During the weekend of June 10-12, I will be traveling to Canastota, New York to attend the fourteenth annual induction ceremony at the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Along with Mike Tyson, Julio Cesar Chavez and Kostya Tszyu, both former 140 pound champions, will be honored and immortalized in boxing history alongside such previous inductees as Aaron Pryor, Edwin Rosario, and Pernell Whitaker. Both Chavez and Tszyu had excellent careers; yet, today’s fans seem to vastly underrate their value and some even question the merit of their inductions.
After holding six titles from super featherweight to junior welterweight, in a career spanning twenty-five years (1980-2005), Chavez is widely recognized as the greatest Mexican boxer of all-time. J.C. Superstar, as reporters commonly labeled him throughout the 1990s, ran up an eighty-eight bout unbeaten streak to start his amazing career and finished with a record of 107-6-2 (86). Chavez earned victories over such elites as Ruben Castillo, Roger Mayweather, Edwin Rosario, Jose Luis Ramirez, Meldrick Taylor, Hector Camacho, and Greg Haugen. It was Pernell Whitaker, who put an end to Chavez’ win-streak in 1993 with a dubious draw the Mexican icon was lucky to receive. After that, Chavez still remained active for another twelve years and faced the next generation’s leaders at 140 in Oscar De La Hoya and Tszyu.
Tszyu’s career spanned a far shorter period of time (1992-2005), but in those thirteen years Tszyu was almost entirely ranked among the elites at junior welterweight. By the time he called it quits, Tszyu had captured four world titles at 140 pounds. In his fourth professional bout, Tszyu defeated former world champion Juan Laporte. By the time he had a dozen fights, the Thunder from Down Under added Sammy Fuentes, Livingston Bramble, Hector Lopez, and Angel Hernandez to his resume. Tszyu decimated Jake Rodriguez for his first world championship and later added victories over Roger Mayweather, Calvin Grove, Rafael Ruelas, Disobeys Hurtado, Miguel Angel Gonzalez, Julio Cesar Chavez, Sharma Mitchell, Zab Judah, and Jesse James Leija. Tszyu retired with a record of 31-2 (25), his only losses coming against Vince Phillips and Ricky Hatton.
As a long-time fan, I had the honor of watching both fighters perform live in my home state of Connecticut. Chavez was on the decline, but, on June 25, 1998 at Foxwoods Resort and Casino, he easily dominated Ken Sigurani for a third round TKO to please the boxing fans in attendance. Tszyu captured a unanimous decision over Oktay Ukal in a fairly entertaining contest at Mohegan Sun Casino back on November 3, 2001. As a fan of both men, each event was viewed as a bucket list item at the time. I am quite pleased I was able to check them off my list and now I will have the honor of meeting them both at the hall of fame for their induction into boxing history.
What’s good about today’s junior welterweight division?
The top guys are getting it done. Timothy Bradley and Amir Khan are at the top of the 140 pound class and both are fighting at extremely high levels in the sport of boxing. Bradley has defeated excellent opposition in Miguel Vazquez, Junior Witter, Kendall Holt, Lamont Peterson, and Devon Alexander to earn the top spot. Khan has re-established himself after his lone defeat to overcome Andriy Kotelnik, Paulie Malignaggi, and Rene Marcos Maidana. These two men have forged paths which lead only to each other for undisputed recognition as the world’s best junior welterweight. It’s more of a Super Fight than it is being recognized as, but rightfully so given the disappointment generated in the wake of Bradley’s win over Alexander. However, the winner here is a genuine pound for pound talent and the most deserving man of a shot at Manny Pacquiao under 147 pounds.
The kids are all right, too! Well, the rising contenders and prospects at least. Right now, Josesito Lopez, Danny Garcia, Jessie Vargas, Mauricio Herrera, Ruslan Provodnikov, and Tim Coleman all reside at 140 pounds. Lopez has collected the pelts of fellow prospects Patrick Lopez, Marvin Cordova Jr., and Mike Dallas Jr. in his rise to contention. Garcia has garnered much attention with the help of Golden Boy Promotions and, although he may not be the puncher he was originally advertised as, he has high profile wins over Ashley Theophane, Mike Arnoutis, and Nate Campbell since 2010. Vargas recently retired Vivian Harris after one round. Herrera upset the highly regarded Provodnikov, who has already beaten Javier Jauregui, Emmanuel Augustus, and Ivan Popoca on ESPN2. Coleman has also posted wins over Mike Arnoutis and Patrick Lopez. The majority of these young guns have been getting excellent face time on ESPN or pay-per-view undercards.
What’s bad about today’s junior welterweight division?
As a division, the junior welterweights are slightly overrated. Bradley and Khan deserve their props, but both still have something to prove at the next level of the game and that will only happen against one another. Devon Alexander was supposed to on par with these guys, but he turned in a gutless performance against Bradley once the going got tough. He also earned a dubious decision over Kotelnik, who was already shutout by Khan previously. Maidana is another 140 pounder that has disappointed. Sure, he showed true grit in stopping Victor Ortiz and pressing Khan to the limit, but he barely scraped by the aged Demarcus Corley and went life and death with Erik Morales. Kendall Holt looked good stopping Julio Diaz, but he is not too far removed from an embarrassing sixth round retirement loss to Kaizer Mabuza. His inconsistency does not offer a strong sense of security among the top ten. On top of it, Zab Judah, who has looked cooked for the last several years, went on to stop Mabuza for the vacant IBF title and established himself as a bonafide contender in the division. Junior welterweight is competitive, but the majority of the contenders stand on shaky ground.
The top two fighters at 140 have dark clouds hanging over their heads. Timothy Bradley wears the label of professional “head-butter” due to his style as a compact fighter, who moves forward. His fights tend to not be the most exciting and his personality is humble. As a result, a lot of fans dismiss him unfairly. Khan was stopped by Breidis Prescott in 2008 and if he ran off a hundred straight wins many fans would still cite this fact as their major grounds for not liking him and picking his opponents to beat him. It doesn’t matter that Maidana threw the kitchen sink at Khan and failed to drop him. Khan will always be a chinny champion who will lose his next fight in the eyes of many instead of an improved fighter, who got caught cold once and paid the price.
The verdict?
The top junior welterweights will continue fighting one another and that is the best thing we can ask for. It is a difficult task to go through the top twelve or fifteen 140 pounders in the world today and not find at least one noteworthy name on their resumes. However, many of the top guys have already been matched together and the chances of rematches are slight and mostly unnecessary. The established guard and the young guns on the rise need to start mingling inside the ring to push the 140 pound class on and develop greater depth as a division.
Related Quotes:
Mauricio Herrera, junior welterweight contender: “[Khan-Bradley]is a pretty decent match up for today’s boxing fans. I think they can make it an explosive fight. I can’t really rank them among past fighters in the division’s history though. I don’t think they’ve shown enough before this fight. They might not be as popular because the fighters they beat for their belts were not all exciting.
The Pacquiao excitement has a lot to do with people who don’t follow boxing unless there’s a big fight and they’re missing a lot better matches being made. Real boxing fans get to see those fights. The rest get short changed in that aspect. So, “Pac-Mania” can affect the 140 pound class a little, I guess.”
Kendall Holt, former 140 pound champion: “Berto-Ortiz definitely has my vote for fight of the year! Bradley-Khan is a great match up in boxing because it’s putting two of the divisions biggest stars in the same ring and any time two champions are doing battle its always great for the sport!
The Pacquiao-sweepstakes won’t short change any match in the 140lb division because people always want to see great match ups. The Pacquiao sweepstakes only adds to the excitement of the other match ups.”
