Whilst I, like every other boxing fan in the world understands how interim titles can be used properly, to keep a title relevant whilst a fighter is suffering a long term injury, it seems they are now used just for the sake of having another title on the line. What we, as fans need to remember is that the sanctioning bodies manage to claim 3% of the fighters purse if a title is fought for, this includes interim titles, effectively allowing the sanctioning bodies a chance to profit from the numerous titles they have out. Sadly what interim titles have done is lead to a number of "world title bouts" that fans either aren't aware of, or simply don't care about, one such example is this weekend's WBA "interim" Light Flyweight bout between champion Alberto Rossel (28-8-0-1, 13) and challenger Karluis Diaz (17-3, 13). Sadly this bout isn't about being the best, it's about the WBA claiming their payment for a bout featuring two men that only the most hardcore of fans have even heard of, never mind seen.
Peruvian Rossel claimed the "interim" WBA Light Flyweight title earlier this year when he scored an upset win over young, and previously unbeaten Mexican Jose Alfredo Rodriguez (who at the time was 27-0). This victory over Rodriguez saw Rossel becoming the first Peruvian to claim a portion of any world title, quite an historic feat, though one that hasn't managed to make waves in the boxing world due in part to the titles "interim" status and also due to the fact very, very few know who he really is.
The diminutive (5'2") Peruvian, known as "Chiquito" is a true ring veteran, having been a professional since 1998 and has faced a genuine who's who of world class fighters ranging from Daniel Reyes to Ivan Calderon, from Brian Viloria to Hugo Fidel Cazares. Sadly however Rossel has never been able to beat one of the bigger names often being too small, to weak or just not good enough, despite this he has continued to plug away and eventually won the gold.
At 34 years old Rossel is certainly in the twilight of his career, though as he showed against Rodriguez he has a reliable jab, fast foot work and is savy enough to work to his strengths, which appear to be to box and move. Sadly, in most of Rossel's high profile bouts his jab simply hasn't been enough to keep away opponents who have often been able to walk through it (notable Cazares who never once looked bothered by the Rossel jab). As well as getting on a bit (certainly for a light Flyweight) Rossel also doesn't have the sort of power to really buzz a top fighter, in fact his highest profile stoppage victim is quite probably former world title challenger Reginaldo Martins Carvalho who has now been stopped 10 times in 13 losses (from 33 bouts).
Whilst Rossel is certainly an obscure fighter for a "champion" his opponent, Colombian Karluis Diaz Perez is even less well known with only two videos of his freely available (his 8 round decision win over Farid Cassiani and his 7th round TKO loss to Jose Alfredo Rodriguez). This means that, sadly, we need to look more at at his record than his actual footage, however from what we saw he looks very, very limited and worryingly wild.
From his record it maybe fair to assume that Karluis Diaz Perez can hit hard, though in all honesty it's very hard to be sure as he has faced seriously limited competition with only 1 T/KO over a fighter with a winning record at the time (Luis Carrillo, who was 7-0-1, when Diaz stopped in back in 2009). What we do however know is that he isn't the most durable having been stopped in all 3 of his losses to date (with those losses coming to Jose Alfredo Rodriguez, recent title challenger Pedro Guevara and up coming title challenger Mario Rodriguez). The most worrying of those being an opening round blow out by Mario Rodriguez just 2 fights ago.
As well as his record and his durability issues Karluis Diaz Perez also has another issue, geography. To date he is 17-0 (13) in his homeland of Colombia, when he has left Colombia however he is 0-3. Whilst it's fair to point out that those losses are to his best opponents it also needs to be noted that he is fighting Rossel in Peru and Rossel is yet again one of Perez Diaz's best opponents, in fact Rossel beat the fighter (Jose Alfredo Rodriguez) who inflicted the first loss on Diaz Perez.
Going into the bout I have to favour Rossel to retain his title by decision. Whilst Diaz Perez does have durability issues Rossel doesn't have the power to make him pay, he does however have nigh on hero status in Peru due to his historic position as Peru's first world champion. Rossel's status in Peru will make it very hard to get decision over him and in fact Rossel is unbeaten in Peru (25-0, 13).
No comments:
Post a Comment