By Jake Donovan
Carlos Cuadras was mere moments removed from finishing off his latest challenger when he already set his sights on the future.
The unbeaten super flyweight titlist racked up his sixth successful defense after battering Richie Menaprum into submission Saturday evening in Los Mochis, Mexico. A one-sided bout was mercifully halted when the visiting challenger from Philippines remained on his stool at the start of round nine.
With the win, Cuadras runs his mark to 35-0-1 (27KOs) in continuing to plead his case as - alongside or perhaps just below Naoya Inoue - among the best super flyweights in the world. His post-fight speech laid out a plan to get him much closer to the top.
"We want Chocolatito (unbeaten World flyweight king Roman Gonzalez) or El Gallo (unified flyweight titlist Juan Francisco Estrada," Cuadras said on air immediately following his Televisa-televised headliner.
The title defense versus Menaprum (31-5-1, 8KOs) was viewed as a showcase bout on paper, proving to be even more lopsided in reality. The statement win for Cuadras came on the same night that Gonzalez - widely viewed as pound-for-pound the best boxer in the world - was forced to go 12 rounds for the first time in nearly 3 1/2 years in a decision win over Puerto Rico's McWilliams Arroyo in Inglewood, Calif.
Gonzalez won his fight by wide scores (119-109 twice and 120-108) but was left with swelling under his eye following the latest training camp that saw him struggle a bit to shrink down to the flyweight limit. He insisted after the win that he has at least one more fight left in him at 112-pounds, with many hoping for a rematch with Estrada, the last to take Gonzalez the distance which came in their Nov. '12 war at junior flyweight.
Estrada has since added two belts at flyweight, both of which came in an upset win over Brian Viloria in April '13. His career has since leveled off, although he too forced Menaprum to quit in the ring, stopping the Filipino boxer in 10 rounds two years ago almost to the day.
Cuadras had an even easier go of things, as he was pitching a shutout through four and eight rounds as revealed through WBC open scoring. The fight was well in the bag for the unbeaten Mexican before Menaprum's corner decided it wasn't their guy's night in electing to stop the contest after eight lopsided rounds.
The win continues an impressive title run for the 27-year old boxer, who is coming up on two years as a super flyweight champ dating back to his technical decision win over Srisasket Sor Rungvisai (39-4-1, 36KOS) in May '14. A rematch with the former titlist is likely in his future, as the Thai boxer moved into the mandatory position following a 4th round stoppage of Jose Salgado last May.
Cuadras' first defense was a technical draw with Salgado, as their Sept. '14 clash ended on a headbutt inside of four rounds. He has since racked up five convincing victories, including Saturday's impressive showing.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
