MD10) vs. Ossie Duran (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: 
Thursday
#17 Ryota Murata vs. Jesus Angel Nerio; Kyoto, Japan; TV Unknown
I don’t actually know if this will be here or at 160.  Murata is clearly a middleweight when he wants to be, but so far he’s never fought below 160.5.  As you may know, Murata is a 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist, and he debuted as a pro with a win over a top 20 middleweight in Akio Shibata.  Nerio is a mid-level journeyman from Mexico, and hardly projects as any kind of threat.

 

Schiller Hyppolite vs. Rafael Sosa; Pointe Claire, Quebec; TV Unknown

Hyppolite is a Haitian living in Montreal.  He’s a one-loss prospect on the fringes of the top 50.  His only loss was a 2012 split decision against a fighter who remains undefeated to this day, though without having proven anything outside that fight.  As for his own credentials, Hyppolite’s best win was a knockout of mid-level journeyman Martin Avila almost exactly a year ago.  Sosa represents his best opponent, with the possible exception of Francy Ntetu, the man that beat him.  Sosa is a 34 year-old Uruguayan veteran of 56 contests.  He’s only an upper-mid-level journeyman, and a natural middleweight at most.  He is a serious fighter, though, and even found his way to the fringes of the top 50 at 154 around 2008-2009.  If Hyppolite is a mere pretender, Sosa may very well have what it takes to prove that.

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Super Middleweight: 2014, May 12-18

Posted in Rankings, Super Middleweight with tags , , , , , , , on October 13, 2014 by danboxing
Last week I reported that Vincent Feigenbutz has one all but one of his fights, and all but one of those by knockout.  Now I see both why he lost essentially to a random, and why he gets KOs.  The dude flings himself pretty much body and soul into every punch, leaving himself hilariously out of position for incoming counters, if only the opponent has the will and the accuracy to find him.  This opponent, Congolese journeyman Chris Mafuta, did not.  Feigenbutz dropped him hard in the first and pummelled him all over the ring in the 2nd, causing the ref to end it early.

 

In a much more competitive fight, unbeaten Polish prospect Maciej Sulecki got all he could handle from rugged- dare I say Mexican-style- Frenchman Nicolas Dion in a battle of European prospects in Brodnica, Poland.  Unfortunately the judging reflected the fact that it was, in fact, in Brodnica, Poland.  Sulecki, it was apparent from the opening bell, was the far more athletic, in shape, and talented of the two fighters, and he announced that with a thud relatively early in the first round, dropping the Frenchman rather heavily.  But as the rounds wore on, Dion kept plowing forward, often pinning Sulecki against the ropes, and just generally working non-stop.  Sulecki, for his part, seemed to get caught trying to look good as opposed to throwing punches.  I don’t want to knock him too much.  He wasn’t posing Adrien Broner style, but he was often standing in front, moving his head, turning his man, and all the other things that a good slick boxer is able to do.  The only problem is that he didn’t always punch off that work, and kept his hands at home too much while displaying his qualities.  Not that he was extraordinarily inactive, either.  He just didn’t quite rise to activity level of his opponent as often as you’d like from a rising prospect like Sulecki.  I had it all even at 94-94 (six rounds to four for Dion, with Sulecki scoring the knockdown in the first and I guess a standing 8 count in the 10th when he had almost stopped Dion).  Sulecki pretty clearly won rounds 6 and 7 to go with his two 10-8 rounds, while Dion won the others clearly with the exception of the 5th, which I thought could have gone either way, but which I gave to Dion.  So maybe Sulecki did just enough.  What he did NOT do was win it by 10, 8, or even 4 points, which is what the clowns sitting at ringside would have you believe.  Actually, that’s a real disservice to clowns, who are generally involved in some sort of comedy or amusement.  These cards were a tragedy for the sport.  In order of their margin, the names to which we should hereby attach permanent shame are Krzysztof Bubak (100-90), Piotr Koslowski (98-90), and to a lesser extent Robert Gortat (96-92).  These guys are everything that’s wrong with the sport.

 

No changes.

 

Dan’s Top 20
Champ: Andre Ward (126-260-260)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 #13 Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward lost an arbitration with his promoter, but it sounds like the rift between the two is far from solved.  Kessler is the latest guy to renew a stated desire to fight him.
1) Carl Froch (103-413-413)
Last Fight: 11/23/2013- TKO9 #8 George Groves
Next Fight: 5/31/2014- vs. #8 George Groves
There is talk of a record gate when Froch meets Groves in a highly anticipated rematch in a London soccer stadium at the end of May.
2) Arthur Abraham (11-238-238)
Last Fight: 5/3/2014- UD12 Nikola Sjekloca (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Abraham might be on the shelf for a little while, after reporting a broken hand against Sjekloca.  When he comes back, he says he would like a rematch with Andre Ward or a fight with Felix Sturm.
3) Robert Stieglitz (11-246-246)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (SD12) vs. #4 Arthur Abraham
Next Fight: Unknown
Sauerland prospect Tyron Zeuge has expressed interest in a fight with Stieglitz.
4) Mikkel Kessler (11-492-492)
Last Fight: 5/25/2013- L (UD12) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: Unknown
Kessler held a press conference to announce that he would fight on.  He names Ward, Froch, Groves, and Golovkin as guys he’d like to fight.  He’d better get on it soon to avoid removal for inactivity, though.
5) Brandon Gonzales (46-46-46)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD10 Jonathan Nelson (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/31/2014- vs. #11 James DeGale
Gonzales’ elminator with DeGale is finally set, for May 31 in London, on the Froch-Groves undercard.
6) Thomas Oosthuizen (33-154-202)
Last Fight: 11/9/2013- W* (MD12) vs. #13 Ezequiel Maderna
Next Fight: 6/21/2014- vs. Doudou Ngumbu (UNR) (at LHW)
Oosthuizen and promoter Rodney Berman have patched things up, and the lanky South African will make effective his move to 175 on June 21 against fringe contender Doudou Ngumbu.  He’ll keep his ranking here until after November 9, or until he schedules a clearly light heavyweight fight for after that date.
7) Ezequiel Maderna (27-27-72)
Last Fight: 4/25/2014- TKO3 Richard Vidal (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Maderna stayed busy in impressive fashion against Vidal.
8) George Groves (27-74-96)
Last Fight: 11/23/2013- L (TKO9) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: 5/31/2014- vs. #1 Carl Froch
See Froch’s notes, above.
9) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (11-11-11)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- UD10 #5 MW Bryan Vera
Next Fight: Unknown
Chavez is, at least for the time being, effectively a former Top Rank fighter, and he and Arum are at odds over who truly scuttled the now apparently unlikely Golovkin fight that appeared all but made at one point.
10) Bryan Vera (11-11-11)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (UD10) vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vera is calling out Peter Quillin.
11) James DeGale (11-135)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- TKO11 Gevorg Khatchikian (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/31/2014- vs. #5 Brandon Gonzales
See Gonzales’ notes, above.
12) Christopher Rebrasse (11-49)
Last Fight: 3/22/2014- TKO4 Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Rebrasse now has two dominant wins over what was a top 10 contender the first time around.  He didn’t need the judges to notice the second time.
13) Sakio Bika (11-371)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. Anthony Dirrell (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
After initially granting Julio Cesar Chavez the spot, the WBC has now made James DeGale the mandatory after it appeared Chavez would likely look at a different opportunity.  That may also have gone by the wayside by now, as DeGale is fighting Brandon Gonzales for a shot at the IBF title.
14) Maxim Vlasov (11-79)
Last Fight: 3/15/2014- UD8 Derrick Findley (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vlasov looked very good against Findley, but he’ll need to schedule a fight at Super Middleweight before May 5 and make weight in order to keep his ranking, since he hasn’t made the divisional limit since November 2012.
15) Edwin Rodriguez (11-69)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez was briefly scheduled to fight Marcus Johnson on May 24, but Johnson withdrew.
16) Gilberto Ramirez (5-15)
Last Fight: 4/11/2014- TKO5 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Ramirez was pencilled in to return on the Chavez-Golovkin card, but that fight now looks dead.
17) Ryota Murata (5-38)
Last Fight: 2/22/2014- TKO4 Carlos Nascimento (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/22/2014- vs. Jesus Angel Nerio (UNR)
Murata will stay busy in Kyoto on May 22 with Mexican journeyman Jesus Angel Nerio.
18) Anthony Dirrell (5-23)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. #11 Sakio Bika
Next Fight: Unknown
His hard-fought draw with Sakio Bika gained Dirrell a measure of redemption for what pretty clearly should have been a loss against Don Mouton, and has him back in the hot prospect category.  He’s called for a rematch (good idea) and a fight with Golovkin (bad idea).
19) Hadillah Mohoumadi (5-63)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO5 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
20) Caleb Truax (5-5)
Last Fight: 1/3/2014- Draw (MD10) vs. Ossie Duran (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: 
Saturday
Callum Smith vs. Tobias Webb; Cardiff, Wales; Sky (UK)
The younger Smith brother has knocked out his last 8 opponents, including two borderline top 50 guys in Ruben Acosta and Patrick Mendy.  The hot Liverpool prospect fought 7 times in 2013, but this will be only his 2nd this year as he begins to really climb the ladder.  Webb is what you might call a fringe prospect.  His only career loss was in a Prizefighter final in 2011, against a legit prospect in Rocky Fielding.  We’ve seen some crazy things happen in Prizefighter, so I’d say Webb’s real quality under normal circumstances remains a bit of an open question.  It couldn’t possibly help Smith get ranked, but it’s a fairly worthy fight anyway at this point in his career.

 

Paul Smith vs. David Sarabia; Cardiff, Wales; Sky (UK)
Callum Smith’s more experienced older brother will be in action on the same card.  As opposed to Callum, Paul’s best days may be behind him.  Even so, he’s still a player in the lower half of the top 50, and should have no problem coming out on top in this stay busy, showcase-type fight.  Sarabia is a low-level journeyman from Spain who has three losses, at least one of which was against a bad fighter.  Even worse, the best (or at least most accomplished) fighter he ever beat carried a record of 6-31-2 at the time, and that was a split decision.

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Super Middleweight: 2014, May 5-11

Posted in Rankings, Super Middleweight with tags , , , , , , , on October 8, 2014 by danboxing
Undefeated prospect Jonathan Gonzalez got yet another close and/or controversial result to add to his resume on Thursday in an ESPN2-televised bout from Hialeah, Florida.  Gonzalez, who looked fairly fleshy at super middle, was nevertheless the more effective puncher, shot for shot.  But his opponent- tough Mexican journeyman Rogelio “Porky” Medina (the far less porky of the two, in reality)- vastly outworked the Puerto Rican prospect, though his punches did tend to slap a bit.  I had it 95-95, and I could easily have seen up to two rounds flipping in either direction.  It was about as close as it gets.  All of the judges turned in what I thought were reasonable cards, with the result being a split decision in favor of Gonzalez.  

 

Saturday in Berlin, #2 Arthur Abraham won a decision that was evidently more comfortable on the cards than it was in his own body.  Abraham got a spirited effort early from his fairly unworthy challenger, Montenegro’s Nikola Sjekloca, who put together scattered combinations with enough frequency to grab a few rounds, give or take, from the notoriously slow-starting Armenian.  Abraham said after the fight that his fingers were already damaged at the start of the fight, and that the use of his right hand was limited even in training.  He claims to have broken the hand completely a little more than halfway through the fight.  I didn’t notice a real difference in his use of the right until the 12th, when he clearly only threw it about twice.  Abraham blames the hand for the fight being “so close” (one judge had it 116-113, and another 116-112).  I didn’t think it was all that close, with Abraham actually pulling away effectively down the stretch, despite the hand problems.  My card was 117-111.  I thought the 116-113 card by Andre Van Grootenbruel was a shade too close to be considered fully reasonable, as I think he gave Abraham both of the toss-up rounds and also called a pretty clear Abraham round even.  But the real nasty card of the night was courtesy of Russia’s Viktor Panin, who is apparently as bad a judge as he proved himself to be as a referee in the Avanesyan-Mabuza fight recently.  He had it 119-110, which is just plain out of bounds.

 

J’Leon Love once again had his hands full in the PPV opener for Mayweather-Maidana on Saturday.  He was in with Mexican prospect Marco Antonio Periban, who took Sakio Bika to life-and-death territory in a loss last year.  Love was able to break Periban’s nose about the end of round 1, but was dominated in rounds 3-5, and nearly got stopped in the 5th by taking a barrage on the ropes after being hurt by a Periban right hand, in a round in which he was also dropped.  Perhaps affected by the nose and resulting difficulty breathing, Periban seemed unwilling to press the issue after the 5th, and Love was able to clearly win 4 of the last 5 rounds.  I had it 95-94 for Love, in the end.  That being said, the only round that I found tough to score was the 2nd, which I gave narrowly to Love.  This means that appropriate scores, in my view, could only have ranged between 95-94 Love and 95-94 Periban.  Glen Trowbridge’s card was a clear round too wide at 96-93 Love.  Lisa Giampa’s was a complete joke at 97-92, while David Sutherland’s would have been potentially decent if it had only made numerical sense.  He had it 96-93, which means there was either a math error, or he gave somebody a 10-8 round in addition to that earned by Periban in the 5th- something that would not be remotely defensible.  The judges’ dereliction is nothing but needless controversy in a fight that I did think Love won, narrowly but legitimately.

 

Despite the closeness of his victory, Love’s performance does get him established at about the fringe contender level.  He doesn’t quite have enough steam, when coupled with at best indifferent performances against Rosado and Derrick Findley in the past, to crack the top 20 just yet.  No changes, as there is no quantity of Sjekloca-level wins that would propel Abraham past Froch.

 

Dan’s Top 20
Champ: Andre Ward (125-259-259)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 #13 Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward lost an arbitration with his promoter, but it sounds like the rift between the two is far from solved.
1) Carl Froch (102-412-412)
Last Fight: 11/23/2013- TKO9 #8 George Groves
Next Fight: 5/31/2014- vs. #8 George Groves
There is talk of a record gate when Froch meets Groves in a highly anticipated rematch in a London soccer stadium at the end of May.
2) Arthur Abraham (10-237-237)
Last Fight: 5/3/2014- UD12 Nikola Sjekloca (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Abraham might be on the shelf for a little while, after reporting a broken hand against Sjekloca.  When he comes back, he says he would like a rematch with Andre Ward.
3) Robert Stieglitz (10-245-245)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (SD12) vs. #4 Arthur Abraham
Next Fight: Unknown
Sauerland prospect Tyron Zeuge has expressed interest in a fight with Stieglitz.
4) Mikkel Kessler (10-491-491)
Last Fight: 5/25/2013- L (UD12) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: Unknown
Sauerland has announced a press conference to make a major announcement regarding Kessler’s future.  Stay tuned for the results next week.
5) Brandon Gonzales (45-45-45)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD10 Jonathan Nelson (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/31/2014- vs. #11 James DeGale
Gonzales’ elminator with DeGale is finally set, for May 31 in London, on the Froch-Groves undercard.
6) Thomas Oosthuizen (32-153-201)
Last Fight: 11/9/2013- W* (MD12) vs. #13 Ezequiel Maderna
Next Fight: Unknown
Apparently Oosthuizen and his once and future promoter Rodney Berman have mended fences.  His future still appears to lie at light heavyweight.
7) Ezequiel Maderna (26-26-71)
Last Fight: 4/25/2014- TKO3 Richard Vidal (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Maderna stayed busy in impressive fashion against Vidal.
8) George Groves (26-73-95)
Last Fight: 11/23/2013- L (TKO9) vs. #1 Carl Froch
Next Fight: 5/31/2014- vs. #1 Carl Froch
See Froch’s notes, above.
9) Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (10-10-10)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- UD10 #5 MW Bryan Vera
Next Fight: Unknown
Chavez has balked at a proposed Top Rank extension, and the delay has left Golovkin- his proposed opponent- looking elsewhere.
10) Bryan Vera (10-10-10)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- L (UD10) vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Even in defeat, Vera has regained a ranking at 168 and is- at least temporarily- ranked in 2 divisions.   There are also credible-looking reports to the effect that he broke his left hand early in the fight, for what it’s worth.
11) James DeGale (10-134)
Last Fight: 3/1/2014- TKO11 Gevorg Khatchikian (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/31/2014- vs. #5 Brandon Gonzales
See Gonzales’ notes, above.
12) Christopher Rebrasse (10-48)
Last Fight: 3/22/2014- TKO4 Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Rebrasse now has two dominant wins over what was a top 10 contender the first time around.  He didn’t need the judges to notice the second time.
13) Sakio Bika (10-370)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. Anthony Dirrell (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
After initially granting Julio Cesar Chavez the spot, the WBC has now made James DeGale the mandatory after it appeared Chavez would likely look at a different opportunity.  That may also have gone by the wayside by now, as DeGale is fighting Brandon Gonzales for a shot at the IBF title.
14) Maxim Vlasov (10-78)
Last Fight: 3/15/2014- UD8 Derrick Findley (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Vlasov looked very good against Findley, but he’ll need to schedule a fight at Super Middleweight before May 5 and make weight in order to keep his ranking, since he hasn’t made the divisional limit since November 2012.
15) Edwin Rodriguez (10-68)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez was briefly scheduled to fight Marcus Johnson on May 24, but Johnson withdrew.
16) Gilberto Ramirez (4-14)
Last Fight: 4/11/2014- TKO5 Giovanni Lorenzo (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Ramirez is pencilled in to return on the Chavez-Golovkin undercard, assuming that fight is made.
17) Ryota Murata (4-37)
Last Fight: 2/22/2014- TKO4 Carlos Nascimento (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/22/2014- vs. Jesus Angel Nerio (UNR)
Murata will stay busy in Kyoto on May 22 with Mexican journeyman Jesus Angel Nerio.
18) Anthony Dirrell (4-22)
Last Fight: 12/7/2013- Draw (SD12) vs. #11 Sakio Bika
Next Fight: Unknown
His hard-fought draw with Sakio Bika gained Dirrell a measure of redemption for what pretty clearly should have been a loss against Don Mouton, and has him back in the hot prospect category.  He’s called for a rematch (good idea) and a fight with Golovkin (bad idea).
19) Hadillah Mohoumadi (4-62)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO5 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
20) Caleb Truax (4-4)
Last Fight: 1/3/2014- Draw (MD10) vs. Ossie Duran (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: 
Saturday
Vincent Feigenbutz vs. Chris Mafuta; Karlsruhe, Germany; TV Unknown
Feigenbutz is a Karlsruhe native who has won all but one of his fights, and all but one of those via knockout in three rounds or less.  His one loss was a head-scratcher TKO in 2012 against a guy making his pro debut, whose record currently sits at just 3-2-1.  But since then, he’s been destroying legit prospects.  Mafuta is a low or perhaps lower-mid-level journeyman, originally from Congo.  He poses no threat if Feigenbutz is in anything like top form.

 

Maciej Sulecki vs. Nicolas Dion; Brodnica, Poland; Polsat Sport (Poland)
Sulecki is an undefeated Polish prospect with a pretty decent apparent upside.  Dion is a prospect from France who, like Feigenbutz above, had a loss in his 2nd fight in 2012.  Unlike Feigenbutz’s conqueror, however, Dion’s nemesis remains undefeated to this day.  Pretty interesting clash, I must say.

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