By Jake Donovan

Ever since his last victory, former super welterweight titlist Austin Trout has been fishing for another opportunity to snatch some more alphabet hardware. That day could come not only for his next fight, but within the next couple of months.

Rumors have begun to swirl of the New Mexico-based southpaw landing a crack at International Boxing Federation (IBF) titlist Jermall Charlo at some point in the spring. If finalized, the bout could be paired up with the recently inked welterweight rematch between former titlists Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto, which headlines an April 30 primetime edition of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Fox.

Trout himself has yet to receive such marching orders, but is feeling good about his chances.

“I’ve heard that Jermall has been recruiting left-handed sparring partners,” Trout informed BoxingScene.com, taking an optimistic approach to such whispers as he denies having yet received a formal offer for such a fight. “That has to be a good sign; I’m just trying to stay ready for whatever opportunity comes my way.”

Trout (30-2, 17KOs) reigned as a super welterweight titlist for more than two years, highlighted by a career-best 12-round decision win over Miguel Cotto in Dec. ’12. In doing so, Trout became the only fighter to ever defeat the Puerto Rican superstar at Madison Square Garden.

The win led to an April ’13 title unification bout with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, dropping a competitive unanimous decision. A second straight loss came eight months later as he was outboxed by Erislandy Lara. Four consecutive wins have followed, including a 6th round stoppage of Joey Hernandez in the inaugural installment of PBC on Fox Sports last September.

He’s since celebrated his 30th birthday while awaiting a big fight to materialize. Trout was supposed to be in line for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) 154 lb. title, only to be unceremoniously removed from the rankings, a suspicious move that allowed the WBO to sanction a title fight between Liam Smith and Michel Soro.

Smith would go on to face and knock out late replacement John Thompson to win the vacant belt last October, by which point the WBO noted Trout’s omission as a “clerical error” and reinstalled him in the rankings. A sarcastic gesture was made by the sanctioning body for his team to petition for a shot at the winner of Smith-Thompson.

Trout instead responded through his legal team, filing a lawsuit versus the WBO last November. The case is ongoing, which all but kills any hopes of fighting for a title despite having been linked in recent weeks to potential fights with middleweight titlist Billy Joe Saunders (whom next faces Max Bursak) and now Smith.

Neither fight has ever been discussed, particularly due to the current lawsuit. At some point, Trout hopes to hear official word of a title shot versus Charlo (23-0, 18KOs) who has a mandatory looming versus recently secured #1 contender Julian Williams. The unbeaten titlist has been granted one final voluntary defense of the belt he claimed with a 3rd round knockout win over Cornelius Bundrage last September.

Trout hoped to serve as the challenger in Charlo’s first title defense, but the opportunity instead went to Wilky Campfort, whom he stopped via injury after four lopsided rounds.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox