Anselmo Moreno-Nehomar Cermeno II: It’s a Big World
By Cliff Rold
The laziest comment which can be made about boxing is that the sport is short on talent or meaningful fights. While it might be true in pockets, it’s far from accurate in describing the bulk of the game.
The truth is there might be too much for any one fan, or any one nation, to follow. With seventeen weight classes, an abundance of belts mostly meaningless as gauges of merit, and vibrant fight markets on parts of every habitable continent, boxing fans do what they can to keep up.
U.S. fans typically get the best of things. The premiere classes, and the most money, usually happen in places like Las Vegas, New York, and Atlantic City. It is the rare weekend when a truly meaningful fight in the U.S. market isn’t happening here.
This is one of those weekends, and the action has not strayed far. The anticipated, HBO televised, Light Heavyweight clash between Chad Dawson and Jean Pascal will happen in Montreal. Given its place as a known North American hot spot, it’s close enough to the U.S. to be a negligible difference.
As the fight with the most significance in the U.S. rationally soaks up the bulk of U.S. attention, it’s easy to overlook that Dawson-Pascal is not the only fight that really matters this weekend.
Light Heavyweight is a division on its way back to top form. Bantamweight is already there and then some. Off U.S. television, and beyond the interest of most U.S. fans, Panama will host two of the best in the world at 118 lbs. on Saturday night in a meaningful rematch of a March split decision.
In one corner is WBA titlist Anselmo Moreno, a fighter whose resume continues to grow and further validate the talent he displays in the ring. Moreno is no worse than the third best Bantamweight in the world right now; second might be the more accurate placement behind only Mexico’s WBC/WBO beltholder Fernando Montiel. In the ring, Moreno-Montiel would be a toss-up. Montiel is a legitimate player for a top ten pound for pound rating. Moreno has the skills to play at that level.
There’s a reason no discussion of the best divisions in boxing in 2010 can happen without Bantamweight. Moreno is a significant part of that. That he hasn’t been mentioned, loudly and often, in recent discussions about a Showtime Bantamweight tournament is highly unfortunate.
While lacking in power, Moreno combines rare height for his class with the sort of watchable, educated boxing that can sometimes remind one of Pernell Whitaker or Moreno’s countryman Hilario Zapata. He’s a cutie who throws plenty and can make guys miss in close proximity. Moreno has guts to go with it, traveling abroad to capture not one but two decisions (first unanimous and then split) in Germany against the excellent Wladmir Sidorenko; outdueling French-based action hero Mahyar Monshipour in France on a split decision; and, in his last outing, earning a split nod against Venezuelan born Nehomar Cermeno in Venezuela.
With six defenses already, Moreno is making one of those mostly meaningless belts mean something because he wears it. It hasn’t been easy.
Winning without power is tough. Doing it on the road consistently takes a special blend of focus and talent which overcomes the hometown objection. Think of how many times Light Heavyweight Glen Johnson has looked the winner on the road only to go home with an “L” on his ledger. Moreno doesn’t leave with those “L’s;” so far, he’s that good.
Moreno almost wasn’t good enough on the cards against Cermeno and thus a rematch this weekend. Cermeno is a serious top ten threat at Bantamweight and will be again this weekend. A 2000 Olympian for Venezuela, Cermeno did not turn professional until 2004 and his career was a slow burn…until it ignited in 2009. A debatable decision win over former unified 115 lb. titlist Cristian Mijares on the road in Mexico was followed with a decisive rematch victory, again on the road in consecutive fights last year. Cermeno traveled again, knocking out an Alejandro Valdez who had just given Montiel all he could handle to end his year and set up what is now a two bout rivalry for a belt.
With a win this weekend on the road, two could surely become three. A third probably wouldn’t move the meter much outside Central and South America either. That’s okay. It’s a positive sign, a symbol of the democratization of the sweet science. Fans in Panama can invest in and anticipate a fight of meaning in a division of the same on the same Saturday that their neighbors to the north fans look forward to arguably the best two Light Heavyweights in the world locking horns.
Far from coming up short, this is the sort of weekend which reminds that boxing has more than enough of the best of itself to go around.
Report Card
Just to help with an idea of what’s on tap in this one, here’s an abridged report card for the action ahead
Anselmo Moreno
Age: 25
Title: WBA Bantamweight (2008-Present, 6 Defenses)
Previous Titles: None
Height: 5’8
Weight: TBA
Average Weight – Last Five Fights: 119 lbs.
Hails from: San Miguelito, Panama
Record: 29-1, 10 KO
BoxingScene Rank: #2 at Bantamweight
Record in Title Fights: 7-0, 1 KO
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated: 3 (Felix Machado, Wladimir Sidorenko, Mahyar Monshipour)
Vs.
Nehomar Cermeno
Age: 30
Titles/Previous Titles: None
Height: 5’6
Weight: TBA
Average Weight – Last Five Fights: 118.45 lbs.
Hails from: Panama City, Panama (Born in Venezuela)
Record: 19-1, 11 KO
BoxingScene Rank: #7 at Bantamweight
Record in Championship Fights: 0-1 (3-1, 1 KO including interim title fights)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated: 1 (Cristian Mijares)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat: 1 (Anselmo Moreno)
Pre-Fight Grades
Speed – Moreno B+; Cermeno B
Power – Moreno C+; Cermeno B
Defense – Moreno A-; Cermeno B
Intangibles – Moreno A; Cermeno B
The Pick
This is a no harm, no foul return bout but it’s hard to like the look of political overtones. While both fighters reside in Panama, Cermeno is a native Venezuelan and the WBA is Venezuelan based. The first fight was close but hardly controversial and far from the sort of scoring outrage which usually prompts a sanctioning body to demand an immediate rematch.
That said, having seen the fight on YouTube, there were elements of the first fight which deserve resolution. While not a war, the first fight was hotly contested and nasty in spots. Fouls cost Cermeno a critical point in the eleventh, ultimately the difference between a loss and a draw on cards. Add in a ridiculous amount of ring paint on the floor which wreaked havoc on the footwork of the bout all night and a strong case can be made that viewers didn’t see the best of either man.
Moreno can at least breathe easy that he’s got the fight in Panama, his first title defense at home since 2008. Not that location matters for Moreno, but it’s at least a bonus on top of other advantages. As the superior boxer of the two, and the younger man, Moreno should be expected to make adjustments from the first fight to stall the more predictable, if aggressive, approach of Cermeno. If footing is no issue, the schooled infighting of Moreno, a product of deft defense and accurate counters, will compliment the periods of the fight where he is able to work from the outside and add up to a more clear decision win this weekend.
Report Card Picks 2010: 19-10
Weekly Ledger
But wait, there’s more…
Prescott Still Chasing Khan: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=29890
B.A.D. Report Cards: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=29944
Picks of the Week: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=29982
Cliff’s Notes… Now Scoop Jackson is digging into Floyd? As more and more mainstream-type sports writers dig into boxing’s biggest fight that ain’t (yet), one can hear the cash registers getting even louder down the road…Finishing at Bantamweight, if Fernando Montiel’s plan ends up being fights with Cristian Mijares and Nonito Donaire straight away, there’s nothing negative to be said about not wanting to mess with a tournament. Those are both excellent, tough affairs.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com