If you’re a fan of boxing tournaments, such as the Super Six variety which saw Andre Ward emerge victorious, you’ll be delighted to hear the WBC’s new Junior Middleweight Tournament is heating up nicely. No fighters are ‘officially’ on board, but a number of decent candidates have expressed significant interest, according to World Boxing News.
The biggest name so far is Demetrius Andrade (22-0, 15 KO), an unbeaten standout who toppled the likes of Vanes Martirosyan and Brian Rose before being stripped of his WBO title due to inactivity.
Andrade’s interest is now accompanied by three other candidates. The most eye-catching of all is probably Charles Hatley (26-1-1, 18 KO), who’d be coming in off a nine-fight winning streak after mauling Anthony Mundine en route to an 11th round TKO last week.
Next there’s John Jackson, who you might remember as the-very-nearly-guy who knocked down and bossed Andy Lee for 5 rounds before getting caught with a concussive right-hook. Jackson has picked up two decision wins since, which would set him up comfortably for the WBC’s tournament.
The final candidate is Jorge Cota (25-1, 22 KO), who right now looks like the least threatening. Cota, who failed to take home the IBF Middleweight title against Marco Antonio Rubio in 2012, has been darting between Welter and Middleweight, but seems to have finally settled down at 154 recently. You may remember Cota’s entertaining PBC debut against Yudel Johnson in August?
The WBC tournament, named ‘The Jose Sulaiman Cup’ (after the WBC’s late president) will consist of eight different boxers in total. Whether the sanctioning body’s world title will be presented to the winner isn’t yet known, but would seem likely since the strap is currently vacant.
Failing that, the victor could perhaps become the #1 mandatory at least, or even pick up a purposely made belt for the tournament. After all, we all know the WBC has a penchant for creating lots of ‘other’ weird and wonderful titles. Anyone remember that superfluous ‘Diamond one’ offered to the winner of Mayweather vs Pacquiao?
So what are your thoughts, fight fans? Will serious talents like Jermall Charlo feel obliged to enter and prove who is top dog at 154 lbs? Or will they stay clear, deciding to just…well, do their own thing and on their terms? I suppose the biggest question is: will Al Haymon (who has the biggest talents under his wing) let them join such a tourney?
