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03/08/2004 Archived Entry: "Back to Back Weeks of Excitement in the Junior Lightweight Division"
Back to Back Weeks of Excitement in the Junior Lightweight Division
Will We See a Unification Bout?
By Umar ben-Ivan Lee
After getting off to a slow start in 2004, boxing has heated up in the last two weeks thinks to the jr. lightweight division. This week we saw the closely battled decision between Diego Corrales and Joel Cassamayor after seeing the gutsy Jesus Chavez battle Erik Morales last week.
Contrasting to the six round streetfight the two warriors had last October in which Cassamayor the boxer outslugged the puncher Corrales; this time around the two warriors boxed more and based on his dominance of the early rounds, before being dropped in the tenth, Corrales won a close split decision with former Cassamayor trainer Joe Goosen in his corner.
While Showtime analyst Al Bernstein had Corrales winning by a wide margin and taking all of the first eight rounds; it was both close on the judges scorecards and the boxing press was about evenly split on who they thought won the fight ( I had the fight scored 115-113 for Cassamayor). However, just as in the case of De La Hoya-Mosley II and other fights the public perception of what they have seen is often jaded by what they have heard from the broadcasters.
However instead of focusing on the close nature of the decision, I would rather focus on the future of this suddenly red-hot decision. With Erik Morales winning against one-armed Jesus Chavez just last week on HBO and planning to face Carlos Hernandez this summer we could be looking at a unification bout/ Ring Mag championship between the Morales-Hernandez winner and Corrales ( or even a possibly equally interesting bout with Cassamayor).
Based on the performance against the performance of Morales against Chavez; in which he couldn’t put away a one-armed man (who many including this writer thought could have beat Morales if he was healthy); he would have to be an underdog facing either Corrales or Cassamayor. The question becomes will Bob Arum take the risk in putting Morales in with Cassamayor or Corrales or will he take the route of Acelino Freitas and make the easiest fights at the division. Knowing the courage of Morales I doubt this will happen as he has proven himself to be a man who wants to take-on the toughest possible foes.
A junior lightweight showdown could be a major event in boxing which could be a defining bout for late 2004. It would undoubtedly make economic and boxing sense and position the survivor for a big future fights with Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez or stepping up to the Lightweight Division and taking on a Freitas, Alex Trujillo, Juan Diaz or whoever comes out of 2004 in that division.
Johnson Just Too Damn Sharp
Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson was just too sharp in his battle in which he dominated the previously undefeated Luis Bolano in an impressive 4th round stoppage. For his part the DC native is seeking unification with the 115 lb. title of Luis Perez to top of what has been an impressive rebound since his losses to Rafael Marquez.
