Humberto Soto carries the WBC laurels at 130 but last time out fought up at Lightweight. He hasn’t decided yet if he’s going to 135 full time yet. I suspect he’ll flit back and for until either he gets one of the top guys at Lightweight or can’t make 130 anymore. Nobody except possibly Robert Guerrero is capable of being Soto at Super Featherweight. Guerrero will be impressive in the coming year fighting 3 times one being against Mzonke Fana. Such wins along with Soto abdicating his thrown could see Guerrero becoming top dog here.
Roman Martinez has to defend his WBO crown against mandatory Ricky Burns. That fight is at purse bids currently and while Burns is a good fighter it’s unlikely he’ll unseat Martinez. Juan Carlos Salgado burst into the limelight with a huge KO over Jorge Linares he’ll make his first defense against Takashi Uchiyama. That should let us know where Salgado is. I suspect Salgado will stop Uchiyama and then fight in America & Mexico before the years out. Linares will use 2010 as a rebuilding exercise fighting on a few Golden Boy undercards.
When Chris John came onto the world scene in 2003 he wasn’t very well known but slowly year after year he’s chipped away and got the begrudging respect of his peers and fans alike. The first sign that he maybe more than just a belt holder came in March 06 when he surprised everyone beating Juan Manuel Marquez. Unfortunetely he wasn’t able to capitalise on that, taking nearly 3 years to get a big fight. Then he made his much anticipated American debut when he fought Rocky Juarez only to be awarded a draw, 7 months later righted that wrong again in America. He’ll not fight until April/May as he has been ill with no obvious opponent. Yordan will fight Ponce De Leon in January if Ponce De Leon wins that will be one foe though look for Yordan to go a different way is he’s victorious. Elio “Kid” Rojas went to Japan and performed very well to snare the WBC crown and he’ll be back on the road this time to Mexico where he’ll meet veteran former champ Guty Espades who he should stop. Hopefully Rojas will be busier than most Don King fighters and fight a few times though he may have to be a road warrior to do so. JuanMa Lopez will break down Steve Luevano for an 8th round stoppage. On the same show Cuban Dynamo Yuriorkis Gamboa will fair better with Rogers Mtagwa than Lopez did and score a late KO. Both guys have been on a collision course for months before finally getting down to business in June. That looks like a bombs away fight that will see someone’s star assend even higher. I see it ending inside 5 rounds possibly with both guys hitting the canvas, though i’ll go with Lopez to get the win. After a few months off to recuperate Lopez gets back to action against Mario Santiago after Santiago beat Bernabe Concepcion. Expect a big year from Mikee Garcia who’s currently 18-0(15) at 22 he’s mature for his age physically. He’ll be let off the leash starting against another young gun Joksan Hernandez in January. All being well look for Garcia to be moved onto bigger promotions and into the publics eye in the coming year. He’s well backed with Cameron Dunkin as his manager, Robert Garcia his elder brother as his trainer and promoted by Top Rank.
In 2009 the Super Bantamweight division was pretty packed but over the coarse of the year some of the top dogs have moved up to Featherweight. Israel Vazquez took most of the year off but when he did comeback in October it was up at 126 the same can be said for his dance partner Rafael Marquez who fought in May before being involved in a road accident. When a deal couldn’t be worked out for them to fight in the fall of 09 it was pushed back until 22 May 10. After that fight hopefully with them both making a well deserved fortune they’ll decide to enjoy there money and retire though don’t bank on it a title fight at Featherweight would loom for the winner. JuanMa Lopez looks likely to be next. The vacant title will be contested between Wilfredo Vazquez Jnr who’s father of the same name won world titles in 3 weight classes and the emerging Marvin Sonsona who is jumping from 115 to 122. There are many intangibles in this fight but i’ll take Vazquez who’s gotten better and better in 09 to take the title with a late stoppage, however id Sonsona does win it’ll be his second world title before he’s 20. Look for the winner to stick around a while. Top dog will be Celestino Caballero who owns the WBA & IBF crowns, he’ll turn 34 in 2010 so doesn’t have time to waste. Caballero is the 122 version of Paul Williams at 147 at 5’11’ he’s a tough night for anyone and he’ll continue this trend with 2 defence’s, most likely on the road. It would be interesting to see Caballero tangle with Poonsawat Kratchingdaengym who went to Ireland and demolished Bernard Dunne. The battle hardened WBC holder is Toshiaki Nishioka who may have to face Hozumi Hasegawa if Hasegawa goes through with his wish to move up from Bantamweight. If that happens look for Hasegawa to win the title either via late stoppage or on points then fight the winner of Rendall Munroe-Victor Terrazas which again Hasegawa will win. Hopefully some combination of Caballero, Poonsawat & Hasegawa will happen in 2010. The best of the rest will be Ricardo Cordoba who’ll remain busy, Antonio Escalante who will have a good year but wont be good enough to beat any of the afore mentioned quartet at the top of the division and in Europe Zsolt Bedak will continue to develop.
With Hasegawa moving up to 122 Abner Mares will win the vacant title maybe as soon as the end of January when he may get a chance to fight Simpiwe Vetyeka. He’ll grow with the title and defend on a few big bills and become the first home grown talent Golden Boy has taken from the amateurs to a professional world title. The WBA champion Anselmo Moreno will fight the ridiculous interim champion Nehomar Cermeno in the first half of the year in what looks a 50-50 the winner would have a justifiable claim to be the top man with Hasegawa at 122. Look for Moreno to eke out an close decision in Panama. He’ll follow that with another defence or two. Look for one of them to possibly be against former 115 champion Alexander Munoz. Yonnhy Perez won a barnstormer in October when he took the title from Joseph Agbeko look for Perez to fight twice with one of them a rematch with Agbeko on Showtime. Fernando Montiel didn’t look so good last time out and escaped with a no contest he’ll fight Ciso Morales in February 13, Montiel will be expected to retain his title before fighting the winner of Eric Morel-Gerry Penalosa in the summer. Either should be interesting, i’ll look for Montiel to keep the title again possible fighting Nonito Donaire late in the year. If so, Donaire will win a chess match over the distance. The best of the new breed is 20 year old Californian Chris Avalos 14-0(11) look for him to step upto 10 rounder’s against increasingly tough opposition.
