By Derek Bonnett The final full week of February was a week of comebacks. A former world champion climbed off the canvas to win, a fading contender came back to capture his first world title, a champion in exile returned to claim the number one spot in the division, a former world champion returned to the ring after an extended layoff, and a pair of former contenders climbed back into the top ten after impressive victories. All this and more as boxing’s best remain On the Move.
On Saturday, February, 23, at Centro de Convenciones de Ixtapa, Ixtapa Zihuantanejo, Mexico, Jhonny Gonzalez won a unanimous decision over Eusebio Osejo in a twelve round featherweight bout. Gonzalez rose from the canvas in the fourth to outscore his opponent 116-110, 115-111, and 115-112. Gonzalez raised his record to 53-8 (45). Osejo dropped to 21-13-2 (7).
Gonzalez held onto his number six featherweight ranking at SecondsOut.
Also on this date, at Masonic Temple, Detroit Michigan, USA, Cornelius Bundrage lost a split decision to Ishe Smith in a twelve round IBF junior middleweight title bout. Smith won the bout by scores of 116-111 twice. One judge gave it to Bundrage 114-113. Smith enhanced his resume to 25-5 (11) and added his first world championship. Bundrage dipped to 32-5 (19).
With the loss, Bundrage falls out of the SecondsOut top ten. Due to the nature of the win, Smith did not do enough to claim the ten spot at SecondsOut. Instead, Demetrius Andrade climbed aboard at number ten after sustained impressive performances against steadily improving opposition.
Also on the move, Tony Thompson seemed poised for retirement, but instead stopped the most hyped heavyweight prospect in two rounds. Thompson stopped David Price at 2:17 of the round. Thompson, 37-3 (25), bumped Chris Arreola out of the ten spot at SecondsOut for the time being. Arreola had recently been demoted for inactivity.
Also on the move, Giovanni Segura returned after over a year away from the ring. His stoppage win over Omar Salado at super flyweight raised his record to 29-2-1 (25). He jumped into his new division as SecondsOut’s number nine contender. Victor Zaleta was bumped down to tenth and Ryo Akaho fell out of the top ten.
Also on the move, Alexander Alekseev climbed back into the SecondsOut cruiserweight rankings at number ten. Alekseev has put together an impressive string of performances against Enad Licina, Firat Arslan, and Garrett Wilson. Grigory Drodz fell out of the SecondsOut rankings for the time being.
Also on the move, Lamont Peterson returned to the top of the SecondsOut rankings after a fourteen month layoff. Peterson scored an impressive eighth round TKO of Kendall Holt to reclaimed the number one spot. The previously ranked one through six contenders fell one place. Ruslan Provodnikov was removed from the 140 pound class to campaign as a welterweight.
