Stage two of the suddenly even more compelling Super Six World Boxing Classic is starting to take loose form, as dates for the next batch of fights have started to float around.

January 23 is being looked at as the date for Arthur Abraham's fight with Andre Dirrell, for which Abraham will come to the United States. Of all the fighters, Dirrell has the weakest chance at hometown advantage. Being from Michigan gives Dirrell very limited options, and he's got the smallest following of anyone in the tournament. There hasn't been a major fight in the Great Lakes state for a good while now, and I don't see the interest being there out in Flint (Dirrell's hometown) or in Detroit. The closest he might be able to get is Chicago, which is a long drive from Dirrell's side of the state, or maybe Cleveland. Or they could just say, "What the hell? Stick it in New York," which is probably most likely.

But the New York thing would depend on the date. Bob Arum and Top Rank will be running at WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden that night with their HBO double-header (Luevano-Lopez, Gamboa-Mtagwa). If Showtime could move the date up a week to January 16 (their TV graphic this past weekend did have Abraham-Dirrell coming in January, and nothing more), everything could be hunky dory. They also wouldn't face any TV opposition. Going to January 30 is surely out of the question, what with HBO having the Shane Mosley-Andre Berto fight that night. There's splitting audiences, and then there's scheduling two major fights people are interested in on the same night. The latter almost never happens, and there are good reasons for it. Both Mosley-Berto and Abraham-Dirrell are too expensive to lose viewers. Maybe even move it to early February if need be.

It appears likely, too, that the Carl Froch-Mikkel Kessler bout is going to take place on March 6 in Denmark. This fight has such an interesting dynamic, and so many angles. Froch deserved to lose the fight he won over Andre Dirrell, in the opinion of many, but he didn't, so he remains unbeaten and holds the WBC title. Kessler was routed by Andre Ward on Saturday to lose his WBA title, but if Kessler beats Froch, not only is he right back in the tournament, but he's right back in the title mix with the WBC strap. Kessler is still going to be favored by a lot of people in this fight, I expect.

There's nothing rumored yet for Andre Ward-Jermain Taylor, and I'd assume Taylor gets "home field" for that one, which would probably put the bout in Memphis.

Joe Calzaghe's victory over Mikkel Kessler left no room to question who was actually the best super middleweight at the time. (Photo by John Gichigi / Getty Images)

View full size photo »

Now that 2009 is getting close to wrapping up, it means this decade is almost over.  Before the end of the year, I hope to get through all the weight classes, presenting to you some choices for the best fighter in a given weight class in the decade.  I'm not going in any particular order here, but we'll get through all 17 weight classes. 

When voting, please only consider the time that the fighter was in the specified weight class during this decade.  Also, I'm not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up at the end of the year.

Super middleweight, much like light welterweight, was one of the few weight classes that was for the most part cleared out in the 2000's.  Early in the decade, Ottke defeated many of the top guys and retired undefeated.  Then, mid-decade, Calzaghe and Kessler cleaned out every name worth mentioning before fighting each other to create a true undisputed champion in the weight class.  And now, the cycle begins anew, as the Super Six tournament includes the majority of the names really worth mentioning, and likely will create a new champ in the weight class in early 2011.  That said, there's really only two names that deserve any votes.

Lucian Bute - Bute has gone 14-0 in the weight class, including 4-0 in title fights.  Key wins include victories over Librado Andrade, Sakio Bika, Fulgencio Zuniga, Alejandro Berrio, William Joppy, and a number of Calzaghe rejects.  He has a rematch coming up next month against Andrade.  If he does make a big name for himself, it's a lot more likely he'll be near the top of this kind of poll for next decade than for this one.

Joe Calzaghe - Calzaghe went 17-0 in the weight classes, all of which were title defenses, including two unification victories over Jeff Lacy and Mikkel Kessler, the latter of which probably created the first true super middleweight champion in the history of the weight class.  In the decade, the best wins were over Kessler, Lacy, Sakio Bika, Byron Mitchell, Charles Brewer, Richie Woodhall, Omar Sheika and David Starie.  One thing that hurts him is that for about half the decade, he really focused on taking mandatories and the weakest defenses possible, leading to a pretty underwhelming collection of title defenses from 2000 through 2005.  In addition, he only left England and Wales twice during the reign, and one of those times was on the Tyson-Nielsen undercard where he was facing an unknown American.  On the other hand, his last four defenses were fairly strong (the wins over Bika and Manfredo look better now than they did at the time), and he did manage to make himself the lineal, undisputed, unified super middleweight champion of the world.

Carl Froch - Froch has gone 17-0 in the division, including 3-0 in title fights.  His important victories are over Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Jean Pascal and Robin Reid.  Like Bute, he's on this list because he's undefeated and has a number of legitimate wins, but he's more likely to make a bigger name for himself in the future than he is to win this poll now.

Mikkel Kessler - Kessler has gone 23-2 in the weight class this decade, including seven title defenses and unification of belts with Markus Beyer.  Kessler has beaten seven former and future beltholders - Beyer, Eric Lucas, Anthony Mundine, Manny Siaca, Julio Cesar Green, Dingaan Thobela and Dmitri Sartison, and one more who still could become a beltholder before the decade is over (Librado Andrade).  The two losses came to Joe Calzaghe and in last night's destruction by Andre Ward.

Jeff Lacy - Lacy started off the decade making a lot of noise, and sort of left it with a whimper.  Lacy went 22-2 in the weight class, including four title defenses.  His best wins include Robin Reid, Omar Sheika, Syd Vanderpool, Epifanio Mendoza and Peter Manfredo. His losses came to Joe Calzaghe (a fight in which he was so thoroughly beaten, that he was never the same fighter again afterwards) and Jermain Taylor.  It's pretty easy to look back at his resume now and say that he was probably always overhyped, but for a while, people thought he was going to be the next great thing.

Anthony Mundine - Mundine has gone 33-3 in the weight class, including twice winning belts.  The former professional rugby player was a novice to boxing when he vowed to win a title within his first 10 fights, and while he didn't win the title, he did manage to get a title shot against Ottke very quickly.  He also lost to Mikkel Kessler and Danny Green.  His best wins were over Danny Green, Antwun Echols, RIck Thornberry and Sam Soliman (thrice).  More recently, Mundine is campaigning at middleweight, having blatantly ducked out of a potential Sakio Bika fight that would have been big in Australia to go after some easier foes.

Sven Ottke - Ottke also went 17-0 in the weight class, all of which were title defenses, including a unification fight with Byron Mitchell.  Key wins include Mitchell, Charles Brewer, Silvio Branco, James Crawford, Anthony Mundine, Rick Thornberry, David Staris, Mads Larsen and Robin Reid (albeit in a fight that nobody other than the judges and Ottke's mum thought Ottke won).  Other than the one name that's blatantly missing from his resume (Calzaghe), Ottke actually did fight the best out there, which is commendable.  On the other hand, he never once left Germany and was on the right end of several gift or questionable decisions, which is not.

Andre Ward put a pretty thorough beating on Mikkel Kessler last night, and CompuBox has the full numbers. Most telling: Ward outlanding Kessler nearly 3-to-1 in power punches.

For full fight stats, take the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Andre Ward shoots up the 168-pound rankings after his decisive win over Mikkel Kessler on Saturday. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)

View full size photo »

Another week, another update.

Divisions Affected: P4P, Cruiserweight, Light Heavyweight, Super Middleweight, Junior Bantamweight, Junior Flyweight

Pound-for-Pound: Mikkel Kessler (14) and Edgar Sosa (20) are both out. In their place at Nos. 19 and 20 are Tomasz Adamek and Wladimir Klitschko. Both had been banging on the door, and now they're in.

Cruiserweight: With his title win over Giacobbe Fragomeni, longtime light heavyweight titlist and lineal champ Zsolt Erdei moves from 175 to cruiserweight, into the same No. 4 spot he held there. Fragomeni, previously at four, falls to No. 7. The victim of the movement is Matt Godfrey, who slides from No. 10 to the unlisted No. 11.

Light Heavyweight: Erdei is out, obviously. Everyone from five through ten last time moves up one, and his title replacement, Juergen Braehmer, comes in at No. 10. There are several others who were considered: Beibut Shumenov, Nathan Cleverly, Hugo Garay, Yusaf Mack.

Super Middleweight: New top dog is Lucian Bute, who goes from No. 2 to No. 1 with Kessler's loss. Arthur Abraham moves up from three to the second position, but the big mover is Andre Ward who rises all the way from No. 7 up to No. 3. Mikkel Kessler tumbles from No. 1 down to No. 5, behind Carl Froch and just ahead of Sakio Bika.

Junior Bantamweight: Marvin Sonsona drew and is moving up to 122 pounds, so he's gone. Z Gorres, sadly, is out of the rankings. It's highly unlikely he's ever going to fight again. They were Nos. 6 and 7. Moving in at nine and ten are Tomas Rojas and Raul Martinez. Rojas' win over Evans Mbamba was no joke, and No. 2 Vic Darchinyan may be in for much more of a fight on December 12 that he might plan.

Junior Flyweight: Brian Viloria and Ulises Solis move up a spot to two and three, respectively. Giovanni Segura moves up one to the fourth spot. Rodel Mayol jumps from seven to five, which may seem slight given the upset over No. 2 Edgar Sosa, but there is some controversy to consider there, as Mayol had been docked a point before scoring the TKO, and the headbutt that led to that point being taken may have played a part. There's also just the fact that this is a VERY strong division. Sosa drops to No. 7, but likely will be moving up to 112 pounds in his next fight.

* * * * * CLICK HERE FOR FULL RANKINGS * * * * *

Marcos Maidana retained his interim 140-pound title with a win in Argentina.

View full size photo »

You surely know the particulars from Oakland by now, as Andre Ward routed Mikkel Kessler, and if you go one post down from this one, you'll find out that Rodel Mayol upset Edgar Sosa to shake up the 108-pound division, and that young Marvin Sonsona had an off-night in Ontario, drawing and leaving the 115-pound division behind.

It was a busy Saturday around the boxing world, so let's look at some of the other results.

Marcos Maidana KO-3 William Gonzalez (Sunchales, Argentina)

Maidana (27-1, 26 KO) acquitted himself quite nicely as a known commodity, stopping his Panamanian challenger in three. Maidana retains the interim WBA junior welterweight title he won against Victor Ortiz in June. Gonzalez falls to 22-6-1 (7).

Jorge Barrios TKO-5 Michael Lozada ... Lucas Matthysse KO-4 Florencio Castellano (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Barrios' improved to 2-0 on the year by stopping the veteran Lozada in five. The big-mouthed Argentine wants a fight next with lightweight titlist Edwin Valero, but we'll see. I think he's exactly the type of guy Valero torches, but Barrios on paper does not lack for guts, nor has he in the ring. I'm not sure he really wants to fight Valero, though. Barrios is now 49-4-1 (35). Matthysse (25-0, 23 KO) continued his impressive streak of beating up nobody.

Chad Bennett UD-10 Aldo Rios (Newcastle, Australia)

Not really a notable fight, to be honest, but you might remember the 35-year-old Rios, another Argentina fighter, from past losses to Stevie Johnston (1999), Artur Grigorian (2001), Ricky Hatton (2003) and Isaac Hlatswayo (2006). Throw in Bennett, 36, a regional fighter, and you've got all of the losses on Rios' sheet. You also have pretty much the only notable fighters he's ever fought. If the Bennett win wasn't home cookin', Aldo should probably stick to Argentina from now on, because Bennett isn't quite in league with the rest of those guys.

Giovanni Segura KO-1 Sonny Boy Jaro (Merida, Mexico)

That should just about do it for Jaro in top-level fights. The Filipino is only 27, but going down in one to Segura -- a good fighter, no doubt -- is pretty rough. Segura is, in my view, one of the more underrated fighters out there.

Rodel Mayol stunned Edgar Sosa with a second round TKO in Mexico. (Photo by Al Bello / Getty Images)

View full size photo »

Andre Ward's domination of Mikkel Kessler wasn't the only upset of the night in boxing.

Rodel Mayol shocked long-reigning 108-pound titlist Edgar Sosa with a second round knockout in Mexico, winning the WBC junior flyweight title and completing what was really a hell of a year for the Filipino scrapper. Mayol (26-4-1, 20 KO) battled to a draw and a tight technical decision loss this year in two fights with Ivan Calderon, and the upset win over Sosa raises his stock significantly. He fought three fights with what were considered the two best at 108 pounds, and he wound up on top against Sosa.

In Ontario, Marvin Sonsona went to a draw with Alejandro Hernandez in an unimpressive performance. Sonsona lost his 115-pound title on the scales in the morning. The Boxing Bulletin's Andrew Fruman was in attendance at the fight, and also described Sonsona's performance as unimpressive. The same was said about Steve Molitor's eight-round win over Jose Saez.

Both Mikkel Kessler (14) and Edgar Sosa (20) were ranked in our pound-for-pound top 20, so look out for two new additions tomorrow when we update our rankings. And look for some fast rises for Andre Ward and Rodel Mayol in their divisions, too.

Andre Ward dominated Mikkel Kessler in Oakland to win the WBA super middleweight title. (Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)

View full size photo »

Andre Ward may have gotten away with some dirty tactics tonight, but you cannot deny one solid fact. The Olympic gold medalist frustrated, outboxed and outclassed Mikkel Kessler tonight, beating the Danish star by technical decision after the bout was stopped in the 11th round.

Ward won on scores of 98-92, 98-92 and 97-93. The fight was stopped on a cut ruled caused by a headbutt. Kessler was also bleeding over the other eye, which was also caused by a butt that wasn't called. Kessler (42-2, 32 KO) complained for the last few rounds in the corner that he couldn't see, and complained after the fight of Ward's holding and his headbutts.

Ward (21-0, 13 KO) also appeared to stray low frequently. California referee Jack Reiss called almost nothing on Ward, but it is what it is. Kessler may have legitimate gripes, but I don't think anyone that watched them tonight would argue that Kessler was beating Ward no matter what was called. Ward was faster, sharper, more confident, and had Kessler confused and frustrated early and often.

Kessler had trouble adjusting to Ward's speed, angles and overall offensive attack. He was not beating Ward tonight.

This was a coming out party for the American Ward, who frankly showed savvy I didn't think he had yet. He looked from the get-go like he knew he would win, and he put it on Kessler. I had Kessler the No. 1 super middleweight in the world coming into tonight. That has certainly changed now. Andre Ward put his stamp on the world of boxing and on the Super Six World Boxing Classic tonight.

We'll have more tomorrow, but for now, Andre Ward and his fans should revel in a career-making victory over Mikkel Kessler.

Live coverage starts with the Showtime broadcast at 10pm ET / 7pm PT. This is the final fight in the first leg of the Super Six World Boxing Classic.

MIKKEL KESSLER		ANDRE WARD
	Main Event

Former light heavyweight titleholder Zsolt Erdei moved up to cruiserweight and captured another belt today. Erdei outpointed Giacobbe Fragomeni.

View full size photo »

Former long-reigning light heavyweight lineal champion Zsolt Erdei of Hungary moved up to cruiserweight (well, sort of) and won a second division title, unseating Italian Giacobbe Fragomeni to win the WBC strap today in Kiel, Germany.

Erdei (31-0, 17 KO) won on scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 114-114, a majority decision victory, and one he definitely earned. Bad Left Hook scored it 116-112, and I thought my card was for sure on the "wide" end of possible scores. It felt like it could have been a 7-5 or even 6-6 bout, and the judges scored this one well.

Erdei, 35, weighed in at just 178 pounds for the fight, three pounds over the light heavyweight limit and 23 under the cruiserweight limit. Fragomeni (26-2-1, 10 KO) came in at 196 pounds on the scales, giving him a rather massive weight advantage. In many ways, that made it like a shrunken heavyweight fight.

The early portion of the bout was all Erdei, who fought backing up, but nonetheless was fighting. He used potshotting techniques and superior movement to frustrate the slower, shorter Fragomeni. But in the sixth, with Erdei visibly gasping for air between rounds, Fragomeni turned up the heat and got to work. He clearly won the sixth and seventh (you could have argued for him in the fourth, too), and won a few more rounds the rest of the way.

Most surprising was the spirit with which Erdei fought. This wasn't a bruising affair by any means. Neither man is a a big puncher and plenty of shots were missed on both sides, but Erdei fought through obvious fatigue for half the fight, and he did so without running, holding or anything else. In the 12th, he was clearly as gassed as he could be, but he fought it out until the final bell. In that respect, Erdei's performance deserves plenty of admiration. He fought to win this fight, and he won it.

On the undercard:

• Former Mikkel Kessler victim Dimitri Sartison won "the WBA belt" at 168 pounds, stopping Stjepan Bozic after five rounds due to a pretty nasty swollen left eye. Sartison was breathing heavier between rounds than I can remember any fighter ever breathing, but he also was clearly winning the fight and beating Bozic up. Bozic's corner got into a mad huff about the referee deciding to stop it, even while their fighter indicated he could not see out of his lead eye.
• 2008 Olympic gold medalist (heavyweight) Rakhim Chakhiev fought for the second time as a pro, demolishing a tomato can in short order. Chakhiev has real potential (obviously with that pedigree), but is also notable for his absolutely awe-inspiring unibrow.
• Vitali Tajbert won the interim WBC junior lightweight title from Humberto Gutierrez in a boring fight with little action on scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 116-113.  Both guys were extremely tentative to start, but Tajbert took over late in the fight in what was a bad clash of styles.
  

Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. could meet on May 1, 2010. Serious negotiations are set to begin for the fight. (Photo by Al Bello / Getty Images)

View full size photo »

Ronnie Nathanielsz reports that Bob Arum is hearing May 1 as the date everyone wants to target for a potential super fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao was originally tentatively scheduled for a March 13 return. Had Pacquiao-Cotto been a great, hotly-contested fight, I'd almost guarantee we'd be seeing a rematch on that date. Arum had talked about doing just that as a next step. But since Pacquiao clearly won, the only fight to be made now is Pacquiao against Mayweather.

Richard Schaefer recently disclosed that should both Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. win on December 2, those two living legends will meet in a rematch 17 years in the making on March 13, on HBO pay-per-view.

The first weekend of May is a traditional superfight weekend, with Cinco de Mayo playing some part in that. In 2007, Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. broke all the records with their fight, and this year Pacquiao met Ricky Hatton on that same weekend. May 1 is just logical. It gives them time for a massive promotional effort and plenty of time for what surely will be some drawn-out negotiations, too.