By Mark Vester
Last Saturday night in Florida, Ali Funeka put on a spirited performance against Nate Campbell, trying to win the IBF/WBA/WBO lightweight titles. He was close to pulling it off until Campbell staged a rally in final two rounds to win a majority decision. We take a look at some of his potential options in the future.
Vacant IBF Title - Funeka's people will look to get him back in the hunt for the IBF title. He should still have a high enough ranking to compete for the title. Usually the IBF does not allow a fighter to challenge for a title if he is coming off a loss, but based on his performance and Campbell being over the lightweight limit - an exception may be made. Anthony Peterson was inching his way to get in line to fight the Campbell-Funeka winner. Now that the title is vacant, Peterson withdrew from this weekend's fight, and scheduling issues for other ranked contenders - a fight with Funeka and Peterson for the vacant title makes sense.
Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Amir Khan winner - The winner of this fight, especially if it was Barerra, was going to make a fight with Campbell. Now that Campbell is going to 140-pounds, Barrera and Khan need to rethink their post-fight plans. Barrera vs. Khan may end up having the vacant WBO title on the line. Funeka is ranked fifth by the WBO. The fighters ahead of him are Anthony Peterson, Juan Diaz and Juan Manuel Marquez. Diaz and Marquez will clash next Saturday and the winner will not seek a fight with Barrera. Marquez already beat Barrera and Diaz refuses to do business with Don King, who promotes Barrera. Once again it makes sense to match Peterson and Funeka. The winner would face the Barrera-Khan winner.
Golden Boy Promotions lightweight tournament on April 4 - Several key lightweight conteders are involved. Funeka may want to take a fight against the winner of some of these fights - Michael Katsidis vs. Jesus Chavez, Jorge Barrios vs. Carlos Hernandez and Joel Casamayor vs. Julio Diaz.
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