What Now, Charly?

What now, Charly Suarez?

The man he had been chasing for a title fight has recently lost to the man he refused to fight a year before.

Since turning pro, Charly Suarez has made no secret that among his main goals was to get a fight against UK's Joe Cordina to avenge a close split decision loss to the Welsh in the lightweight preliminary round of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

This desire only heightened when Cordina who himself turned pro in 2017 after a failed Olympic campaign, became IBF world champion at super featherweight by knocking out Japan's Kenichi Ogawa in 2022.

Suarez turned pro only in 2020 after winning another gold medal in the Manila South East Asian Games and since then he has racked up 17 straight wins, 9 by knockout.

In the process, he has won the Philippine GAB super featherweight championship and after beating erstwhile undefeated Aussie Paul Fleming, he captured three other major regional titles including the IBO Continental crown which made him mandatory challenger to IBO champion Anthony Cacece of Ireland.

Suarez did not pursue the chance, dead set as he was in landing a title fight versus Cordina and perhaps dismissing the IBO belt of Cacece as a minor championship.

In a cruel, ironic twist of fate, Cordina opted to fight IBO champion Cacece in a unification as among the supporting bouts of the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury undisputed world heavyweight main event in Saudi Arabia.

Cordina had previously successfully defended against Russian Shavkat Rakhimov and Edward Vasquez winning both on points.

Cacece floored Cordina in the third round en route to a dominant 8th round TKO victory emerging as unified IBF and IBO world super featherweight champion.

Will Charly still chase after a fight with Cordina if only to prove that he is the better boxer than the now once beaten Welsh?

Or will he do a career reboot and chase a fight against worthier adversaries.

Like, for example, the man that actually won the 2016 Rio Olympic gold- Brazilian Robson Conceicao who is now on his fourth attempt to win a pro world title at super featherweight?

Conceicao had earlier lost to Shakur Stevenson and Oscar Valdez and was held to draw by Emanuel Navarette. The Brazilian is set to challenge American WBC titlist O' Shaquie Foster next weekend.

Or the other current world champions in the division as Navarette, Lamont Roach.

And yes, Cacece.

The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.