A newly-trim (relatively speaking) Sam Peter has surged back into the top 10 of the SportsRatings Heavyweight Boxing ratings for April, 2010, and a wave of up-and-coming fighters is crowding into the top 35.
| Jan rank |
Apr Rank |
Fighter | Rating |
Rated Record | January-March Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | WLAD KLITSCHKO |
67.66 |
32-3-0 |
KO 12 #6 EDDIE CHAMBERS |
| 2 | 2 | VITALI KLITSCHKO |
41.37 |
21-2-0 |
|
| 3 | 3 | ALEX POVETKIN |
32.46 |
14-0-0 |
TKO 5 #170 JAVIER MORA |
| 4 | 4 | RUSLAN CHAGAEV |
29.69 |
11-1-0 |
|
| 5 | 5 | DAVID HAYE |
29.23 |
3-0-0 |
|
| 7 | 6 | NICOLAY VALUEV |
24.75 |
21-2-0 |
|
| 10 | 7 | DAVID TUA |
21.91 |
26-3-1 |
UD 12 #50 FRIDAY AHUNANYA |
| 8 | 8 | CHRIS ARREOLA |
21.51 |
13-1-0 |
|
| 16 | 9 | SAMUEL PETER |
20.86 |
17-3-0 |
TKO 2 #23 NAGY AGUILERA |
| 9 | 10 | SAM SEXTON |
20.63 |
4-0-0 |
|
| 6 | 11 | EDDIE CHAMBERS |
20.22 |
13-2-0 |
L KO 12 #1 WLAD KLITSCHKO |
Peter, down to 237 for his last fight, bested Nagy Aguilera in a 2nd round TKO and jumps to #9. Aguilera, who moved to #23 on the strength of a first round knockout of Oleg Maskaev, falls out of the top 50 as fast as he rose into it.
Meanwhile David Tua continues to float around the bottom of the top 10, this time moving up for his late March win over Friday Ahunanya. Time will tell if he takes another two years off, but Ahunanya is his highest-rated victim since Michael Moorer in 2002.
Eddie Chambers drops to #11 after his loss to Wladimir Klitschko. This is no doubt unfair to Chambers, who has losses only to the #1 and #3 fighters, and a recent win over #9 Peter. So we'll unofficially still consider Eddie to be in the top ten until further action causes the system to rectify this discrepancy.
| 35 | 22 | ROBERT HELENIUS |
16.46 |
4-0-0 |
TKO 8 #89 LAMON BREWSTER UD 8 #158 GBENGA OLOUKUN |
| 22 | 23 | OLIVER MCCALL |
16.15 |
23-8-0 |
|
| 47 | 24 | EDMUND GERBER |
16.13 |
2-0-0 |
TKO 2 #32 RENE DETTWEILER |
| 24 | 25 | VLADIMIR VIRCHIS |
14.99 |
11-2-0 |
inactive 18 months. |
| 25 | 26 | SULTAN IBRAGIMOV |
14.86 |
8-1-1 |
inactive 25 months. |
| 53 | 27 | TOMASZ ADAMEK |
14.72 |
2-0-0 |
UD 12 #62 JASON ESTRADA |
| 27 | 28 | MANUEL CHARR |
14.65 |
4-0-0 |
TKO 10 #259 OWEN BECK |
| 60 | 29 | ANDRZEJ WAWRZYK |
14.64 |
4-0-0 |
UD 8 #168 HARVEY JOLLY UD 8 #88 LEE SWABY |
| 26 | 30 | MALIK SCOTT |
14.55 |
11-0-0 |
inactive 15 months. |
| 45 | 31 | KUBRAT PULEV |
14.26 |
3-0-0 |
KO 4 #127 MATT SKELTON |
| 28 | 32 | ALEXANDER USTINOV |
14.15 |
5-0-0 |
RET 3 #350 ED MAHONE |
| 29 | 33 | ALEX DIMITRENKO |
14.08 |
12-1-0 |
|
| 31 | 34 | YAKUP SAGLAM |
13.99 |
2-0-0 |
|
| new | 35 | NEVEN PAJKIC |
13.91 |
2-0-0 |
UD 6 #280 JASON GAVERN UD 10 #41 GRZEGORZ KIELSA |
The interesting news is the advancement of several up-and-coming prospects over the last quarter:
- Robert Helenius had two strong wins, over Lamon Brewster and Gbenga Oloukun, to jump from #35 to #22. These are impressive for a 26-year-old with only a dozen pro fights. Helenius, from Finland, is also Klitschko-sized, which seems to help these days.
- Edmund Gerber has shot onto the scene with two early knockouts, first of Shawn McLean (a marginal fighter who had ended Faruq Saleem's unbeaten streak), then of ex-#32 Rene Detweiller. Gerber, a German, is another young prospect, only 21, and unbeaten in just ten fights.
- Tomasz Adamek is the highest-profile of this group; the former light heavyweight and cruiserweight fights Chris Arreola in April. His defeat of Jason Estrada was his second win at heavyweight, and enough to move him up to #27.
- Undefeated Syrian Manuel Charr dropped a spot despite beating Owen Beck, who has lost too many fights to be worth significant points any more. Charr is just 25.
- Andrzej Wawrzyk gets a little too much credit for his wins over fighters who lucked into better rankings than they deserved, but the 6' 5" Polish fighter is a promising future prospect at age 22.
- Malik Scott, still undefeated and still mostly unactive, falls four spots. 32-0 but nearing age 30, he's floated near the top 25 for some time. Who knows when he will step up the activitity and competition.
- Kubrat Pulev is another fighter being brought along quickly. He's 28 but has only been a pro since late last year, and is 7-0 in that time span, and his latest win over Matt Skelton puts him near the top 30. Pulev has a decade of high-profile amateur competition under his belt.
- Alexander Ustinov is a huge fighter who has been making waves lately. His latest win wasn't enough to keep him from sliding a few spots due to the wave of fighters passing him, but the 6' 7" 300 lb Russian is 20-0 and has the size to win a title, as Valuev proved.
- Finally, Neven Pajkic of Canada has parlayed a couple of wins into a high ranking. He did hand Grzegorz Kielsa his first defeat in a lopsided decision, and is 12-0 himself.
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