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Light Heavyweight: 2014, Feb 3-9

Posted in Light Heavyweight, Rankings with tags , , , , , , , on May 15, 2014 by danboxing
Undefeated Australian prospect Blake Caparello made his American debut on Friday’s ESPN2-televised card from West Orange, New Jersey.  Caparello more or less cruised to victory.  His opponent- Kosovo native and journeyman Elvir Muriqi- barely did anything at all for four rounds.  He did start to find his range a little bit and have his moments from there, to the point that I did give him 3 rounds, but he didn’t win any of them clearly.  

 

Undefeated Danish prospect Erik Skoglund predictably had his way with low-level Spanish journeyman Adasat Rodriguez, dominating for 11 rounds before stopping Rodriguez early in the 12th.  

 

No changes this week.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)
Champ: Andre Ward (74-74-74)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 #15 Edwin Rodriguez (as SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward says his manager is working on his next fight despite his lawsuit against promoter Dan Goossen.  He had indicated interest in Golovkin, but the Kazakh’s own trainer recently said his fighter is not ready for that fight.
1) Adonis Stevenson (35-35-35)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO6 #6 Tony Bellew
Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #6 Andrzej Fonfara
According to Ringtv.com, Stevenson-Fonfara will most likely land on May 24.  After that, it looks like the Kovalev fight will happen in late 2014.
2) Bernard Hopkins (74-400-400)
Last Fight: 10/26/2013- UD12 Karo Murat (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. Beibut Shumenov (UNR)
Golden Boy has reportedly closed the deal on Hopkins-Shumenov, with March or April expected.
3) Jean Pascal (3-3-3)
Last Fight: 1/18/2014- UD12 #16 Lucian Bute
Next Fight: Unknown
Pascal appears to be fully back from his 2 years in the desert, figuratively speaking, having dominated an apparently shopworn Bute.
4) Sergey Kovalev (3-55-55)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO2 Ismayl Sillakh (UNR)
Next Fight: 3/29/2014- vs. Unknown Opponent
Kovalev is likely to fight Stevenson in late 2014, and has a March 29 fight coming up in Atlantic City- perhaps with Cedric Agnew.
5) Chad Dawson (3-401-401)
Last Fight: 6/8/2013- L(TKO1) vs. SMW #6 Adonis Stevenson
Next Fight: Unknown
Dawson is now a promotional free agent, and is looking to sign with a top promoter to start rebuilding after a rough year.  He says he is interested in a Stevenson rematch.  Prospects for another occasionally-discussed rematch- with Jean Pascal- increased recently with word that Pascal’s trainer offered Dawson a contract.
6) Andrzej Fonfara (3-25-82)
Last Fight: 12/6/2013- KO2 Samuel Miller (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #1 Adonis Stevenson
May 24 looks likely for Fonfara-Stevenson.
7) Tony Bellew (3-121-121)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- L (TKO6) vs. #1 Adonis Stevenson
Next Fight: 3/15/2013- vs. Valery Brudov (UNR) (at CW)
Bellew plans a move to cruiserweight, and his first fight there is scheduled for March 15 in Liverpool, against Valery Brudov.
8) Gabriel Campillo (3-189-189)
Last Fight: 8/16/2013- L (KO9) vs. #14 Andrzej Fonfara
Next Fight: Unknown
Campillo might be on his way to deserved obscurity after being robbed of deserved prominence for so much of his career.  He still has plenty of boxing skill, but his will might be fading just a bit.  For anyone who is wondering he says he plans to make another push for a title, rather than retiring.
9) Tavoris Cloud (3-232-232)
Last Fight: 9/28/2013- L (TKO7) vs. #1 Adonis Stevenson
Next Fight: Unknown
Cloud should probably get himself back in the win column at some point.
10) Nathan Cleverly (3-209-209)
Last Fight: 8/17/2013- L (TKO4) vs. #3 Sergey Kovalev
Next Fight: Unknown
Cleverly’s cruiserweight debut is once again delayed by what’s being called a minor injury.  His promoter says he intends to schedule him another fight very soon.
11) Isaac Chilemba (3-105)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD8 Michael Gbenga (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
12) Jürgen Brähmer (3-94)
Last Fight: 12/14/2013- UD12 Marcus Oliveira (UNR)
Next Fight: 4/5/2014- vs. Enzo Maccarinelli (UNR)
Braehmer returns April 5 in Rostock, Germany against moderately resurgent Welshman Enzo Maccarinelli.
13) Karo Murat (2-15)
Last Fight: 10/26/2013- L (UD12) vs. #2 Bernard Hopkins
Next Fight: Unknown
Murat is a free agent after his contract with Sauerland recently expired.
14) Thomas Williams, Jr. (2-2)
Last Fight: 1/24/2014- TKO1 #13 Cornelius White
Next Fight: Unknown
Williams has been well-matched against vulnerable guys with good resumes.
15) Cedric Agnew (3-43)
Last Fight: 4/12/2013- UD12 #14 Yusaf Mack
Next Fight: Unknown
Agnew was ordered to defend his regional title against fringe contender Anatoliy Dudchenko, and also appears to have the option of fighting Sukhotsky for a position as IBF mandatory.  Even so, he’s now being mentioned as a possible March opponent for Sergey Kovalev.
16) Edwin Rodriguez (3-30)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez’s trainer Ronnie Shields opines that a fight against a top-15 level light heavyweight would be a good jumping-off point for his anticipated permanent move up.  Before that happens, he’ll need to recover from minor elbow surgery he had in December.
17) Hadillah Mohoumadi (15-32)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO5 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
18) Cornelius White (2-112)
Last Fight: 1/24/2014- L (TKO1) vs. Thomas Williams, Jr. (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Never blessed with big-time promotional or managerial ties, White has risked becoming a permanent opponent with his last two losses.
19) Eleider Alvarez (2-54)
Last Fight: 1/18/2014- UD10 Andy Gardiner (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Alvarez may have been suffering from a letdown after Oosthuizen withdrew from what could have been the Colombian’s biggest fight ever, and almost let it effect him to the point of losing to an unheralded undefeated prospect in Gardiner.
20) Lucian Bute (2-66)
Last Fight: 1/18/2014- L (UD12) vs. Jean Pascal (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Bute looks rather shopworn after the brutal beating at the hands of Froch, the close pitched battle with Grachev, and the humiliation at the hands of Pascal.

 

The Week Ahead: Light Heavyweight is no exception to the general rule of no fights, as the Olympics kick off this week.
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Light Heavyweight: 2014, Jan 27- Feb 2

Posted in Light Heavyweight, Rankings with tags , , , , , , , on May 10, 2014 by danboxing
The week’s most important fight was the Friday Night Fights clash in Shelton, Washington between underrated #13 Cornelius White and well-connected undefeated prospect Thomas Williams, Jr.  In a single action-packed round, Williams dropped White with a left that may not even have landed, but which nevertheless caused an off-balance White to take a seat.  Later in the round, Williams caught White on the top of the head as he carelessly leaned forward.  This appeared to hurt him, and Williams displayed his killer instinct by peppering White on the ropes, causing referee Bobby Howard to stop it with only a matter of a few seconds remaining in the round.  But in between, White nailed Williams with a beautiful left that arrived first in an exchange, and dropped the prospect pretty hard.  The best knockdown punch of the night was White’s, but his chin- combined with a fair amount of sloppiness- really let him down in this fight.  An inescapable conclusion has emerged with regard to White’s career: if you can punch at a world class level or thereabouts (Williams, Kovalev, and Don George), you’re going to get him out of there early, since the opportunity is definitely there.  If you can’t (Despaigne and Sukhotsky), you might be in for a tough night, as he beat up those to guys in (non-televised) distance fights.

 

That same night in Pinamar, Argentina, fringe contender Roberto Feliciano Bolonti knocked out decent-ish journeyman Jose Clavero late in the 6th round of a scheduled 10.  

 

Saturday on the non-televised portion of the Mikey Garcia card in New York, undefeated local prospect Sean Monaghan blitzed faded journeyman Matt Vanda, stopping him in the closing seconds of the opening round.  Vanda announced his retirement after the fight.

 

Williams’ win allows him to debut at #14, with Karo Murat still taking precedence with his draw against Campillo.  White slumps to #18, rescued from total obscurity by his still-relevant 2012 win over Sukhotsky.  Sukhotsky himself is forced out in the transaction, after 9 weeks in.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)
Champ: Andre Ward (73-73-73)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD12 #15 Edwin Rodriguez (as SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward says his manager is working on his next fight despite his lawsuit against promoter Dan Goossen.  He had indicated interest in Golovkin, but the Kazakh’s own trainer recently said his fighter is not ready for that fight.
1) Adonis Stevenson (34-34-34)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO6 #6 Tony Bellew
Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #6 Andrzej Fonfara
According to Ringtv.com, Stevenson-Fonfara will most likely land on May 24.
2) Bernard Hopkins (73-399-399)
Last Fight: 10/26/2013- UD12 Karo Murat (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. Beibut Shumenov (UNR)
Golden Boy has reportedly closed the deal on Hopkins-Shumenov, with March or April expected.
3) Jean Pascal (2-2-2)
Last Fight: 1/18/2014- UD12 #16 Lucian Bute
Next Fight: Unknown
Pascal appears to be fully back from his 2 years in the desert, figuratively speaking, having dominated an apparently shopworn Bute.
4) Sergey Kovalev (2-54-54)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO2 Ismayl Sillakh (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Kovalev is actively pursuing a fight with a seemingly reluctant Stevenson, and says he’s open to fighting Ward at 175, too.  More recently, there is talk of a March 15 bout, with Pascal being one possibility.
5) Chad Dawson (2-400-400)
Last Fight: 6/8/2013- L(TKO1) vs. SMW #6 Adonis Stevenson
Next Fight: Unknown
Dawson is now a promotional free agent, and is looking to sign with a top promoter to start rebuilding after a rough year.  He says he is interested in a Stevenson rematch.  Prospects for another occasionally-discussed rematch- with Jean Pascal- increased recently with word that Pascal’s trainer offered Dawson a contract.
6) Andrzej Fonfara (2-24-81)
Last Fight: 12/6/2013- KO2 Samuel Miller (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. #1 Adonis Stevenson
See Stevenson’s notes, above.
7) Tony Bellew (2-120-120)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- L (TKO6) vs. #1 Adonis Stevenson
Next Fight: 3/15/2013- vs. Valery Brudov (UNR) (at CW)
Bellew plans a move to cruiserweight, and his first fight there is scheduled for March 15 in Liverpool, against Valery Brudov.
8) Gabriel Campillo (2-188-188)
Last Fight: 8/16/2013- L (KO9) vs. #14 Andrzej Fonfara
Next Fight: Unknown
Campillo might be on his way to deserved obscurity after being robbed of deserved prominence for so much of his career.  He still has plenty of boxing skill, but his will might be fading just a bit.  For anyone who is wondering he says he plans to make another push for a title, rather than retiring.
9) Tavoris Cloud (2-231-231)
Last Fight: 9/28/2013- L (TKO7) vs. #1 Adonis Stevenson
Next Fight: Unknown
Cloud should probably get himself back in the win column at some point.
10) Nathan Cleverly (2-208-208)
Last Fight: 8/17/2013- L (TKO4) vs. #3 Sergey Kovalev
Next Fight: Unknown
Cleverly’s cruiserweight debut is once again delayed by what’s being called a minor injury.  His promoter says he intends to schedule him another fight very soon.
11) Isaac Chilemba (2-104)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- UD8 Michael Gbenga (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
12) Jürgen Brähmer (2-93)
Last Fight: 12/14/2013- UD12 Marcus Oliveira (UNR)
Next Fight: 4/5/2014- vs. Enzo Maccarinelli (UNR)
Braehmer returns April 5 in Rostock, Germany against moderately resurgent Welshman Enzo Maccarinelli.
13) Karo Murat (1-14)
Last Fight: 10/26/2013- L (UD12) vs. #2 Bernard Hopkins
Next Fight: Unknown
Murat is a free agent after his contract with Sauerland recently expired.
14) Thomas Williams, Jr. (1-1)
Last Fight: 1/24/2014- TKO1 #13 Cornelius White
Next Fight: Unknown
Williams has been well-matched against vulnerable guys with good resumes.
15) Cedric Agnew (2-42)
Last Fight: 4/12/2013- UD12 #14 Yusaf Mack
Next Fight: Unknown
Agnew was ordered to defend his regional title against fringe contender Anatoliy Dudchenko, and also appears to have the option of fighting Sukhotsky for a position as IBF mandatory.  Even so, he’s now being mentioned as a possible March opponent for Sergey Kovalev.
16) Edwin Rodriguez (2-29)
Last Fight: 11/16/2013- L (UD12) vs. Champ Andre Ward
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez’s trainer Ronnie Shields opines that a fight against a top-15 level light heavyweight would be a good jumping-off point for his anticipated permanent move up.  Before that happens, he’ll need to recover from minor elbow surgery he had in December.
17) Hadillah Mohoumadi (14-31)
Last Fight: 11/30/2013- TKO5 Bartlomiej Grafka (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
18) Cornelius White (1-111)
Last Fight: 1/24/2014- L (TKO1) vs. Thomas Williams, Jr. (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Never blessed with big-time promotional or managerial ties, White has risked becoming a permanent opponent with his last two losses.
19) Eleider Alvarez (1-53)
Last Fight: 1/18/2014- UD10 Andy Gardiner (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Alvarez may have been suffering from a letdown after Oosthuizen withdrew from what could have been the Colombian’s biggest fight ever, and almost let it effect him to the point of losing to an unheralded undefeated prospect in Gardiner.
20) Lucian Bute (1-65)
Last Fight: 1/18/2014- L (UD12) vs. Jean Pascal (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Bute looks rather shopworn after the brutal beating at the hands of Froch, the close pitched battle with Grachev, and the humiliation at the hands of Pascal.
 

 

The Week Ahead: 
Friday
Blake Caparello vs. Elvir Muriqi; West Orange, NJ; ESPN2 (US)
Top Australian prospect Caparello makes his US debut in a Friday Night Fights main event against Kosovar journeyman Muriqi, who made a name for himself by losing a very close decision to post-Rocky Balboa-gig Antonio Tarver in 2007, but who has been in steady decline since then.

 

Saturday
Erik Skoglund vs. Adasat Rodriguez; Fredrikshavn, Denmark; 3+ (Denmark)
Skoglund is a Danish undefeated prospect- still largely untested- who has nevertheless made a bit of hay with his close win in 2013 over fellow undefeated prospect Luke Blackledge.  I can’t vouch for that result, since I can’t find a video of the close decision in Skoglund’s back yard.  Rodriguez is a low-level Spanish journeyman at 9-2-1.  His losses weren’t against anybody special, so it should be an easy night for the Dane.

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Light Heavyweight: 2013, Oct 21-27

Posted in Light Heavyweight, Rankings with tags , , , , , , , on December 24, 2013 by danboxing
Undefeated Australian prospect Blake Caparello easily out-boxed and out-punched a clearly disinterested Allan Green, who heralded his inauspicious performance by showing up 6.5 pounds overweight for what was supposed to be a minor title fight.   Caparello won by scores of 117-111, 118-110, and 119-109.  I agreed with the first score, since Caparello did take a round or two off himself, but all were reasonable.

 

Hmm…how to evaluate the win.  Allan Green is a relatively big, flashy name, even after a few years of weight issues and inconsistency.  He was kinda-sorta in the Super Six.  He beat Renan St. Juste recently, and showed guts in doing so.  But he also came in overweight for that fight.  In the 3 years since he lost to Glen Johnson in his last fight at 168, he’s made 175 only twice.  And frankly I think he was a fair bit overrated even back then.  I can’t see him as much more than a #35-range gatekeeper at this point, and by his obvious lack of desire, I think that is a bit on the flattering side. 

 

Given that assessment of Green, this ends up going in the books as just a modest step up for Caparello.  He’s now got 3 top-50 wins on his resume, but still hasn’t scored one quite impressive enough to overcome the likes of a Dmitry Sukhotsky.  As a result, he settles in right at the edge of what I call fringe contention- essentially the top 25.

 

Oh, and apparently Hadillah Mohoumadi snuck in a first-round TKO over some nobody named Raimonds Sniedze in France.

 

No changes this week.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)
Champ: Andre Ward (59-59-59)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO10 Champ Chad Dawson (at SMW)
Next Fight: 11/16/2013- vs. #14 Edwin Rodriguez (at SMW)
After tons of posturing, Ward-Rodriguez is now done for 11/16 in Ontario, California.
1) Adonis Stevenson (20-20-20)
Last Fight: 9/28/2013- TKO7 #8 Tavoris Cloud
Next Fight: 11/30/2013- vs. #6 Tony Bellew
Stevenson is set to fight Tony Bellew on November 30 in a quick turnaround from his fight two months earlier.
2) Bernard Hopkins (59-385-385)
Last Fight: 3/9/2012- UD12 #6 Tavoris Cloud
Next Fight: 10/26/2013- vs. Karo Murat (UNR)
Hopkins-Murat has been reset for October 26, with Showtime televising.
3) Sergey Kovalev (19-40-40)
Last Fight: 8/17/2013- TKO4 #8 Nathan Cleverly
Next Fight: 11/30/2013- vs. Ismayl Sillakh (UNR)
Kovalev will fight Ismayl Sillakh on a twin bill with Stevenson-Bellew on HBO November 30.
4) Chad Dawson (19-386-386)
Last Fight: 6/8/2013- L(TKO1) vs. SMW #6 Adonis Stevenson
Next Fight: Unknown
Dawson may be returning sometime in November.
5) Andrzej Fonfara (10-10-67)
Last Fight: 8/16/2013- KO9 #6 Gabriel Campillo
Next Fight: 12/6/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent
Fonfara will return on December 6, on the Chicago undercard of Wlodarczyk-Fragomeni III.
6) Tony Bellew (10-106-106)
Last Fight: 5/25/2013- UD12 #7 Isaac Chilemba
Next Fight: 11/30/2013- vs. #1 Adonis Stevenson
Bellew will fight Stevenson on his November 30 birthday.
7) Gabriel Campillo (10-174-174)
Last Fight: 8/16/2013- L (KO9) vs. #14 Andrzej Fonfara
Next Fight: Unknown
Campillo might be on his way to deserved obscurity after being robbed of deserved prominence for so much of his career.  He still has plenty of boxing skill, but his will might be fading just a bit.
8) Tavoris Cloud (10-217-217)
Last Fight: 9/28/2013- L (TKO7) vs. #1 Adonis Stevenson
Next Fight: Unknown
Cloud should probably get himself back in the win column at some point.
9) Nathan Cleverly (10-194-194)
Last Fight: 8/17/2013- L (TKO4) vs. #3 Sergey Kovalev
Next Fight: Unknown
After originally indicating retirement as a possibility, Cleverly has now called for a rematch with Kovalev.  He obviously could stand to rebuild a bit first, though.  More recently, he’s hinted at a possible move to Cruiser.
10) Isaac Chilemba (10-30-90)
Last Fight: 5/25/2013- L (UD12) vs. #9 Tony Bellew
Next Fight: 11/16/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent
Chilemba has recently signed with Main Events, the Northeastern US-based promotional outfit whose NBC affiliation has them solidly in the 2nd tier of American promotional firms, behind Golden Boy and Top Rank.  They’ll have him back in the ring on November 16 in New York.
11) Cornelius White (10-97)
Last Fight: 6/14/2013- L (TKO3) vs. #5 Sergey Kovalev
Next Fight: Unknown
White was blasted out by Kovalev, but at least he has good company in that regard.
12) Jürgen Brähmer (9-79)
Last Fight: 8/24/2013- UD12 Stefano Abatangelo (UNR)
Next Fight: 12/14/2013- vs. Marcus Oliveira (UNR)
Since getting dominated in your title fight, fighting journeymen, and then taking two years off is the required resume for becoming a WBA Super Champion, Beibut Shumenov has now assumed that dubious title.  Braehmer will now fight prospect Marcus Oliveira for the “regular” title on December 14 in Neubrandenburg, Germany.
13) Cedric Agnew (9-28)
Last Fight: 4/12/2013- UD12 #14 Yusaf Mack
Next Fight: Unknown
Agnew was approved by HBO as a potential November 30 opponent for Kovalev, but reportedly turned down the opportunity.
14) Edwin Rodriguez (10-15)
Last Fight: 7/13/2013- TKO1 #16 Denis Grachev
Next Fight: 11/16/2013- vs. Champ Andre Ward (at SMW)
See Ward’s notes, above.
15) Lucian Bute (15-51)
Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD12 #16 Denis Grachev
Next Fight: 1/18/2014- vs. Jean Pascal (UNR)
Bute-Pascal has been pushed back to January 18.
16) Hadillah Mohoumadi (15-17)
Last Fight: 10/17/2013- TKO1 Raimonds Sniedze (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
17) Eleider Alvarez (4-39)
Last Fight: 9/28/2013- UD10 Edison Miranda (UNR)
Next Fight: 1/18/2013- vs. #6 SMW Thomas Oosthuizen
Alvarez is scheduled to fight Oosthuizen in January, but likely only if Oosthuizen gets past Maderna in November.
18) Enzo Maccarinelli (4-10)
Last Fight: 8/17/2013- TKO11 Ovill McKenzie (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Maccarinelli has revitalized his career to an extent with the gutsy McKenzie win.
19) Denis Grachev (4-78)
Last Fight: 7/13/2013- L (TKO1) vs. #13 SMW Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
20) Dmitry Sukhotsky (4-156)
Last Fight: 6/4/2013- KO3 Mikhail Krinitsin (UNR) (at SMW)
Next Fight: 11/23/2013- vs. Eduard Gutknecht (UNR)
Looks like Sukhotsky is returning to 175 just in the nick of time to save his ranking, clashing with former 168 contender Eddy Gutknecht on November 23.

 

The Week Ahead: The big fight this week features #2 Bernard Hopkins- now closing in on 49 years old- looking to continue his improbable streak of wins at his advanced age, and doing so against a pretty solid and possibly underrated opponent in Karo Murat.  I believe Murat was ranked around #6 when he was removed due to his failure to schedule a fight after being snubbed by Nathan Cleverly for a title shot, and he earned a draw with Campillo to get there.  He’s obviously not the name that Pascal and Cloud were, but both of those guys fought with flawed game plans that allowed the geriatric Hopkins to cruise to victories that were much easier than they ought to have been.  If Murat just fights an honest, aggressive fight, he should be more than capable of testing Hopkins- especially if he’s been winning partly on smoke and mirrors as I rather suspect.  We’ll find out Saturday, in Atlantic City and on Showtime.

 

Earlier in the night, on the Arthur Abraham undercard in Oldenburg, undefeated but crude German prospect Robert Woge will take a major step up in competition against Ukrainian gatekeeper Anatoliy Dudchenko.  Dudchenko is unofficially ranked #31 in my private rankings, while Woge barely escaped his last major outing, hitting what was akin to an 11-run homer in knocking out Hakim Zoulikha in the 11th round after not legitimately winning any of the first ten.  I strongly favor Dudchenko to get the better of the contest, but it’s hard to beat a Sauerland fighter on a Sauerland card.  Case in point- in the aforementioned Woge-Zoulikha fight, all of the pathetic judges had Woge up, and two of them had him up big.  That, in a fight that was 98-92 Zoulikha at the absolute minimum.  Needless to say, I’ll probably watch this one for accuracy even if Woge wins what looks like a clear decision.

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Light Heavyweight: 2013, Oct 14-20

Posted in Light Heavyweight, Rankings with tags , , , , , , , on December 20, 2013 by danboxing
Thursday in Auckland, New Zealand fringe contender Robert Berridge predictably knocked out low-level Argentine journeyman Mariano Riva in three rounds.  

 

The following night in Parkville, Australia, middleweight prospect Jarrod Fletcher won every round of a 6-rounder against low-level Queensland journeyman Tim Kanofski.

 

Saturday in Guarulhos, Brazil, one-loss Brazilian prospect Jackson Junior got probably as big a win as he’s had since winning the Brazilian title a couple years ago, stopping veteran Argentine journeyman Francisco Mora in three.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)
Champ: Andre Ward (58-58-58)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO10 Champ Chad Dawson (at SMW)
Next Fight: 11/16/2013- vs. #14 Edwin Rodriguez (at SMW)
After tons of posturing, Ward-Rodriguez is now done for 11/16 in Ontario, California.
1) Adonis Stevenson (19-19-19)
Last Fight: 9/28/2013- TKO7 #8 Tavoris Cloud
Next Fight: 11/30/2013- vs. #6 Tony Bellew
Stevenson is set to fight Tony Bellew on November 30 in a quick turnaround from his fight two months earlier.
2) Bernard Hopkins (58-384-384)
Last Fight: 3/9/2012- UD12 #6 Tavoris Cloud
Next Fight: 10/26/2013- vs. Karo Murat (UNR)
Hopkins-Murat has been reset for October 26, with Showtime televising.
3) Sergey Kovalev (18-39-39)
Last Fight: 8/17/2013- TKO4 #8 Nathan Cleverly
Next Fight: 11/30/2013- vs. Ismayl Sillakh (UNR)
Kovalev will fight Ismayl Sillakh on a twin bill with Stevenson-Bellew on HBO November 30.
4) Chad Dawson (18-385-385)
Last Fight: 6/8/2013- L(TKO1) vs. SMW #6 Adonis Stevenson
Next Fight: Unknown
Dawson may be returning sometime in November.
5) Andrzej Fonfara (9-9-66)
Last Fight: 8/16/2013- KO9 #6 Gabriel Campillo
Next Fight: Unknown
See Kovalev’s notes, above.
6) Tony Bellew (9-105-105)
Last Fight: 5/25/2013- UD12 #7 Isaac Chilemba
Next Fight: 11/30/2013- vs. #1 Adonis Stevenson
Bellew will fight Stevenson on his November 30 birthday.
7) Gabriel Campillo (9-173-173)
Last Fight: 8/16/2013- L (KO9) vs. #14 Andrzej Fonfara
Next Fight: Unknown
Campillo might be on his way to deserved obscurity after being robbed of deserved prominence for so much of his career.  He still has plenty of boxing skill, but his will might be fading just a bit.
8) Tavoris Cloud (9-216-216)
Last Fight: 9/28/2013- L (TKO7) vs. #1 Adonis Stevenson
Next Fight: Unknown
Cloud should probably get himself back in the win column at some point.
9) Nathan Cleverly (9-193-193)
Last Fight: 8/17/2013- L (TKO4) vs. #3 Sergey Kovalev
Next Fight: Unknown
After originally indicating retirement as a possibility, Cleverly has now called for a rematch with Kovalev.  He obviously could stand to rebuild a bit first, though.  More recently, he’s hinted at a possible move to Cruiser.
10) Isaac Chilemba (9-29-89)
Last Fight: 5/25/2013- L (UD12) vs. #9 Tony Bellew
Next Fight: 11/16/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent
Chilemba has recently signed with Main Events, the Northeastern US-based promotional outfit whose NBC affiliation has them solidly in the 2nd tier of American promotional firms, behind Golden Boy and Top Rank.  They’ll have him back in the ring on November 16 in New York.
11) Cornelius White (9-96)
Last Fight: 6/14/2013- L (TKO3) vs. #5 Sergey Kovalev
Next Fight: Unknown
White was blasted out by Kovalev, but at least he has good company in that regard.
12) Jürgen Brähmer (8-78)
Last Fight: 8/24/2013- UD12 Stefano Abatangelo (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown Date- vs. Marcus Oliveira (UNR)
Since getting dominated in your title fight, fighting journeymen, and then taking two years off is the required resume for becoming a WBA Super Champion, Beibut Shumenov has now assumed that dubious title.  Braehmer will now fight prospect Marcus Oliveira for the “regular” title.  The fight will reportedly be held later this year, likely in Berlin.
13) Cedric Agnew (8-27)
Last Fight: 4/12/2013- UD12 #14 Yusaf Mack
Next Fight: Unknown
Agnew was approved by HBO as a potential November 30 opponent for Kovalev, but reportedly turned down the opportunity.
14) Edwin Rodriguez (9-14)
Last Fight: 7/13/2013- TKO1 #16 Denis Grachev
Next Fight: 11/16/2013- vs. Champ Andre Ward (at SMW)
See Ward’s notes, above.
15) Lucian Bute (14-50)
Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD12 #16 Denis Grachev
Next Fight: 1/18/2014- vs. Jean Pascal (UNR)
Bute-Pascal has been pushed back to January 18.
16) Hadillah Mohoumadi (14-16)
Last Fight: 6/29/2013- TKO7 CW #20 Pawel Glazewski
Next Fight: Unknown
Mohoumadi’s fight with De Carolis was briefly rescheduled, but then appears to have been cancelled entirely.
17) Eleider Alvarez (3-38)
Last Fight: 9/28/2013- UD10 Edison Miranda (UNR)
Next Fight: 1/18/2013- vs. #6 SMW Thomas Oosthuizen
18) Enzo Maccarinelli (3-9)
Last Fight: 8/17/2013- TKO11 Ovill McKenzie (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Maccarinelli has revitalized his career to an extent with the gutsy McKenzie win.
19) Denis Grachev (3-77)
Last Fight: 7/13/2013- L (TKO1) vs. #13 SMW Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
20) Dmitry Sukhotsky (3-155)
Last Fight: 6/4/2013- KO3 Mikhail Krinitsin (UNR) (at SMW)
Next Fight: 11/23/2013- vs. Eduard Gutknecht (UNR)
Looks like Sukhotsky is returning to 175 just in the nick of time to save his ranking, clashing with former 168 contender Eddy Gutknecht on November 23.

 

The Week Ahead: Thursday in Flemington, Australia, fringe contending undefeated local prospect Blake Caparello battles veteran gatekeeper Allan Green.

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Light Heavyweight: 2013, Jul 29- Aug 4

Posted in Light Heavyweight, Rankings with tags , , , , , , , on August 3, 2013 by danboxing
Thursday in Flemington, Australia, undefeated prospect Blake Caparello ground out a slow and competitive decision with gatekeeper Daniel MacKinnon, taking it by majority decision.  It was that kind of fight.  One judge had it a draw, one had it wide, and one had if semi-close.  I had it 117-111 for Caparello, but literally the majority of rounds could have gone either way.

 

Caparello moves into roughly the top 25 with the win.  It wasn’t higher because he’d beaten the same level of opponent before, so he only really advanced in terms of quantity.  No changes this week.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)
Champ: Andre Ward (47-47-47)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO10 Champ Chad Dawson (at SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward has offers more or less on the table to fight Froch or Stevenson.  He is trying to split with promoter Dan Goossen, though, which could conceivably complicate matters.
1) Adonis Stevenson (8-8-8)
Last Fight: 6/8/2013- TKO1 #1 Chad Dawson
Next Fight: Unknown
Sounds like it’s Stevenson-Cloud in September, with the winner to fight Bellew in November. 
2) Bernard Hopkins (47-373-373)
Last Fight: 3/9/2012- UD12 #6 Tavoris Cloud
Next Fight: 10/19/2013- vs. Karo Murat (UNR)
Golden Boy says the fight with Murat is made for 10/19, though they are still working on an agreement with Showtime to televised the fight.
3) Sergey Kovalev (7-28-28)
Last Fight: 6/14/2013- TKO3 #10 Cornelius White
Next Fight: 8/17/2013- vs. #8 Nathan Cleverly
Kovalev had the inside track to fight Hopkins, but instead opted for a sure thing against Cleverly.
4) Chad Dawson (7-374-374)
Last Fight: 6/8/2013- L(TKO1) vs. SMW #6 Adonis Stevenson
Next Fight: Unknown
Dawson’s career is suddenly in an all-out tailspin just 2 fights after winning the lineal title from Hopkins.
5) Tony Bellew (7-94-94)
Last Fight: 5/25/2013- UD12 #7 Isaac Chilemba
Next Fight: 11/30/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent
Bellew is scheduled to fight the Stevenson-Cloud winner on his November 30 birthday.
6) Gabriel Campillo (8-162-162)
Last Fight: 6/14/2013- TKO2 Ionut Trandafir Ilie (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/16/2013- vs. #14 Andrzej Fonfara
Campillo will fight Fonfara in an interesting crossroads fight at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
7) Tavoris Cloud (8-205-205)
Last Fight: 3/9/2013- L (UD12) vs. #2 Bernard Hopkins
Next Fight: Unknown
See Stevenson’s notes, above.
8) Nathan Cleverly (8-182-182)
Last Fight: 4/20/2013- UD12 Robin Krasniqi (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/17/2013- vs. #3 Sergey Kovalev
Kovalev-Cleverly is done for 8/17 in Cardiff, with HBO to televise in the states.
9) Isaac Chilemba (8-18-78)
Last Fight: 5/25/2013- L (UD12) vs. #9 Tony Bellew
Next Fight: Unknown
Chilemba may have lost the second fight to Bellew in his opponent’s back yard, but between the two fights, he’s managed to elevate himself somewhat.
10) Cornelius White (8-55-85)
Last Fight: 6/14/2013- L (TKO3) vs. #5 Sergey Kovalev
Next Fight: Unknown
White was blasted out by Kovalev, but at least he has good company in that regard.
11) Cedric Agnew (8-16)
Last Fight: 4/12/2013- UD12 #14 Yusaf Mack
Next Fight: Unknown
Agnew may have caught a fading Yusaf Mack at the right time, but he’s clearly a climber, having now beaten both Mack and Otis Griffin.
12) Jürgen Brähmer (8-67)
Last Fight: 4/27/2013- TKO2 Tony Averlant (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/24/2013- vs. Stefano Abatangelo (UNR)
Braehmer will take on low-level Italian gatekeeper Abatangelo on August 24, while awaiting a title shot.
13) Edwin Rodriguez (3-3)
Last Fight: 7/13/2013- TKO1 #16 Denis Grachev
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez turned in a career-best performance against Grachev, and thus has earned a ranking in a division he has no intention of continuing in.  He wants Ward or Bika next.
14) Andrzej Fonfara (3-55)
Last Fight: 11/16/2012- TKO7 Tommy Karpency (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/16/2013- vs. #6 Gabriel Campillo
Fonfara will get a huge opportunity to launch himself into the top 5 when he takes on Gabriel Campillo in Chicago.
15) Lucian Bute (3-39)
Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD12 #16 Denis Grachev
Next Fight: 12/7/2013- vs. Jean Pascal (UNR)
Bute-Pascal has been rescheduled tentatively for December 7 after Bute suffered a hand injury.  They’ve also reserved January 25 as a back-up plan.  Either way, it will be in Montreal.
16) Hadillah Mohoumadi (3-5)
Last Fight: 6/29/2013- TKO7 CW #20 Pawel Glazewski
Next Fight: Unknown
Often robbed at 168, Mohoumadi took matters into his hands in his first major outing at 175 by stopping the local favorite.
17) Denis Grachev (3-66)
Last Fight: 7/13/2013- L (TKO1) vs. #13 SMW Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
18) Dmitry Sukhotsky (3-144)
Last Fight: 6/4/2013- KO3 Mikhail Krinitsin (UNR) (at SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
Sukhotsky may be sticking around at 168 from now on, but only time will tell.  He has until December to schedule a fight at 175 if he wants to keep his ranking.
19) Eleider Alvarez (3-27)
Last Fight: 3/22/2013- TKO3 Nicholson Poulard (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Alvarez was ready to tolerate Allan Green’s almost comical failure to make weight, but the fight was scrapped anyway due to Green’s hospitalization with what the Green camp claims was food poisoning.  No word yet on Alvarez’s next move.
20) Yunieski Gonzalez (3-20)
Last Fight: 6/15/2013- KO7 Emiliano Cayetano (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Gonzalez snuck in a very low-profile knockout over low-level journeyman Emiliano Cayetano in the Dominican Republic.   Strictly stay-busy material.

 

The Week Ahead: No fights of note in the division this week.

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Light Heavyweight: 2013, Jul 22-28

Posted in Light Heavyweight, Rankings with tags , , , , , , , on July 23, 2013 by danboxing
Nothing going on at 175 this week.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)
Champ: Andre Ward (46-46-46)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO10 Champ Chad Dawson (at SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward has offers more or less on the table to fight Froch or Stevenson.  He is trying to split with promoter Dan Goossen, though, which could conceivably complicate matters.
1) Adonis Stevenson (7-7-7)
Last Fight: 6/8/2013- TKO1 #1 Chad Dawson
Next Fight: Unknown
Stevenson and Hopkins reportedly wanted to fight each other, but HBO threw a tantrum and won’t do business with Hopkins because he’s a Golden Boy fighter.  Way to hurt the sport, HBO.  We really needed more of that.  In the meantime, the WBC has scheduled a purse bid for Stevenson-Bellew on July 26, while Stevenson’s promoter says a volunatary defense against Tavoris Cloud is likely for the fall.
2) Bernard Hopkins (46-372-372)
Last Fight: 3/9/2012- UD12 #6 Tavoris Cloud
Next Fight: 10/19/2013- vs. Karo Murat (UNR)
Golden Boy says the fight with Murat is made for 10/19, though they are still working on an agreement with Showtime to televised the fight.
3) Sergey Kovalev (6-27-27)
Last Fight: 6/14/2013- TKO3 #10 Cornelius White
Next Fight: 8/17/2013- vs. #8 Nathan Cleverly
Kovalev had the inside track to fight Hopkins, but instead opted for a sure thing against Cleverly.
4) Chad Dawson (6-373-373)
Last Fight: 6/8/2013- L(TKO1) vs. SMW #6 Adonis Stevenson
Next Fight: Unknown
Dawson’s career is suddenly in an all-out tailspin just 2 fights after winning the lineal title from Hopkins.
5) Tony Bellew (6-93-93)
Last Fight: 5/25/2013- UD12 #7 Isaac Chilemba
Next Fight: Unknown
Bellew’s ultimate triumph over Chilemba has now set him up with a mandatory shot at Stevenson, which would continue the trend of the best fighting the best at 175.  Purse bids are scheduled for July 26, but it sounds like Stevenson is looking at Cloud, instead.
6) Gabriel Campillo (7-161-161)
Last Fight: 6/14/2013- TKO2 Ionut Trandafir Ilie (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/16/2013- vs. #14 Andrzej Fonfara
Campillo will fight Fonfara in an interesting crossroads fight at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
7) Tavoris Cloud (7-204-207)
Last Fight: 3/9/2013- L (UD12) vs. #2 Bernard Hopkins
Next Fight: Unknown
See Stevenson’s notes, above.
8) Nathan Cleverly (7-181-181)
Last Fight: 4/20/2013- UD12 Robin Krasniqi (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/17/2013- vs. #3 Sergey Kovalev
Kovalev-Cleverly is done for 8/17 in Cardiff, with HBO to televise in the states.
9) Isaac Chilemba (7-17-77)
Last Fight: 5/25/2013- L (UD12) vs. #9 Tony Bellew
Next Fight: Unknown
Chilemba may have lost the second fight to Bellew in his opponent’s back yard, but between the two fights, he’s managed to elevate himself somewhat.
10) Cornelius White (7-54-84)
Last Fight: 6/14/2013- L (TKO3) vs. #5 Sergey Kovalev
Next Fight: Unknown
White was blasted out by Kovalev, but at least he has good company in that regard.
11) Cedric Agnew (7-15)
Last Fight: 4/12/2013- UD12 #14 Yusaf Mack
Next Fight: Unknown
Agnew may have caught a fading Yusaf Mack at the right time, but he’s clearly a climber, having now beaten both Mack and Otis Griffin.
12) Jürgen Brähmer (7-66)
Last Fight: 4/27/2013- TKO2 Tony Averlant (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/24/2013- vs. Stefano Abatangelo (UNR)
Braehmer will take on low-level Italian gatekeeper Abatangelo on August 24, while awaiting a title shot.
13) Edwin Rodriguez (2-2)
Last Fight: 7/13/2013- TKO1 #16 Denis Grachev
Next Fight: Unknown
Rodriguez turned in a career-best performance against Grachev, and thus has earned a ranking in a division he has no intention of continuing in.  He wants Ward or Bika next.
14) Andrzej Fonfara (2-54)
Last Fight: 11/16/2012- TKO7 Tommy Karpency (UNR)
Next Fight: 8/16/2013- vs. #6 Gabriel Campillo
Fonfara will get a huge opportunity to launch himself into the top 5 when he takes on Gabriel Campillo in Chicago.
15) Lucian Bute (2-38)
Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD12 #16 Denis Grachev
Next Fight: 12/7/2013- vs. Jean Pascal (UNR)
Bute-Pascal has been rescheduled tentatively for December 7 after Bute suffered a hand injury.  They’ve also reserved January 25 as a back-up plan.  Either way, it will be in Montreal.
16) Hadillah Mohoumadi (2-4)
Last Fight: 6/29/2013- TKO7 CW #20 Pawel Glazewski
Next Fight: Unknown
Often robbed at 168, Mohoumadi took matters into his hands in his first major outing at 175 by stopping the local favorite.
17) Denis Grachev (2-65)
Last Fight: 7/13/2013- L (TKO1) vs. #13 SMW Edwin Rodriguez
Next Fight: Unknown
18) Dmitry Sukhotsky (2-143)
Last Fight: 6/4/2013- KO3 Mikhail Krinitsin (UNR) (at SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
Sukhotsky may be sticking around at 168 from now on, but only time will tell.  He has until December to schedule a fight at 175 if he wants to keep his ranking.
19) Eleider Alvarez (2-26)
Last Fight: 3/22/2013- TKO3 Nicholson Poulard (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Alvarez was ready to tolerate Allan Green’s almost comical failure to make weight, but the fight was scrapped anyway due to Green’s hospitalization with what the Green camp claims was food poisoning.  No word yet on Alvarez’s next move.
20) Yunieski Gonzalez (2-19)
Last Fight: 6/15/2013- KO7 Emiliano Cayetano (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Gonzalez snuck in a very low-profile knockout over low-level journeyman Emiliano Cayetano in the Dominican Republic.   Strictly stay-busy material.

 

The Week Ahead: Thursday in Flemington, Australia, local undefeated prospect Blake Caparello locks horns with Kiwi gatekeeper Daniel MacKinnon.  MacKinnon may or may not be the best opponent Caparello has faced so far, and this one bears watching.

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Light Heavyweight: 2013, Apr 22-28

Posted in Light Heavyweight, Rankings with tags , , , , , , , on April 26, 2013 by danboxing
#9 Nathan Cleverly finally fought his oft-delayed contest with Robin Krasniqi on Saturday in London.  Krasniqi entered as a two-loss top 50 fighter who probably still qualified as a prospect, considering those two losses both came at the very beginning of his career.  Now he’s more like a 3-loss gatekeeper.  Cleverly dominated the fight, losing at most a round or two when he got maybe a bit lazy in the middle rounds, but 2 of the judges quite reasonably scored it a shut.  It was basically seek and destroy in terms of tactics, pressuring and outpunching Krasniqi constantly.  The one negative aspect of his continuous and successful assault on Krasniqi, however, was that it revealed that his punching power is nothing special, since he hurt his man much less often than you might expect from how often he landed cleanly.

 

In the week’s other truly meaningful matchup, one-loss Kiwi prospect Robert Berridge stopped 2-loss prospect Serge Yannick of Melbourne by way of Cameroon to cap a very interesting fight in Footscray, Australia on Thursday.  The fight was very back and forth early, with the fighters evenly splitting the first 4 rounds on my card.  Yannick began to take over in the 4th, dominating round 5 to the point where Berridge looked discouraged.  But then Berridge began to reassert himself from behind, losing a very close call in the 6th on my card, and easily winning the 7th.  By the 8th, Yannick was starting to look a bit ragged- perhaps due to Berridge’s commitment to the body.  It was in this context that Berridge managed to catch Yannick trading with his hands down in the 8th, and dropped him heavily to the canvas.  Yannick stood at the count of 9, looking less than steady.  Referee Tony Marretta allowed the fight to continue, as Yannick got on his bike trying to wake his legs up.  Berridge tracked him down threw a heavy combination that landed entirely on the gloves, but managed to disturb the weakened Yannick’s balance enough to send him down for a second time. 

 

That’s when Marretto screwed up.  He waved off the fight without a count, as if Yannick was either in need of medical attention, or as if there was some kind of two knockdown rule in effect.  Yannick blocked all the punches, so it’s impossible to conclude that he was incapable of defending himself.  Sure, he needed to lose a point for the knockdown, but that fight was not over at that point, and the fight would still have been close on the scorecards despite the 2 knockdowns.  I had Yannick up a point when the round began, and the announcers (no doubt partial to the adopted Australian Yannick) commented at, I believe, the beginning of the 7th round that Berridge actually needed a knockout.  Don’t get me wrong.  I think Berridge likely would have won, probably even by TKO or KO.  But the fight was not over.

 

In a lesser fight that was actually the main event of that particular card in Footscray,  undefeated prospect and prior Berridge conqueror Blake Caparello thoroughly dominated Uruguayan journeyman Jorge Rodriguez, winning every round on every card en route to a 12-round decision.

 

On the Cleverly undercard, used-up gatekeeper Enzo Maccarinelli stopped the awful Carl Wild late in the 6th and final round of their rather insignificant affair. 

 

Berridge fails to make a serious play for the top 20, mainly because he loss to a rather unproven Caparello in the past.  Cleverly, however, makes a surprising move to #7.  Frankly his resume remains very weak in terms of the overall quality of his opposition.  Krasniqi is pretty much in line with the average of those opponents, but the overall volume of top 50 fighters he’s fought allows him to push past Cornelius White and Isaac Chilemba, who despite generally getting better marks on their resume when they do fight, have relatively little experience at the top 50 level in this division.  In comparing him to Chilemba, it was difficult to weight each man’s fight with Tony Bellew.  Despite the scorecards indicating otherwise, I thought that Chilemba pretty clearly beat Bellew while Cleverly pretty clearly lost to him.  In addition, Bellew was more highly-ranked when he fought Chilemba than when he fought Cleverly.  Ultimately Cleverly just had too many fights against gatekeepers and the like, and at some point they have to add up to a really good win or two.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)
Champ: Andre Ward (33-33-33)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO10 Champ Chad Dawson (at SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward is looking to return in August, and is reportedly thinking about fighting one of the winners of Kessler-Froch and Pascal-Bute, at least at some point.
1) Chad Dawson (33-360-360)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- L(TKO10) vs. SMW Champ Andre Ward (at SMW)
Next Fight: 6/8/2013- vs. SMW #7 Adonis Stevenson
Dawson will fight Adonis Stevenson (who moves up from 168) on June 8 in Montreal.
2) Bernard Hopkins (33-359-359)
Last Fight: 3/9/2012- UD12 #6 Tavoris Cloud
Next Fight: 7/27/2013- vs. Karo Murat (UNR)
All the buzz had been revolving around a Hopkins-Cleverly showdown, but with little or no warning, he signed to fight his mandatory, the slightly more proven but inactive Karo Murat, instead.
3) Jean Pascal (33-201-201)
Last Fight: 12/14/2012- UD10 Alexei Kuziemski (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #15 Lucian Bute
Pascal bailed on Dawson for a less internationally compelling fight with Lucian Bute on the same date.
4) Sergey Kovalev (14-14-14)
Last Fight: 1/19/2013- TKO3 #4 Gabriel Campillo
Next Fight: Unknown
5) Gabriel Campillo (14-148-148)
Last Fight: 1/19/2013- L(TKO3) vs. Sergey Kovalev (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
It remains to be seen whether we’ve seen Campillo rapidly decline, have a bad night, or just run into a world-beater.  But he’s still going to be highly ranked because he recently beat the guy ranked right below him.
6) Tavoris Cloud (14-191-191)
Last Fight: 3/9/2013- L (UD12) vs. #2 Bernard Hopkins
Next Fight: Unknown
Cloud’s manager expects him back in action by the end of the year.  Normally that wouldn’t be saying much, but that would be against type for Cloud.
7) Nathan Cleverly (1-168-168)
Last Fight: 4/20/2013- UD12 Robin Krasniqi (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Cleverly has beaten a lot of decent opponents, but we’re still waiting for him to take on a top guy.
8) Isaac Chilemba (1-4-64)
Last Fight: 3/30/2013- Draw* (SD12) vs. #9 Tony Bellew (should be win)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #10 Tony Bellew
That didn’t take long!  Chilemba will rematch Bellew on the Froch-Kessler undercard in London, less than two months removed from getting borderline robbed the first time around.
9) Cornelius White (1-41-71)
Last Fight: 3/9/2013- UD8 Otis Griffin (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
White snuck in an under-the-radar 8-rounder against Otis Griffin.  It was a pound over the limit, but will buy him some more time to stay active at 175, at least.
10) Tony Bellew (4-80-80)
Last Fight: 3/30/2013- Draw* (SD12) vs. #13 Isaac Chilemba (should be loss)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #7 Isaac Chilemba
See Chilemba’s notes, above.
11) Cedric Agnew (2-2)
Last Fight: 4/12/2013- UD12 #14 Yusaf Mack
Next Fight: Unknown
Agnew may have caught a fading Yusaf Mack at the right time, but he’s clearly a climber, having now beaten both Mack and Otis Griffin.
12) Jürgen Brähmer (2-53)
Last Fight: 2/2/2013- UD12 Eduard Gutknecht (UNR)
Next Fight: 4/27/2013- vs. Tony Averlant (UNR)
Braehmer defends his European title in Hamburg on April 27 against journeyman Tony Averlant.  Averlant so far only steps up when he fights for the European belt, having previously been robbed against then-beltholder Eddy Gutknecht, only to get beat by a journeyman himself.
13) Beibut Shumenov (2-148)
Last Fight: 6/2/2012- UD12 Enrique Ornelas (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
14) Andrzej Fonfara (2-41)
Last Fight: 11/16/2012- TKO7 Tommy Karpency (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Fonfara aggravated a previous injury to his right hand and had to withdraw from his ESPN2 fight with Nicholson Poulard.  He will hope that it heals on its own in a month, but if not he will need surgery that would keep him out for an additional 3-6 months.
15) Lucian Bute (3-25)
Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD12 #16 Denis Grachev
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #3 Jean Pascal
Bute will look to prove what I have long believed- that the 168 pound division is much better man-for-man than 175, by fighting his larger peer in Montreal on May 25.
16) Denis Grachev (3-52)
Last Fight: 3/30/2013– W* (SD10) vs. Zsolt Erdei (UNR) (should be draw)
Next Fight: 7/13/2013- vs. SMW #16 Edwin Rodriguez
Grachev will be fighting Edwin Rodriguez at a catchweight of 171.5 in Monte Carlo for a million dollar prize.
17) Dmitri Sukhotski (3-130)
Last Fight: 12/8/2012- TKO1 Vladimir Borovsky (UNR)
Next Fight: 6/4/2013- vs. Mikhail Krinitsin
Sukhotski will fight in Barnaul, Russia on June 4 against low-level Kazakh journeyman Mikhail Krinitsin.
18) Eleider Alvarez (3-13)
Last Fight: 3/22/2013- TKO3 Nicholson Poulard (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent
Alvarez continues to stay busy, as he already has another fight scheduled for the Bute-Pascal undercard on May 25.  No opponent yet, though.
19) Yunieski Gonzalez (3-6)
Last Fight: 3/15/2013- KO8 Rowland Bryant (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Gonzalez took a huge step up in competition and made good, knocking out strong fringe contender Bryant. 
20) Doudou Ngumbu (3-3)
Last Fight: 3/16/2013- UD12 #14 Vyacheslav Uzelkoff
Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: Saturday in Hamburg, #12 Juergen Braehmer takes on journeyman Tony Averlant, who was briefly ranked in the top 20 after getting robbed against the highly overrated Eduard Gutknecht, but resoundingly removed after getting beat by no-account journeyman Mounir Toumi.

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Light Heavyweight: 2013, Apr 15-21

Posted in Light Heavyweight, Rankings with tags , , , , , , , on April 18, 2013 by danboxing
This was one of those rare fights that just plain fell through the cracks video-wise.  A serious undefeated prospect in Cedric Agnew took on a declining top 15 contender in #14 Yusaf Mack in the prototypical crossroads fight in New Buffalo, Michigan, but it was a total media blackout.  Agnew won the decision unanimously, but the scores varied quite a bit.  One judge had it 115-113, while another had it 120-108 and the third came up with 118-110.  Normally I would insist on watching any important fight in which a judge saw it 115-113.  It could be that the judge was off his rocker.  It could be that there were a lot of close rounds in a fight that generally tilted toward Agnew.  But it could also be that it was a razor-thin fight.  Unfortunately we may never know because there isn’t even a youtube video of the fight out there.  For the purposes of the rankings, the median judge will hold sway, and it will be treated as a solid win for Agnew.

 

Another fairly intriguing fight- this one in Vegas- received similar treatment.  Kansas-based Menominee tribe member Marcus Oliveira battled fairly unproven but disproportionately-hyped Don King prospect Ryan Coyne in a fight that was unfortunately and somewhat peculiarly left off the ShoBox broadcast of the card.  Luckily, the result was a bit more clear-cut in this case.  Coyne reportedly started off strong, but was steadily worn down to an 11th round TKO.  Coyne is Oliveira’s best opponent since he knocked out Otis Griffin in 2009, but had not proven himself to be a real top 50 contender yet.  Frankly, in the two or three times I’d seen Coyne live, I never saw anything to convince me he was much more than a regional threat.  I have no doubt he could have edged his way into the Boxrec top 30 or so if carefully matched, but I think he would find himself outgunned against most of his peers at that level.  Despite Oliveira’s inactivity against decent competition, he is most likely at least that good.  On a sideshow sort of side note, this fight between two guys not ranked in the top 50 by Boxrec has apparently produced a ridiculous mandatory challenger to the ridiculous WBA belt ridiculously won and ridiculously still owned by Beibut Shumenov.  This proves once again that Don King completely owns the WBA rankings despite his dwindling stable of talent.

 

Agnew debuts at #11 with the big win, and Mack- a member of my inaugural rankings 147 weeks ago- falls from the rankings for the first time after losing for the first time to an unranked opponent.  This naturally forces everyone ranked #11-13 last week back one spot.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)
Champ: Andre Ward (32-32-32)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO10 Champ Chad Dawson (at SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward’s attention seems fixed a division or two (or three) to the south, as the recent names associated with him have been Chavez, Mayweather, and Golovkin.
1) Chad Dawson (32-359-359)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- L(TKO10) vs. SMW Champ Andre Ward (at SMW)
Next Fight: 6/8/2013- vs. SMW #7 Adonis Stevenson
Dawson will fight Adonis Stevenson (who moves up from 168) on June 8 in Montreal.
2) Bernard Hopkins (32-358-358)
Last Fight: 3/9/2012- UD12 #6 Tavoris Cloud
Next Fight: 7/27/2013- vs. Karo Murat (UNR)
All the buzz had been revolving around a Hopkins-Cleverly showdown, but with little or no warning, he signed to fight his mandatory, the slightly more proven but inactive Karo Murat, instead.
3) Jean Pascal (32-200-200)
Last Fight: 12/14/2012- UD10 Alexei Kuziemski (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #15 Lucian Bute
Pascal bailed on Dawson for a less internationally compelling fight with Lucian Bute on the same date.
4) Sergey Kovalev (13-13-13)
Last Fight: 1/19/2013- TKO3 #4 Gabriel Campillo
Next Fight: Unknown
5) Gabriel Campillo (13-147-147)
Last Fight: 1/19/2013- L(TKO3) vs. Sergey Kovalev (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
It remains to be seen whether we’ve seen Campillo rapidly decline, have a bad night, or just run into a world-beater.  But he’s still going to be highly ranked because he recently beat the guy ranked right below him.
6) Tavoris Cloud (13-190-190)
Last Fight: 3/9/2013- L (UD12) vs. #2 Bernard Hopkins
Next Fight: Unknown
Cloud’s manager expects him back in action by the end of the year.  Normally that wouldn’t be saying much, but that would be against type for Cloud.
7) Isaac Chilemba (3-3-63)
Last Fight: 3/30/2013- Draw* (SD12) vs. #9 Tony Bellew (should be win)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #10 Tony Bellew
That didn’t take long!  Chilemba will rematch Bellew on the Froch-Kessler undercard in London, less than two months removed from getting borderline robbed the first time around.
8) Cornelius White (3-40-70)
Last Fight: 3/9/2013- UD8 Otis Griffin (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
White snuck in an under-the-radar 8-rounder against Otis Griffin.  It was a pound over the limit, but will buy him some more time to stay active at 175, at least.
9) Nathan Cleverly (3-167-167)
Last Fight: 11/10/2012- TKO8 Shawn Hawk (UNR)
Next Fight: 4/20/2013- vs. Robin Krasniqi (UNR)
Cleverly probably has a Hopkins fight waiting for him just a few months after the Krasniqi fight, assuming he wins.
10) Tony Bellew (3-79-79)
Last Fight: 3/30/2013- Draw* (SD12) vs. #13 Isaac Chilemba (should be loss)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #7 Isaac Chilemba
See Chilemba’s notes, above.
11) Cedric Agnew (1-1)
Last Fight: 4/12/2013- UD12 #14 Yusaf Mack
Next Fight: Unknown
Agnew may have caught a fading Yusaf Mack at the right time, but he’s clearly a climber, having now beaten both Mack and Otis Griffin.
12) Jürgen Brähmer (1-52)
Last Fight: 2/2/2013- UD12 Eduard Gutknecht (UNR)
Next Fight: 4/27/2013- vs. Tony Averlant (UNR)
Braehmer defends his European title in Hamburg on April 27 against journeyman Tony Averlant.  Averlant so far only steps up when he fights for the European belt, having previously been robbed against then-beltholder Eddy Gutknecht, only to get beat by a journeyman himself.
13) Beibut Shumenov (1-147)
Last Fight: 6/2/2012- UD12 Enrique Ornelas (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
14) Andrzej Fonfara (1-40)
Last Fight: 11/16/2012- TKO7 Tommy Karpency (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Fonfara aggravated a previous injury to his right hand and had to withdraw from his ESPN2 fight with Nicholson Poulard.  He will hope that it heals on its own in a month, but if not he will need surgery that would keep him out for an additional 3-6 months.
15) Lucian Bute (2-24)
Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD12 #16 Denis Grachev
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #3 Jean Pascal
Bute will look to prove what I have long believed- that the 168 pound division is much better man-for-man than 175, by fighting his larger peer in Montreal on May 25.
16) Denis Grachev (2-51)
Last Fight: 3/30/2013– W* (SD10) vs. Zsolt Erdei (UNR) (should be draw)
Next Fight: 7/13/2013- vs. SMW #16 Edwin Rodriguez
Grachev will be fighting Edwin Rodriguez at a catchweight of 171.5 in Monte Carlo for a million dollar prize.
17) Dmitri Sukhotski (2-129)
Last Fight: 12/8/2012- TKO1 Vladimir Borovsky (UNR)
Next Fight: 6/4/2013- vs. Mikhail Krinitsin
Sukhotski will fight in Barnaul, Russia on June 4 against low-level Kazakh journeyman Mikhail Krinitsin.
18) Eleider Alvarez (2-12)
Last Fight: 3/22/2013- TKO3 Nicholson Poulard (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent
Alvarez continues to stay busy, as he already has another fight scheduled for the Bute-Pascal undercard on May 25.  No opponent yet, though.
19) Yunieski Gonzalez (2-5)
Last Fight: 3/15/2013- KO8 Rowland Bryant (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Gonzalez took a huge step up in competition and made good, knocking out strong fringe contender Bryant. 
20) Doudou Ngumbu (2-2)
Last Fight: 3/16/2013- UD12 #14 Vyacheslav Uzelkoff
Next Fight: Unknown

 

The Week Ahead: Thursday- Two notable fights on one card in Footscray, Australia.  Undefeated prospect Blake Caparello stays busy against Uruguayan journeyman Jorge Rodriguez.  In a much better match-up, Melbourne-based Cameroonian fringe contender Serge Yannick looks to successfully move up from 168 against one-loss Kiwi prospect Robert Berridge, whose lone loss came against the aforementioned Caparello.

 

Saturday- A battle of Frenchmen in France, as fringe contender Nadjib Mohammedi meets mid-level journeyman Hakim Chioui.

 

Meanwhile, #9 Nathan Cleverly finally gets his oft-delayed and only barely worthwhile fight with 2-loss prospect Robin Krasniqi in London.  Fast-fading gatekeeper Enzo Maccarinelli is on the undercard in a 6-rounder against weak journeyman Carl Wild.

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Light Heavyweight: 2013, Mar 4-10

Posted in Light Heavyweight, Rankings with tags , , , , , , , on March 4, 2013 by danboxing
Brisbane, Australia played host to a significant upset on Thursday, when Kiwi journeyman Daniel MacKinnon slipped by Aussie gatekeeper Mark Flanagan by 12-round split decision.  I’m still trying to get my hands on a video, as I am not keen on accepting the official results of especially close fights without watching them.  However, given MacKinnon’s status leading up to the fight- that of a mid-range journeyman- neither man could have hoped for a top 20 spot regardless of the outcome, so the point is moot as it relates to this update.

 

The following night, a ways to the south near Melbourne, undefeated prospect Blake Caparello decisioned weak journeyman Ayittey Powers over 8 rounds.

 

No changes to the rankings.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)
Champ: Andre Ward (26-26-26)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO10 Champ Chad Dawson (at SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward’s surgery is complete.  He’s expected to be out until at least Summer.
1) Chad Dawson (26-353-353)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- L(TKO10) vs. SMW Champ Andre Ward (at SMW)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #3 Jean Pascal
The Pascal fight was signed, and there hasn’t been any official word that it’s off.  So for now I’ll leave it on the schedule.  But a recent interview I saw of Dawson indicates that he seems at least pessimistic and at most resigned to the fact that Pascal will pull out or has effectively done so already.  It sounds like Dawson will save the date anyway, though.
2) Bernard Hopkins (26-352-352)
Last Fight: 4/28/2012- L(MD12) vs. #2 Chad Dawson
Next Fight: 3/9/2012- vs. #6 Tavoris Cloud
Hopkins appeared likely to fight Nathan Cleverly, but instead opted for Tavoris Cloud.  The fight will take place in Brooklyn.
3) Jean Pascal (26-194-194)
Last Fight: 12/14/2012- UD10 Alexei Kuziemski (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #1 Chad Dawson
As mentioned in Dawson’s notes, there is some intrigue involving a Pascal fight with Bute, either after or instead of the scheduled fight with Dawson.  If Pascal does ditch Dawson and scheduleds the Bute fight for any date after May 25, I believe I will be forced to take the long-overdue step of removing Pascal for inactivity, since he’s been stringing together scheduled fights that either don’t happen or for which he comes in heavy.
4) Sergey Kovalev (7-7-7)
Last Fight: 1/19/2013- TKO3 #4 Gabriel Campillo
Next Fight: Unknown
Kovalev is hoping to return in Moscow in April.
5) Gabriel Campillo (7-141-141)
Last Fight: 1/19/2013- L(TKO3) vs. Sergey Kovalev (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
It remains to be seen whether we’ve seen Campillo rapidly decline, have a bad night, or just run into a world-beater.  But he’s still going to be highly ranked because he recently beat the guy ranked right below him.
6) Tavoris Cloud (7-184-184)
Last Fight: 2/18/2012- UD12* vs. #4 Gabriel Campillo (Robbery)
Next Fight: 3/9/2013- vs. #2 Bernard Hopkins
Perhaps Cloud’s reasoning for pulling out of the Murat fight had something to do with his apparently better-than-expected chances of landing a much more lucrative Hopkins battle- a fight that now appears set for March.
7) Cornelius White (7-34-64)
Last Fight: 7/14/2012- UD12 #10 Dmitri Sukhotski
Next Fight: Unknown
White is on a tear.  Is he really top-5 good?  I wouldn’t think so, but he proves me wrong every time I feel I might be overrating him.
8) Nathan Cleverly (7-161-161)
Last Fight: 11/10/2012- TKO8 Shawn Hawk (UNR)
Next Fight: 3/16/2013- vs. Robin Krasniqi (UNR)
Cleverly will be fighting a long-rumored fight with fringe prospect Robin Krasniqi on March 16 in the UK.
9) Tony Bellew (7-73-73)
Last Fight: 11/17/2012- UD12 Roberto Feliciano Bolonti (UNR)
Next Fight: 3/30/2013- vs. #13 Isaac Chilemba
Bellew has a mandatory shot at the European title against Braehmer waiting for him if he gets by Chilemba, but that may never happen since Bellew would also become the challenger-in-waiting for Chad Dawson, and might even get that opportunity on May 25 if Pascal does pull out.
10) Jürgen Brähmer (5-5-46)
Last Fight: 2/2/2013- UD12 Eduard Gutknecht (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Braehmer has the European title and is also the mandatory challenger to Nathan Cleverly’s alphabet belt should Cleverly defeat Krasniqi as expected.  Braehmer has a mandatory challenger of his own in Tony Bellew, but Bellew may also have loftier ambitions to tend to.
11) Karo Murat (5-96)
Last Fight: 6/2/2012- TKO7 Sandro Siproshvili (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Murat last made 175 on October 1, 2011.  He’s fought once slightly over the limit since then, giving him until April 1 to schedule a fight here.  This is partly Cloud’s fault for essentially standing him up, but that’s way too little activity to draw sympathy from me.  Murat remains the mandatory challenger for the Hopkins-Cloud winner, but either man could have a more lucrative fight to consider should he win, and Hopkins always seems a decent bet to retire at his age.
12) Beibut Shumenov (5-141)
Last Fight: 6/2/2012- UD12 Enrique Ornelas (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
13) Isaac Chilemba (5-57)
Last Fight: 9/29/2012- UD8 Rayco Saunders (UNR)
Next Fight: 3/30/2013- vs. #9 Tony Bellew
Up-and-coming African star Chilemba takes a high-risk, high-reward fight on March 30 in Tony Bellew’s hometown of Liverpool.
14) Vyacheslav Uzelkoff (5-57)
Last Fight: 12/15/2012- TKO1 Giorgi Marosi (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Uzelkoff easily dispatched Marosi, in a fight so last-minute that I didn’t even know about it a week in advance.
15) Andrzej Fonfara (5-34)
Last Fight: 11/16/2012- TKO7 Tommy Karpency (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Fonfara aggravated a previous injury to his right hand and had to withdraw from his ESPN2 fight with Nicholson Poulard.  He will hope that it heals on its own in a month, but if not he will need surgery that would keep him out for an additional 3-6 months.
16) Yusaf Mack (5-141)
Last Fight: 11/17/2012- L(KO3) vs. #1 SMW Carl Froch (at SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
It’s no shame to lose to Carl Froch, but Mack’s showing was bad enough that you’ve got to wonder if he’s finished.
17) Lucian Bute (7-18)
Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD12 #16 Denis Grachev
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent
It originally appeared that Bute would be fighting Bika for a shot at Ward, but now he seems to have reached a deal to fight the seemingly otherwise-engaged Jean Pascal, instead.  Not sure of the timeline of the latter fight, or how it affects the Bika fight.
18) Denis Grachev (7-45)
Last Fight: 11/3/2012- L(UD12) vs. SMW #4 Lucian Bute
Next Fight: 3/30/2013- vs. Zsolt Erdei (UNR)
Grachev will fight inactive former champ Zsolt Erdei in Monaco on March 30, with the winner to fight there against the winner of Edwin Rodriguez vs. Ezequiel Maderna in July.
19) Dmitri Sukhotski (7-123)
Last Fight: 12/8/2012- TKO1 Vladimir Borovsky (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Sukhotski was originally rumored for the Monaco tourney, but he is not one of the 4 scheduled.
20) Eleider Alvarez (6-6)
Last Fight: 12/14/2012- KO8 Danny McIntosh (UNR) (at CW)
Next Fight: 3/22/2013- vs. Nicholson Poulard (UNR)
Alvarez will fight in Montreal on March 22, and will take over the spot opposite Nicholson Poulard that was vacated by an injured Andrzej Fonfara on the FNF broadcast.

 

The Week Ahead: Wednesday in Santa Clara, Argentina, fringe contender Roberto Bolonti takes on mid-level journeyman Jorge Rodriguez. 

 

Saturday in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, undefeated American Marcus Oliveira fights a soft opponent in Dominican journeyman Junior Ramos.  Oliveira squandered the momentum that reached it’s crescendo with a knockout of Otis Griffin in 2009 by fighting infrequently and against comically weak opposition in each of his 5 fights since.  This one is par for the course.  Someone get this guy a manager with some connections!

 

And last but certainly not least, #2 Bernard Hopkins rumbles with #6 Tavoris Cloud in Brooklyn.  Cloud  showed himself to be less than a world-beater in getting the ears boxed off of him a little over a year ago against Gabriel Campillo, but I’d still make him the favorite based on the fact that Hopkins looked like less than a world-beater against Dawson and hasn’t actually done anything close to actually winning a fight in almost 2 years.  Oh yeah…and he’s 48.  This could be a great opportunity to rise to the top of the rankings for Cloud, or could be a humiliating defeat for him while further cementing the legacy of first-ballot Hall of Famer Hopkins.

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Light Heavyweight: 2013, Feb 25-Mar 3

Posted in Light Heavyweight, Rankings with tags , , , , , , , on March 1, 2013 by danboxing
#20 cruiserweight Pawel Glazewski cruised to an easy shutout victory over low-level journeyman Bartlomiej Grafka in Gdansk, Poland right here at good ‘ole 175 on Saturday. 

 

The following night in Kampala, Uganda, local gatekeeper Joey Vegas knocked out winless 20-fight veteran Mustapha Noor.

 

No changes this week.

 

Dan’s Top 20 (weeks in current position-weeks in top 10 (if applicable)-weeks in top 20)
Champ: Andre Ward (25-25-25)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- TKO10 Champ Chad Dawson (at SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
Ward’s surgery is complete.  He’s expected to be out until at least Summer.
1) Chad Dawson (25-352-352)
Last Fight: 9/8/2012- L(TKO10) vs. SMW Champ Andre Ward (at SMW)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #3 Jean Pascal
Strange news- apparently Pascal has reached a deal to fight Lucian Bute.  As of now the best information indicates that this would happen after the Dawson fight, but nobody seems certain that Pascal won’t ditch Dawson instead.
2) Bernard Hopkins (25-351-351)
Last Fight: 4/28/2012- L(MD12) vs. #2 Chad Dawson
Next Fight: 3/9/2012- vs. #6 Tavoris Cloud
Hopkins appeared likely to fight Nathan Cleverly, but instead opted for Tavoris Cloud.  The fight will take place in Brooklyn.
3) Jean Pascal (25-193-193)
Last Fight: 12/14/2012- UD10 Alexei Kuziemski (UNR)
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. #1 Chad Dawson
As mentioned in Dawson’s notes, there is some intrigue involving a Pascal fight with Bute, either after or instead of the scheduled fight with Dawson.  If Pascal does ditch Dawson and scheduleds the Bute fight for any date after May 25, I believe I will be forced to take the long-overdue step of removing Pascal for inactivity, since he’s been stringing together scheduled fights that either don’t happen or for which he comes in heavy.
4) Sergey Kovalev (6-6-6)
Last Fight: 1/19/2013- TKO3 #4 Gabriel Campillo
Next Fight: Unknown
Kovalev is hoping to return in Moscow in April.
5) Gabriel Campillo (6-140-140)
Last Fight: 1/19/2013- L(TKO3) vs. Sergey Kovalev (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
It remains to be seen whether we’ve seen Campillo rapidly decline, have a bad night, or just run into a world-beater.  But he’s still going to be highly ranked because he recently beat the guy ranked right below him.
6) Tavoris Cloud (6-183-183)
Last Fight: 2/18/2012- UD12* vs. #4 Gabriel Campillo (Robbery)
Next Fight: 3/9/2013- vs. #2 Bernard Hopkins
Perhaps Cloud’s reasoning for pulling out of the Murat fight had something to do with his apparently better-than-expected chances of landing a much more lucrative Hopkins battle- a fight that now appears set for March.
7) Cornelius White (6-33-63)
Last Fight: 7/14/2012- UD12 #10 Dmitri Sukhotski
Next Fight: Unknown
White is on a tear.  Is he really top-5 good?  I wouldn’t think so, but he proves me wrong every time I feel I might be overrating him.
8) Nathan Cleverly (6-160-160)
Last Fight: 11/10/2012- TKO8 Shawn Hawk (UNR)
Next Fight: 3/16/2013- vs. Robin Krasniqi (UNR)
Cleverly will be fighting a long-rumored fight with fringe prospect Robin Krasniqi on March 16 in the UK.
9) Tony Bellew (6-72-72)
Last Fight: 11/17/2012- UD12 Roberto Feliciano Bolonti (UNR)
Next Fight: 3/30/2013- vs. #13 Isaac Chilemba
A big time opportunity for two up-and-comers on tap for March 30, as Bellew collides with Isaac Chilemba in Liverpool.  Bellew has also offered to fight Chad Dawson if Pascal indeed withdraws on him.
10) Jürgen Brähmer (4-4-45)
Last Fight: 2/2/2013- UD12 Eduard Gutknecht (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Braehmer is now has the EBU European title, meaning he’ll probably have a steady stream of fringe contenders available to him.  Gutknecht aside, that’s an upgrade form his last 3 years of activity or lack thereof.
11) Karo Murat (4-95)
Last Fight: 6/2/2012- TKO7 Sandro Siproshvili (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Murat last made 175 on October 1, 2011.  He’s fought once slightly over the limit since then, giving him until April 1 to schedule a fight here.  This is partly Cloud’s fault for essentially standing him up, but that’s way too little activity to draw sympathy from me.
12) Beibut Shumenov (4-140)
Last Fight: 6/2/2012- UD12 Enrique Ornelas (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
13) Isaac Chilemba (4-56)
Last Fight: 9/29/2012- UD8 Rayco Saunders (UNR)
Next Fight: 3/30/2013- vs. #9 Tony Bellew
Up-and-coming African star Chilemba takes a high-risk, high-reward fight on March 30 in Tony Bellew’s hometown of Liverpool.
14) Vyacheslav Uzelkoff (4-56)
Last Fight: 12/15/2012- TKO1 Giorgi Marosi (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Uzelkoff easily dispatched Marosi, in a fight so last-minute that I didn’t even know about it a week in advance.
15) Andrzej Fonfara (4-33)
Last Fight: 11/16/2012- TKO7 Tommy Karpency (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Fonfara aggravated a previous injury to his right hand and had to withdraw from his ESPN2 fight with Nicholson Poulard.  He will hope that it heals on its own in a month, but if not he will need surgery that would keep him out for an additional 3-6 months.
16) Yusaf Mack (4-140)
Last Fight: 11/17/2012- L(KO3) vs. #1 SMW Carl Froch (at SMW)
Next Fight: Unknown
It’s no shame to lose to Carl Froch, but Mack’s showing was bad enough that you’ve got to wonder if he’s finished.
17) Lucian Bute (6-17)
Last Fight: 11/3/2012- UD12 #16 Denis Grachev
Next Fight: 5/25/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent
It originally appeared that Bute would be fighting Bika for a shot at Ward, but now he seems to have reached a deal to fight the seemingly otherwise-engaged Jean Pascal, instead.  Not sure of the timeline of the latter fight, or how it affects the Bika fight.
18) Denis Grachev (6-44)
Last Fight: 11/3/2012- L(UD12) vs. SMW #4 Lucian Bute
Next Fight: 3/30/2013- vs. Zsolt Erdei (UNR)
Grachev will fight inactive former champ Zsolt Erdei in Monaco on March 30, with the winner to fight there against the winner of Edwin Rodriguez vs. Ezequiel Maderna in July.
19) Dmitri Sukhotski (6-122)
Last Fight: 12/8/2012- TKO1 Vladimir Borovsky (UNR)
Next Fight: Unknown
Sukhotski was originally rumored for the Monaco tourney, but he is not one of the 4 scheduled.
20) Eleider Alvarez (5-5)
Last Fight: 12/14/2012- KO8 Danny McIntosh (UNR) (at CW)
Next Fight: 3/22/2013- vs. Unknown Opponent
Alvarez will fight in Montreal on March 22.

 

The Week Ahead: Thursday in Brisbane, Australia, local gatekeeper Mark Flanagan battles mid-range Kiwi journeyman Daniel MacKinnon.

 

The next night, due south near Melbourne, undefeated local prospect Blake Caparello takes on low-level journeyman Ayittey Powers.

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