The Super Bantamweight division is a bit of a funny division at the moment with 1 stand out fighter, Guillermo Rigondeaux, and a number of fighters all looking for their place in the division. Amongst those fighters in the "chasing group" are guys like Scott Quigg, Carl Frampton, Shingo Wake, Leo Santa Cruz, Jhonathan Romero and Oscar Escandon.
The unbeaten Escandon (22-0, 15) of Colombia will look for his biggest victory to date on August 10th as he takes on former world title holder Nehomar Cermeno (21-5-1, 13), victory that could well see Escandon become one of the leading contenders in the 122lb division and the WBA Interim Super Bantamweight champion.
Aged 29 Escandon is unlike most typical Colombian fighters. He's not the typical raw banger that we've come to expect from the country with the likes of Edison Miranda and Breidis Prescott, in fact he's more of the "new breed" of Colombian's like Middleweight prospect Alex Theran.
Sure Escandon is heavy handed, not destructive but heavy handed, though he combines his power with a solid amateur background of around 200 fights, including bouts at the highest level. He's not an out and out skillster but he is well schooled and uses those skills from his amateur days to good effect.
With many Colombian's being sluggers it's nice to see that Escandon can fight as an educated pressure fighter, as he showed against Jesus Marcelo Andres Cuellar when he used a lovely variety of punches to head and body, was relentless and fun to watch. His defense can often go out the window showing he does have some traits of being a typical Colombian but more often than not shows he can use his boxing skills when needed, as he did against Ever Garcia Hernandez.
There is certainly plenty to like about Escandon who appears capable of boxing on the back foot or forcing the action on the front foot. Though there are also worries to be had about him. To date he has only been 10 rounds once, against the very limited Nelson Cantero and his best win as a professional is one over Cuellar, who was then 17-0. The lack of experience in 12 round contests is a massive worry for fans of Escandon here.
Whilst this is a chance for Escandon to announce himself on the world stage it's also a chance for Cermeno, of Venezuela to rebuild his seriously faltering career.
Just 4 years ago Cermeno was the WBA interim Bantamweight champion. He had a 2009 to remember scoring 2 victories over the excellent Cristian Mijares and defeating the then credible Alejandro Valdez, all in Mexico.
Since the victory over Valdez however Cermeno has really struggled winning just 2 of 8 contests. Whilst most of Cermeno's losses in that run have come to good fighters in the form of Anselmo Moreno, twice, Victor Terrazas, Fernando Montiel and Alexander Bakhtin it's become fair to say that he's now looking very much a washed up fighter.
At his best Cermeno was a tricky fighter, no single quality really stood out as world class but he was difficult to read, he could be very cautious at times but always seemed to know when to strike. He seemed able, somehow, to control the distance and pace of a fight without having anything close to exceptional speed or power, though he did have a decent work rate.
Aged 33, 34 in November, Cermeno is now an old fighter, especially for someone in the lower weights. His recent form and age would suggest that he's certainly beyond his best, probably still good enough to beat most fringe contenders but unlikely to ever beat a genuine world class opponent again.
Cermeno might be on a seriously slide but he's a fighter who is proven over the 12 rounds, a distance he has gone 6 times in his 27 fights. In fact he's gone 10 or more rounds in 9 of his contests so far. This is probably his key advantage, and something that will likely be seen late in the fight, if it goes that far.
Prime for prime this a match up that I'd fave Cermeno in. Stylistically he was a frustrating opponent to fight. Now though, with his confidence shot, I'll be going with Escandon to do enough to take a hard fought decision in a bout that might not always be fun to watch but will be interesting through out.
Prediction-Escandon UD12
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