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Despite two fights involving top 5 boxers, the top 20 in the SportsRatings Heavyweight Boxing Top 100 had very little change. #5 Ruslan Chagaev moved into a virtual tie with #4 David Haye; the latter is ahead by less than 1/100th of a point. #20 Albert Sosnowski fell to #54 after his loss to #2 Vitali Klitschko. Other than that there was no movement last month. The biggest gain was made by Derek Chisora (13-0), who entered the top 25 after a first round KO of former #99 Danny Williams.
Don't look for many big moves this month, either. The only top 20 fighters scheduled for action in June are #11 Tony Thompson, #15 Juan Gomez, and #16 Oleg Platov. Their opponents don't suggest much of a chance for upsets: though Gomez fights twice, #346 Rafael Zumbano is the tougher of his two foes. Tonight, Platov takes on the fading Gbenga Oloukun, who has lost 4 of 5 since beating Lamon Brewster last summer. Thompson has the only marginally interesting matchup, against #124 Friday Ahunanya. Ahunanya went the distance against #7 David Tua but lost badly, suggesting he has little hope against superior technician Thompson.
Fight of the month: McCall - Ibragimov?
In fact, the match of the month is probably #21 Oliver McCall against #38 Timur Ibragimov. A gutsy fight for both, and arranged rather quickly as McCall searched for a June 15 opponent. McCall is 45 and needs to move quickly if he has any hope of getting another title shot; a win over Ibragimov would move him near or into our top 15, and likely give him a universal top 25 consideration.
Ibragimov, too, would move into the top 20 with a win. He has lost only to Calvin Brock (undefeated at the time) and Tony Thompson; he also has an earlier draw with Kevin Johnson in Johnson's 3rd fight. All three later had title fights. Ibragimov is very durable and has never been stopped.
In terms of recent opponents, McCall has the slight edge, beating #137 Franklin Lawrence, #239 John Hopoate, and #254 Lance Whitaker since his loss to Juan Gomez three years ago, while Hoffman has topped #203 Alfred Cole, #216 Timo Hoffman, and #324 Andrew Greeley among his six recent wins. McCall knocked out Hopoate but all the other wins for both men went the distance and were unanimous.
Thirty-somethings to be active in June
The fighters ranking in the mid-30s are most active next month, with six of them in action.
| 34 | 35 | YAKUP SAGLAM | 13.99 |
2-0-0 |
June 5: #334 ANDREAS SIDON |
| 35 | 36 | NEVEN PAJKIC | 13.91 |
2-0-0 |
June 30: #103 GRZEGORZ KIELSA |
| 36 | 37 | JOSH HARRIS | 13.46 |
1-0-0 |
|
| 39 | 38 | TIMUR IBRAGIMOV | 13.33 |
6-2-0 |
June 15: #21 OLIVER MCCALL |
| 37 | 39 | HASIM RAHMAN | 13.23 |
17-7-2 |
June 19: #133 SHANNON MILLER |
| 38 | 40 | MARIUSZ WACH | 13.20 |
4-0-0 |
June 19: TBA |
| 43 | 41 | LENROY THOMAS | 12.98 |
5-0-0 |
June 4: #301 JOSEPH RABOTTE |
In addition to Ibragimov's bout, #36 Neven Pajkic's rematch with #103 Grzegorz Kielsa will tell us a bit about which fighter is more "for real"; Pajkic is 12-0, Kielsa 11-1. Does #39 Hasim Rahman have anything left in the tank? Not if he loses to Shannon Miller on June 19. The other fights are inconsequential unless a major upset happens. [note: Saglam faced unranked Marcel Zeller in lieu of Sidon on the 5th]
Dallas enters top 100 ahead of Fury; Price debuts at #44
The most movement in the top 100 happened in the 50s range:
| 46 | 52 | JOHNATHON BANKS |
12.03 |
3-0-1 |
Draw 12 #88 JASON GAVERN |
| 53 | 53 | SINAN SAMIL SAM |
12.02 |
12-4-0 |
inactive 22 months. |
| 55 | 54 | JUSTIN WHITEHEAD |
11.95 |
1-0-0 |
|
| 20 | 55 | ALBERT SOSNOWSKI |
11.86 |
10-2-1 |
L KO 10 #2 VITALI KLITSCHKO |
| 54 | 56 | TYE FIELDS |
11.84 |
11-2-0 |
inactive 23 months. |
| 69 | 57 | SERGEI LYAKHOVICH |
11.79 |
10-3-0 |
KO 9 #148 EVANS QUINN |
| 64 | 58 | SETH MITCHELL |
11.79 |
3-0-0 |
TKO 2 #180 JOHNNIE WHITE |
| 56 | 59 | SHANNON BRIGGS |
11.74 |
19-5-1 |
TKO 1 #282 ROB CALLOWAY |
| 57 | 60 |
GREGORY TONY |
11.70 |
2-0-0 |
|
| 58 | 61 | ANDREY RUDENKO |
11.55 |
2-0-0 |
|
| new | 62 | TOM DALLAS |
11.22 |
1-0-0 |
KO 1 #152 LEE SWABY |
Johnathon Banks' draw with Jason Gavern dropped him 5 spots (and moved Gavern up 17), while Sosnowski took a tumble after his loss to #2 Klitschko. Sergei Lyakhovich jumped to #56 with his first rated win in over two years; Seth Mitchell moved to 17-0 in just 2 1/2 years as a pro, beating Johnnie White. And while Shannon Briggs posted two first-round KO wins this month, he actually slips back a couple of spots as the others jump over him; neither of his opponents gave him much juice in the ratings.
One of the many young up-and-coming British fighters, Tom Dallas, makes his debut in the top 100 after beating journeyman Lee Swaby. At #61, Dallas is alread ahead of the oft-hyped Tyson Fury, another very young, very tall, undefeated British fighter. Ironically Fury beat Swaby previously, but at the time Swaby wasn't rated in the system, and Dallas' one win outranks Fury's two other rated wins. While Fury needed a full four rounds to stop Swaby, Dallas did it in the first round. Time will tell which one of these big men has more potential; both are 10-0 so far. Fury's twice-postponed rematch with John McDermott is on for June 25th.
At #44, yet another big man, 6-7" Kelvin Price (7-0), makes his debut after outpointing previously undefeated Tor Hamer. Price, 34, a former basketball player, also beat Julius Long late last year, though that win did not put Price "on the map" as far as the ratings are concerned as Long was unrated due to excessive losses. Price is coached by Roy Jones, Sr.
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