Home Boxing News A Guide to the stacked Jnr.Welterweight division

A Guide to the stacked Jnr.Welterweight division

With all of the top fighters in this weight class being in action recently, it is time to do a review of who’s in, who’s out and who might soon be in/out.  I shall attack this issue in sequences of five.

Best:
Five is certainly an appropriate number for this section, as this number of fighters can realistically claim to be the elite of the division.  Terence Crawford, 26-0 (18), probably jumped straight in at number one following his recent move up from lightweight – particularly bearing in mind the poor recent form of incumbent Danny Garcia, 30-0 (17).  Crawford is looking more and more like a future superstar of the sport, with his debut at the weight last week against Thomas Dulorme seeing him display sensational form.  The suspicion is that Crawford’s stay at light-welter will not be for long, as the big money/glamour fights are up at welterweight.  However, a contest with any of the other fighters in this section would be a major attraction and regardless of who he is fighting he will start as a hot favourite.  My only knock on Terence is that he has given early leads to both Dulorme and Yuriorkis Gamboa in recent fights.  Against the very top quality opposition this habit may prove costly.  “Swift” Garcia, for his part, has come out on the right end of two majority decisions in his last three fights and nobody would have blinked had both decisions gone against him.  Just a short while ago, Garcia was recognised as the cream of the division.  His close victory over Mauricio Herrera could have been seen as a one-off bad night, but the way he struggled last week against Lamont Peterson, 33-3-1 (17), suggests something more worrying.  Garcia appears highly unlikely to fight at light-welter again, with perhaps weight-making difficulties being the reason for his recent poor form.  However, it is starting to look as though Garcia peaked in 2012-13 and is unlikely to hit that sort of form again. 

Peterson surprised most of us with his excellent performance against Garcia.  Peterson is the mongrel of the group, not being outstanding in any aspect of the sport, but being generally excellent all round.  His opposition has been very good for the last six years and only Matthysse and Timothy Bradley have outclassed him.  Popular Argentine, Lucas Matthysse, 37-3 (34), once again confirmed his place at or near the top of the division, with his boxing masterclass last week against Ruslan Provodnikov.  The judges, and quite a few experienced observers, had this fight close.  Perhaps they were misled by their pre-fight expectations of a back and forth war.  In reality, Matthysse outclassed Provodnikov in the majority of the rounds, with the relentless Russian picking up a few close rounds towards the end as Matthysse’s feet finally slowed.  Matthysse is a genuine fan favourite and has a real puncher’s chance against anyone, Crawford included.  The odd man out in the group is Adrien Broner, 30-1 (22).  He is here under sufferance, as he really wants to be a welterweight.  Shame for him that he isn’t good and/or big enough for the higher weight class, as shown in his comprehensive defeat by Marcos Maidana in December 2013.  Neither has Broner proved himself at this weight yet, with three relatively unimpressive points victories since that loss.  On his previous form at lightweight, though, it must be imagined that he is a threat to the other top fighters here.  An all-PBC (Al Haymon) clash between Peterson and Broner would be full of intrigue, assuming that Haymon does not intend to keep them apart.

Other contenders:
Holding one of the alphabet belts, but not belonging in the previous group is Jessie Vargas, 26-0 (9), whose career has been manoeuvred nicely by Uncle Bob Arum.  The thing with Vargas is that due to his lack of punching power (see his stats), he is almost always in good, hard, close fights.  It is therefore hard to dislike him or begrudge his success.  Do not look for him to fight any of the top five any time soon.  Bob’s other young star in this division is Jose Benavidez, 22-0 (15).  He was stepped up dramatically in December, against top ten gatekeeper Mauricio Herrera, 21-5 (7).  Despite performing well, he appeared to lose that fight but was given a gift (and wide) unanimous decision over the hapless Herrera.  This fight showed that Benavidez needs more seasoning and, indeed, he has been given a soft touch first defence of his WBA interim belt against Jorge Paez Jr. next month. 

As for the aforementioned Mauricio Herrera, he is the hard luck story of the decade so far.  Not only does he hold a win over Ruslan Provodnikov, 24-4 (17), but he could easily hold victories over Danny Garcia and Benavidez, but for unkind judges.  Despite having the backing of Golden Boy Promotions, Herrera never seems to have received the support some others have.  He is a highly capable fighter, who on his night could challenge anyone in the division, perhaps bar Crawford.  One wonders how much desire remains though, after the heartbreaking losses he has suffered in recent years.  Provodnikov, meanwhile, took a hellacious beating from Matthysse and has now lost three of his last five.  Worse than this, he gets hit far too often and easily to the head, emerging from most of his fights battered, bruised and cut.  One can imagine his sparring sessions are not much easier.  The type of fights that he has been in age a boxer and we have probably already seen the best of the Siberian Rocky.

A fighter who may be about to become a major force in the division is Ukrainian Viktor Postol, 27-0 (11).  Postol is mandatory contender for the WBC and if, as we assume, Garcia moves up to welterweight, he will be in one corner for the vacant title.  The other top contenders in the WBC are Matthysse and Broner.  Of course, Postol would be a big underdog against either of those and his recent nothing-much points victory would support those odds.  However, in his one big fight to date, against Turk Selcuk Aydin in May 2014, Postol boxed superbly.  If that fight is a true indication of his form then he is a threat to anyone at the weight.

Top prospects:
Top Rank’s Jose Ramirez, 13-0 (10), looks a “can’t miss” for the future.  The 2012 Olympian went into those games with high hopes surrounding him.  Like all of that U.S. team, however, he disappointed in London and was eliminated in the round of 16.  However, Ramirez, who has been touted as another Oscar De La Hoya for the Mexican-American fans, has made good progress in the pro ranks.  The Californian headlines a small show in Fresno next month against veteran Robert Frankel.  Frankel rarely gets stopped and has often fought in good class.  He will give Ramirez valuable rounds on his steady climb up the ladder.  At just 22, Ramirez has everything it takes to get right to the top.  Chorley’s Jack Catterall, 11-0 (7), is far and away the top young fighter at this weight on this side of the Atlantic.  The Lee Beard-trained southpaw looked superb last year in defeating a pair of unbeaten Scousers, Thomas Stalker and Nathan Brough.  It was no surprise that Jack beat Stalker, but the way he destroyed the Olympic bronze medallist opened plenty of eyes.  The smooth boxer has stated that the only domestic opponent who interests him is Bradley Saunders.  What a cracker that would be but, of course, they are with rival promoters so don’t expect to see that fight take place.  With a top-12 WBO ranking duly bought and paid for (with sanctioning fees) by his promoter, Jack is already well-placed with that organisation.  Another up and coming threat from Top Rank is Alex Saucedo, 17-0 (12), from Oklahoma.  Alex is only 20 years old and is currently floating between this weight and welter.  Alex made his debut at age 17 and is making very good progress.  UK viewers have had a couple of glimpses of him on BoxNation TV, the most recent being on the Terence Crawford-Ray Beltran undercard.  He looked very special that night and will shortly progress to fighting in 10-rounders in the coming months.

Making it a hat trick of Top Rank new boys is Julian Rodriguez, 9-0 (8), who looks like another certainty for future honours.  Julian is only 20 years old and goes by the name of “Hammer Hands”.  He has certainly lived up to that tag so far and is on a seven-fight kayo streak.  This brilliant young fighter has already starred in the amateur code.  He was runner-up to far more experienced Jamel Herring in the US Nationals of 2012, whilst only 17 and just over a year later won the national Golden Gloves.  This young star is out next on 8 May on the undercard to Glen Tapia-Michel Soro – look out for him.  The outsider of the bunch is Congolese Paul Kamanga, 15-0 (8), who has had all of his fights in South Africa.  Paul boxed on the undercard of Martin Murray’s first fight with Rodney Berman’s Golden Gloves outfit, stopping South African Adam de Moor in seven.  He looked one to watch in that fight, but despite outclassing his opponent it was worrying that he seemed to get badly hurt in the fifth.  At 21 years of age, Kamanga has time on his side but may lack the punching power to go all the way to the top.

Best Brits:
Despite only having fought once at this weight, Ricky Burns, 37-4-1 (11), must be considered the top UK fighter.  Ricky was a real player in the lightweight division, looking at big unification fights with the rival champions in 2011 and 2012.  Since that time though Burns’s form has dipped dramatically and he has not put in a good performance since beating Kevin Mitchell in September 2012.  Ricky has a make or break fight lined up against Omar Figueroa next month.  Figueroa is also moving up from lightweight.  At his best this would be a very winnable fight for Burns.  The problem is that he is no longer at his best and will go into this fight a massive outsider.  Unfortunately, the Frank Warren lawsuit which has bankrupted Burns will mean that even a bad loss may see him having to continue with his declining career due to financial difficulties.  Former domestic champion Ashley Theophane, 37-6-1 (11), is now plying his trade in the U.S. under the banner of Floyd Mayweather’s TMT organisation.  One can only assume that he is making a decent living Stateside, but his career is petering out as he treads water.  Ashley has not had a meaningful fight since losing to Pablo Cesar Cano on one of Floyd’s undercards in September 2013.  As is always the case, Theophane gave a good showing in that defeat.  He desperately needs another big fight as he is fast becoming a forgotten man on the world scene.  Instead, he is lined up against Mahonri Montes at the end of this month.  Ho hum. 

I considered putting Bradley Saunders, 12-0 (9), in the prospects section, but at the age of 29 and with a stellar amateur career behind him, I think he has gone past that stage.  Saunders’s amateur pedigree is well known and he has looked devastating in most of his pro fights.  Now he needs to step up.  He was due to face Dave Ryan earlier this month but unfortunately Saunders sustained an injury to his right hand.  Saunders is hopeful of being back in the ring by July, so perhaps the Ryan fight can still take place.  Even if Ryan loses his upcoming fight with John Wayne Hibbert he would still make an ideal opponent for Bradley.  What Saunders needs is someone who will stand up to his power and give him some rounds.  Bradley has started to fight too recklessly, expectant that his violent assaults will always win the day.  Of course, this is not the case and as he steps up he will need to be more circumspect.  Ryan has never been stopped and might pose Saunders some problems he has not faced in a while.  Rounding out this section are two veterans in Lenny Daws, 29-3-2 (11), and Darren Hamilton, 15-3 (3).  Daws won the EU belt in his latest fight and still seems to be boxing as well as ever.  At 36 years old, he is not going to get any better, but he is still good enough to win back the British title if given the chance.  Hamilton is also 36, but may be closer to the end of his career.  Darren was hard done by in losing what many considered a hometown decision, along with his British title, to sentimental favourite Curtis Woodhouse in February 2014.  Despite putting in a subdued performance, Hamilton still looked to have won the fight.  Since then, he has only turned out once, winning a nondescript six-rounder last September.  With no backing and no fan-base he might just fade away.

Considering that Britain has four super-middleweights in the world’s top 10, this really is a threadbare list by comparison.  On the other hand, the aforementioned Catterall should soon start making an impact on the world rankings.  Domestically, look for Chris Jenkins to shortly replace Hamilton in this list and also keep a watchful eye out for Tommy Martin, Robbie Davies Jr., Josh Leather and maybe Romeo Romaeo making waves.

Other notable names:
Whatever happened to Frankie Gomez, 18-0 (13)?  Gomez and Jose Benavidez were the great amateur rivals who turned pro within three months of each other and were to sweep away all opposition on their way to world domination.  For differing reasons though both have disappointed.  At least Benavidez does now have a breakthrough win (albeit the bad decision mentioned earlier against Herrera).  Gomez, however, is still floundering and making little headway.  Out of the ring issues have stunted his career growth to date but, at 23 years of age, there is still plenty of hope that he might progress.  When he has boxed he has looked very good, but just two fights in each of the past three years is not good enough.  He is to have his coming out party on 9 May against veteran Mexican Humberto Soto.  He should be too busy for Soto and if he does win it will propel him into the big time.  Gomez is a Golden Boy fighter, as is Antonio Orozco, 21-0 (15), who has caught up with and probably now passed his stable-mate.  Orozco has learned his trade steadily and is now ready to make his move onto the world stage.  He has his first major test one week after Gomez, when he faces Emmanuel Taylor.  Taylor is a good opponent at this stage of Orozco’s career.  Taylor’s three defeats have all been distance fights and Orozco is unlikely to stop him.  However, Orozco’s nickname is “Relentless” and this aptly describes the reason he will beat Taylor, who is very conservative with his punch output.  Orozco should get the points victory.

Omar Figueroa, 24-0-1 (18), virtually guarantees excitement whenever he fights, with his victory over Japanese Nihito Arakawa being one of the fights of 2013.  Omar has now relinquished his WBC lightweight title and is due to have his first fight at light-welter against Ricky Burns on 9 May.  Figueroa is vulnerable and, indeed, was lucky to get the decision against old amateur rival Jerry Belmontes last year.  However, these days Burns is even more vulnerable and Figueroa should get a winning start to his career at the higher weight.  Former Olympic champion Felix Diaz, 17-0 (8), was a surprise champion in Beijing, coming through the pack almost unnoticed.  With his aggressive style it seemed he would be even better suited to the pro game, but has made only snail’s pace progress to date.  Diaz still bears watching but at 31 he needs to step up now.  Look for him to be found out when he fights a fringe-contender type.  Ik Yang, 19-0 (14), is the throat-slitting Chinese character who has come through on Zou Shiming’s undercards in Macao in recent fights.  Yang seems to pack a heavy punch but his no.2 world ranking with the IBF is absolutely ludicrous.  With Lamont Peterson now being stripped of that title, Yang is likely to fight Argentine Cesar Cuenca for the vacant belt.  Look for that to take place on one of the next Top Rank cards in Macao.  Amir Imam, 17-0 (14), has not put a foot wrong yet.  Amir, who is in Don King’s fast diminishing stable, is a real class act.  A boxer-puncher, he scored his biggest win one year ago when dominating Cuban Yordenis Ugas on ESPN.  The concern with Amir is that he was floored by Fidel Maldonado Jr. in an otherwise dominant performance and was also quite badly rocked by Ugas in the aforementioned contest last year.  Despite this, Amir has the potential to be matched against a top 10 opponent sooner rather than later.