Slow July in HW Boxing; Tua Loses Momentum with Barrett draw

There wasn't much change in the SportsRatings Heavyweight Boxing Top 100 this month; the biggest development was probably Ruslan Chagaev moving ahead of David Haye for 4th place, after they'd been tied the last few months, and that change was fostered by a slight re-engineering of the rating system which is detailed at the bottom of the ratings explanation page.

Other than former #8 David Tua's draw with Monte Barrett, the only other contests among top 50 boxers were all on July 31st, barely making it before the bell. On that Saturday Juan Carlos Gomez moved up a notch to #17 (passing countryman Odlanier Solis) by beating warhorse Zack Page; #30 Alexander Dimitrenko rebounded from his loss to Eddie Chambers a year ago by stopping #102 Yaroslav Zavorotny for the European title; and Seth Mitchell continued his strong run with a first-round TKO of Derek Bryant, though it only moved him from #49 to #46.

But it was Monte Barrett's performance against David Tua that turned heads mid-month. Barrett was a supposedly washed-up fighter, but proved again that he is the best gatekeeper the division has to offer as he outboxed Tua in a fight that ended a draw. Most impressively, he managed to both weather Tua's left hooks and in the last round put Tua on the canvas for the latter's first official knockdown. If Barrett is the litmus test as to whether a fighter will get a title shot, Tua is in limbo with the draw.

Tua fell from #8 to #14, and still has a chance at a big title fight—witness both Sam Peter and Shannon Briggs being scheduled currently and Tua is not much of a stretch—but his meager odds of beating either Klitschko seem to have fallen to nil. His granite chin was one of his trademarks, and it failed him against Barrett, whom he couldn't KO with his trademark left. Barrett claims to have retired with this bout, but with it he jumps from barely inside the top 200 to #66, and no doubt there will be monetary offers coming his way. But having just fought David Haye, Odlanier Solis, Alexander Ustinov, and Tua consecutively, I wouldn't blame him for saying enough is enough, and going out on a high note with a fight that most thought he won.

Four new fighters join the top 100 with their first rated win:

• Damien Campbell, 34, yet another UK prospect, scored a convincing win over journeyman Lee Swaby in his very first pro fight, and debuts at #65. Campbell had over 300 amateur fights, but lost to both David Price and Tyson Fury along the way.
• Scott Lewis and Adam Forsyth debut at #80 and #83 respectively after each of them beat Bob Gasio (#269 last month). Forsyth (8-0) got a KO to Lewis' decision and clearly has more potential than the 3-4 Lewis, but Lewis beat Gasio earlier in the month and therefore received slightly more points for his win.
• Miguel Angel Morales is the top debut at #48 for upsetting #110 Lisandro Diaz. He's 41 years old and just 10-9-1, though, and hasn't much to work with in the Argentine scene. This will likely be at or near the peak he achieves.
  

August's schedule offers a lot more than July and an upcoming post will run down the matchups.

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