By Derek Bonnett: The world class boxing action of this week was dominated by Latino fighters on the move in their respective weight classes. One junior welterweight contender positioned himself for his greatest challenge as a professional and two others claimed their first world championships by scoring minor upsets. The boxing landscape is as unsteady as ever in 2012 and it only takes one bout of significance to alter the face of a particular weight class.
On Friday, February 10, at Gimnasio Municipal No. 1 in Trelew, Chubut, Argentina, Lucas Martin Matthysse forced Angel Martinez into sixth round retirement in a light welterweight bout. The official time was :01 of the round. Matthysse improved his dossier to 30-2 (28) and now eyes a May clash with former lightweight champion Humberto Soto. Martinez dropped to 13-2-1 (9).
Matthysse held onto his number six ranking at 140 pounds at SecondsOut.
At Club Once Unidos, Mar de Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Luis Alberto Lazarte suffered a minor upset to Jhonreil Casimero via 10th round TKO in an interim IBF light flyweight title bout. Casimero dropped Lazarte twice before the defenseless former world champion was saved. A riot ensued after the just stoppage as the Argentine fans deluged the ring with debris and enacted a physical assault on the new interim champion and his camp. Casimero, 21, raised his record to 16-2 (10). Lazarte fell to 49-11-2 (18).
Casimero climbed into the SecondsOut 108 pound rankings at ninth. Lazarte dropped from fourth to 10th. As a result of this shift, Donnie Nietes climbed from sixth to fourth. Juan Palacios went from eighth to sixth. Ramon Garcia Hirales climbed from ninth to eighth. Adrian Hernandez dropped from fourth to fifth.
On Saturday, February 11, at Arena Union in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, Rodrigo Guerrero also suffered a minor upset to unknown Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr. in a twelve round IBF super flyweight title bout. Sanchez Jr. captured a unanimous decision to take the IBF title. He enhanced his ring credentials to 13-1-1 (7). Guerrero, who was attempting to defend his title for the first time, dropped to 16-4-1 (10).
Sanchez Jr. entered the SecondsOut 115-pound rankings at tenth. Guerrero was bumped out to make room for the new champion.
Also on the move, Marco Huck has been removed from the cruiserweight rankings to officially campaign as a heavyweight. All currently ranked contenders elevated themselves one ranking. Lateef Kayode climbed right back in at number 10. Eddie Chambers was dropped from the SecondsOut heavyweight rankings after one year of inactivity. The seven through ten contenders all climb one spot. Kubrat Pulev returns to the top ten.
SecondsOut ranked fighters in action through Sunday, February 19:
On Friday, February 17:
At Casino Pharoahs, Managua, Nicaragua: Carlos Buitrago versus Gabriel Mendoza in a ten round light flyweight bout
On Saturday, February 18:
At Olympiahalle, Munich, Bayern, Germany: Vitali Klitschko versus Dereck Chisora in a twelve round WBC heavyweight title bout
In Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico: Jorge Arce versus Lorenzo Parra II in a 10 round super bantamweight bout.
At Grand Oasis Resort, Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico: Gilberto Ken Baas versus Mario Rodriguez in a ten round light flyweight bout.
At American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA: Paul Williams versus Nobuhiro Ishida in a 12 round light middleweight bout; Chris Arreola versus Eric Molina in a 12 round heavyweight bout; Tavoris Cloud versus Gabriel Campillo in a 12 round IBF light heavyweight title bout
To check out Derek’s SecondsOut rankings www.digenie.net/sorankings/p_so_world.asp">Click here
For further boxing discussion, contact Derek "DBO" Bonnett on Facebook or at mabfan@comcast.net.
