Tomasz Adamek led a charge of Polish fighters moving up in the SportsRatings Heavyweight Boxing Top 100, while American Tor Hamer jumpstarted his career in a big way with his win in the Prizefighter tournament.
Adamek's unanimous decision win over former #8 Eddie Chambers vaulted Adamek back into the top ten, where he resided before his loss to Vitali Klitschko last fall. Chambers, crippled by a torn bicep after the first round, still made a good go of it 1-handed and to some observers (we scored it 116-115 for Chambers) came out ahead. But the judges saw it differently, with one giving Adamek a ludicrous 119-109 advantage.
Adamek jumps to #7, fittingly once again ahead of #8 Chris Arreola whom he bested in another close contest.The rest of the top ten was unchanged from last month.
SportsRatings Heavyweight Boxing Top Ten for July, 2012
| -3 Yr |
-1 Yr |
-6 mos |
June Rank |
July Rank |
Fighter |
Rating
|
Rated Record | June results / July schedule |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | WLAD KLITSCHKO | 68.69 | 35-3-0 | ...7/07 vs. #10 TONY THOMPSON |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | VITALI KLITSCHKO | 46.91 | 26-2-0 | |
| 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ALEX POVETKIN | 37.88 | 18-0-0 | ...7/14 vs. #97 HASIM RAHMAN |
| 94 | 44 | 4 | 4 | 4 | TYSON FURY | 23.21 | 8-0-0 | ...7/07 vs. #305 VINNY MADDALONE |
| 75 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 5 | ROBERT HELENIUS | 22.64 | 9-0-0 | |
| -- | 16 | 13 | 6 | 6 | KUBRAT PULEV | 20.77 | 10-0-0 | |
| -- | 6 | 21 | 23 | 7 | TOMASZ ADAMEK | 20.47 | 7-1-0 | UD 12 #8 EDDIE CHAMBERS |
| 6 | 13 | 12 | 7 | 8 | CHRIS ARREOLA | 19.87 | 19-2-0 | |
| 5 | 5 | 11 | 9 | 9 | RUSLAN CHAGAEV | 19.10 | 15-2-0 | |
| 19 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | TONY THOMPSON | 18.51 | 17-1-0 | ...7/07 vs. #1 WLAD KLITSCHKO |
Chambers drops to #29 with his third loss, though all three are to current top ten fighters. "Fast Eddie" came in at 202 pounds for the fight, suggesting to many that he should indeed drop to cruiserweight. For the first time, we think the idea might not be a bad one; few cruiserweights walk around at 202. But without the injury Chambers might have won and we'd be talking rematches with Povetkin or Klitschko rather than dropping a weight class.
Another Polish fighter, Andrej Wawrzyk, moved from #25 to #20 after beating #124 Denis Bahktov. Wawrzyk is now 26-0 and is the 2nd highest ranked fighter from Poland in our rankings. #3 is Mariusz Wach, 27-0, who was in the top 30 years ago but fought nobodies for 2 straight years, leading to a decline. He has since recovered to #51.
And rounding out the Polish sector, the much-discussed Artur Szpilka makes his debut at #60 this month, too, winning fights at the beginning and end of the month, the first a KO of Gonzalo Omar Basile, the 2nd a dull points win over a tired Jameel McCline. Szpilka is famous for having spent time in prison, after which he emerged a heavyweight when he continued his boxing career.
Tor Hamer, Bryant Jennings bright spots for Americans
Seems that boxing is littered with American prospects that are almost but not quite ready for the big time; add two more names to the list: Tor Hamer and Bryant Jennings.
Hamer impressed at the latest Prizefighter tournament, beating Brazilian giant Marcelo Nascimento, viciously knocking out Brit Tom Dallas, then out-working fellow American Kevin "Kingpin" Johnson over 3 rounds to take the title. Hamer was a rising prospect two years ago before losing a split decision to Kelvin Price; the Prizefighter wins re-establish Hamer as a prospect and he makes our top 25 at #25.
Jennings debuted in our top 100 in January, had a signature win over Sergei Lyokhovich in March, and jumps from #50 to #30 with his latest win, a round-by-round domination of former #104 Steve Collins.
Also moving up within the top 100:
- Japanese hopeful Kyotaro Fujimoto: The former kickboxer quickly added to his résumé with a third-round KO of Clarence Tillman. Fujimoto entered the top 100 just last month at #40, and rises to #34.
- Richard Towers stopped Gregory Tony in the 9th round; the 6' 8" Brit moved up 8 spots to #67.
- Argentina's Fabio Eduardo Moli beat Emilio Zarate for the 2nd time in two years, getting the KO in 8 rounds this time. He jumps 19 spots in a weak area on the chart, from #89 to #70.
Ibragimov, Grano rejoin top 100
Hamer wasn't the only fighter outside the top 100 to re-enter the rankings. Timur Ibragimov did it in a big way, besting the overranked Wiseman Dlomo and jumping from #110 to #45. The 270-lb. Dlomo barely had a winning record and exits the top 100. Meanwhile Tony Grano knocked out journeyman Davarl Williamson in the 4th round to move from #112 to #91.
New Entries
Oscar Rivas becomes the latest overranked Canadian (by way of Colombia) on our list, nearly debuting in the top 25 for his split-decision win over Sylvera Louis. Louis had beaten two other "fluke" Canadians who made the list recently. The good news is that Rivas is actually undefeated at 11-0, young at 25, and may have the ability to live up to his ranking unlike the others—he defeated #6 Kubrat Pulev in the 2008 Olympic games before losing to Gold medalist Roberto Cammarelle.
Matias Vidondo took advantage of the expanding number of registered Argentinian heavyweights in our system and stopped Luis Oscar Juarez in the third, allowing him to debut at #56. Right behind him at #57 is journeyman Byron Polley (25-13-1) who beat recently-registered uber-journeyman Marcus Rhode. Finally, Joey Wilson of New Zealand beat Junior Iakopo, an easy route to joining our system and a #79 debut. Iakopo has no professional wins, but he fought Clarence Tillman to a draw last year, marking him as "legit".
July fight scene: Klitschko-Thompson, Haye-Chisora on tap; Povetkin-Rahman cancelled
#1 Wlad Klitschko rematches #10 Tony Thompson on the 7th of the month, and a week later David Haye takes on Dereck Chisora. The Povetkin-Rahman WBA "title" fight scheduled for the same day was first moved from the Haye-Chisora undercard to Germany, then cancelled due to a Rahman injury.
Of the top 25, Tyson Fury will be in action against the marginally-ranked Vinny Maddalone, #14 Edmund Gerber will stay busy against #300 Michael Sprott, and in possibly the most interesting fight, #21 Monte Barrett takes on Shane Cameron, who is moving back up from cruiserweight.
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