Another Top 100, another month of Klitschko dominance as brothers Wladimir and Vitali continue their seemingly endless run at #1 and #2.
At the bottom of the top ten, however, are some new names, as Ondrej Pala, Odlanier Solis, and Jean Marc Mormeck move in with December wins, pushing out long-time top ten denizens Eddie Chambers and Nicolay Valuev.
• Pala is 28-2 with 7 rated wins and no losses since he became "registered." The win that put him in the top ten was a scoring fluke, as he beat tomato can Ergin Solmaz. Solmaz had become registered when he upset Damian Norris; by the time Pala beat him, Solmaz had already lost to Yakup Saglam and was ranked #132, so Pala's rise was mostly due to the decline of #11 Francesco Pianeta, #12 Chambers, and #13 Valuev for inactivity.
• Solis has been a pro for a while now and finally cracks the top ten after beating Ray Austin. The former Olympic gold medalist came in heavy yet again and dominated Austin in the early rounds before running out of gas. The middle rounds were mixed before Solis took control again and Austin was out on his feet as he swung at Solis after the bell, leading to the disqualification. Solis takes on #2 Vitali Klitschko in March for the WBC heavyweight title.
• Mormeck becomes the third former cruiserweight to move into the top ten, following David Haye and Tomasz Adamek. All of them took an accelerated approach, breaching the top ten after just a few fights. Mormeck's road has been the rockiest. In his home country of France he took a split decision from former #13 Timur Ibragimov; before that he looked shaky but won decisions from Vinnie Maddalone and Fres Oquendo, the latter very controversial.
| Oct 2010 |
Feb 2011 |
Fighter |
Rating
|
Rated Record | Oct.-Jan. Results |
| 1 | 1 | WLAD KLITSCHKO | 63.16 | 33-3-0 | |
| 2 | 2 | VITALI KLITSCHKO | 40.27 | 23-2-0 | UD 12 #96 SHANNON BRIGGS |
| 3 | 3 | ALEX POVETKIN | 30.80 | 16-0-0 | KO 5 #211 TEKE ORUH; UD 10 #36 NICOLAI FIRTHA |
| 5 | 4 | DAVID HAYE | 27.05 | 5-0-0 | TKO 3 #52 AUDLEY HARRISON |
| 4 | 5 | RUSLAN CHAGAEV | 26.08 | 13-1-0 | UD 8 #255 TRAVIS WALKER |
| 6 | 6 | TOMASZ ADAMEK | 21.52 | 5-0-0 | TKO 5 #251 VINNIE MADDALONE |
| 7 | 7 | DEREK CHISORA | 19.97 | 5-0-0 | |
| 11 | 8 | ONDREJ PALA | 18.76 | 7-0-0 | TKO 3 #71 ERGIN SOLMAZ |
| 19 | 9 | ODLANIER SOLIS | 18.50 | 8-0-0 | WDQ 10 #25 RAY AUSTIN |
| 30 | 10 | JEAN MARC MORMECK | 18.27 | 3-0-0 | SD 12 #13 TIMUR IBRAGIMOV |
Other top ten notes: While Alexander Povetkin remains at #3 after winning two keep-busy fights, David Haye passes Ruslan Chagaev for the #4 slot. The two were in a virtual stalemate at #4 but Haye's win over the spent Audley Harrison garnered him more points than Chagaev's decision over Travis Walker. The two are supposed to meet with Chagaev being the WBA mandatory, but his health certification issues keep him fighting only in Germany and will probably let Haye out of the fight.
Tomasz Adamek, remaining at #6, knocked out Vinnie Maddalone, who gave Mormeck some trouble. At #7 is Wladimir Klitschko's next challenger, Derek Chisora.
In the top 20, #14 Tony Thompson, #15 Robert Helenius, #17 Chris Arreola, #19 Juan Carlos Gomez, and #20 Edmund Gerber all won fights in recent months but only Helenius jumped a notch, while Thompson and Gomez dropped a notch as their fights were against very low-rated opponents and gained them negligible value. Highly-regarded Denis Boytsov slipped to #18 due to idleness; he holds a win over Pala but hasn't beat a registed fighter in over a year.
Undefeated prospects Yakup Saglam (6-0) and Kubrat Pulev (10-0) moved into the top 25.
A number of new fighters joined the top 100, with Eric Bahoeli the highest-rated at #30. Bahoeli took advantage of the fact that Ruben Rivera (3-6) had become rated after he beat Wayne John, who previously upset Patrice L'Heureux. Bahoeli is more likely to be the real deal; now 6-0, he won every round on every card against Rivera.
Also in: Antonio Tarver, after beating Nagy Aguilera in a unanimous decision. The former light heavyweight superstar is 42 years old. Aguilera has lost 3 out of 4 after knocking out Oleg Maskaev just over a year ago.
And heralded prospect Deontay Wilder jumps in at #79 after getting his first registered win. Now 14-0, Wilder beat one of the lowest-rated fighters, #331 Harold Sconiers who is now #337 out of 341 registered heavyweights. Still, it's a win for the tall, lanky 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, who is being brought along carefully but of whom good things are expected.
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