By Cliff Rold (photo by Zanfer Promotions)

For the fans watching on pay-per-view, or from inside the Beeghly Center in Youngstown, Ohio, the biggest fight of a generally small boxing weekend will feature hometown hero and World Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (35-1, 31 KO).

Pavlik is the top bill on a split feed telecast.  Fans who have purchased a ticket at the Arena Itson in Sonora, Mexico, will have a main event topped by arguably the best Jr. Lightweight in the world, WBC titlist Humberto Soto (49-7-2, 32 KO).

These are the names which will lead the marquee.  Neither man is in a fight which qualifies as much of an event.  Pavlik’s opponent, Miguel Espino (20-2-1, 9 KO), is a presumed soft option while Pavlik returns from spending most of 2009 on the shelf.  Only 29, Espino can be expected to give some spirited rounds to the champ.

He can then be expected to lose while Pavlik moves on to bigger business in the year ahead.

Soto is probably matched softer even if his opponent is more recognizable.  37-year old former Jr. Lightweight and Lightweight beltholder Jesus Chavez (44-6, 30 KO) enters the ring off of two consecutive losses.  He surrendered in the corner against Michael Katsidis last April; lost a decision to former Lightweight titlist David Diaz in September.  He’s there to notch up Soto’s belt before the hope for greater challenges can be pursued.

On paper, only one fight on the card stands out as a real capital “F” fight. 

It doesn’t feature anyone overly familiar to U.S. fans beyond grainy You Tube footage or splashy headlines.

It does though take place in a division which serious fight followers have increasingly become aware is as alive, as vibrant, as it has been in years.  30-year old Nehomar Cermeno (18-0, 10 KO) faces 26-year old Alejandro Valdez (21-3-3, 15 KO) at 118 lbs., at Bantamweight, this Saturday night.

It’s a fight which has all of the ingredients necessary for a steaming bowl of ‘compelling’ stew.  It will probably turn out to be this Saturday’s real main event.

Valdez enters off of one of the year’s worst, and least screamed about controversies of the year.  A nasty fight from the opening bell, Valdez’s non-title battle with Fernando Montiel reached a bizarre end.  As reported by BoxingScene scribe Jake Donovan on September 12: 

More drama unfolded in the second. Valdez still found himself under siege, including a right hand that left him frozen. Rather than wilting, Valdez took Montiel’s best and gave back in return. An exchange in center ring left Montiel with a bloody nose in addition to a left eye that was rapidly swelling shut.

Valdez tried valiantly to turn things around, and appeared to be well on his way when he scored a three-punch combo, the last of which a right uppercut that stunned and dropped Montiel. However, the referee overruled the event, insisting that he called time to have Montiel’s eye examined, much to Valdez’ surprise.

Referee Jesus Saucedo’s assistance was apparently required; bailing out Montiel after a Valdez flurry was interrupted for a warning over a headbutt that never occurred. His vision seriously compromised, Montiel all but ceased fighting back, moving backwards as Valdez continued to stalk in search of a dramatic upset.

He would never get his chance at a conclusive ending, though a bizarre string of events would eventually provide justification.

Sensing their fighter was at the point of no return, Montiel’s corner signaled to the ringside official that their kid was done for the evening. The referee waved his arms to officially end the fight, at which point Valdez leaped in the air, believing he won the fight by technical knockout.

The official announcement was every bit as inconclusive as the fight itself. No indication was given as to what caused the cut that resulted in the fight ending after just three rounds, nor did the ring announcer even get the round correct, though revealing that the fight was ruled a No-Contest by Montiel’s unofficial tag-team partner.

Chaos ensued in the ring, with Valdez’ team refusing to leave until they received an explanation as to why their fighter wasn’t ruled a knockout winner. Their persistence paid off; nobody at ringside could offer a valid reason, overturning the verdict in Valdez’ favor.

However, that overturned verdict didn’t stick. Sometime after the camera finished rolling, the inept Mexican boxing commission once again changed the verdict back to a technical draw. This, despite the fact that no evidence existed of a headbutt or any other accidental foul causing the cut over Montiel’s left eye, or a ruling of any kind by the third man.

Montiel, a three division beltholder and current WBO titlist at 118 lbs., was never supposed to lose to Valdez.  In the end, that was the result regardless of what happened in the ring.  The Sonora resident, and certain hometown hero this weekend against the Venezuelan Cermeno, was supposed to play opponent and did not cooperate.

His recent history had indicated he would. 

In October 2008, Valdez traveled to Japan to face WBC titlist Hozumi Hasegawa (27-2, 11 KO) only to be blasted out in two rounds.  The result was a surprise.  Valdez had shown grit in earning his crack at the belt and was expected to be a game challenge.  After Montiel, he is somewhat redeemed but bigger chances could be waiting.

That’s because, in the bout with Cermeno, there are real stakes. 

Cermeno is the WBA’s interim beltholder, a position that guarantees both men pay a sanctioning fee while also acting as the de facto mandatory for the real WBA beltholder, Anselmo Moreno (28-1-1, 10 KO).  Pavlik and Soto already have their belts.  These are men striving to grab their own brass rings, and there may never be a better chance than what is in front of them.

In some ways, it’s a shock to even find Cermeno in this position.  He’s been one of the most interesting new finds of the year.  In March, he was expected to be little more than the stepping stone of former unified Jr. Bantamweight titlist Cristian Mijares.  Mijares was coming off of a devastating knockout loss to Vic Darchinyan at the end of 2008 but remained one of the games most gifted technicians.  His addition to the Bantamweight ranks was certain to be a boost right?

Cermeno didn’t give a damn about anything like that.  He fought hard, in Mijares’s native Mexico, and left with the split decision.  There were some catcalls of the decision; those calls had merit.  In September, Cermeno returned to Mexico and left with a fully earned unanimous decision.   

While born in Venezuela, Cermeno resides in Panama.  Moreno is a born and bred Panamanian.  Cermeno would only be human if he’s already thought of the crowd, and the cash, which could come with a chance at the whole WBA enchilada.

Before he can get there, it is Mexico one more time and Valdez.

Boxing’s ability to surprise is one of its most endearing qualities.  That’s why, even if the ‘on paper’ says Espino and Chavez will lose, the fights are still worth a glance just to make sure.  After all, Cermeno and Valdez were supposed to lose too this year and didn’t.

The weight division here plays a major role in why the surprise would be this fight not being the best of the night.  How good is Bantamweight right now?

This year alone, fans in the U.S. have seen Joseph Agbeko (27-2, 22 KO) hold off a challenge from Darchinyan in an excellent battle only to lose a fantastic struggle with Yonnhy Perez (20-0, 14 KO) in his very next affair for the IBF belt.

They’ve seen, or at least read about, Moreno repeat his 2008 title winning effort in a defense against Wladimir Sidorenko followed with a thriller against all-action warrior Mahyar Monshipour for the WBA crown.

How good is Bantamweight?  This Friday night, Bantamweight’s best fighter, and one of the best ten or twenty pound for pound fighters in the game, will be defending for the tenth time, looking to extend a knockout winning streak to five.  If Hasegawa defeats challenger Alvaro Perez (18-1-1, 12 KO), he may be off to the Jr. Featherweight division.

With seventeen weight classes to go around, not many fields can lose their best fighter and still remain among the best in boxing.  Bantamweight can.  With a young, talented class which also includes former Olympian Abner Mares (19-0, 12 KO), Sasha Bakhtin (23-0, 10 KO), and stalwart veterans Gerry Penalosa, Eric Morel, Silence Mabuza, and a Mijares finally back on the winning track, Bantamweight really can’t miss right now.

Cermeno-Valdez shouldn’t miss this weekend.

The Weekly Ledger

But wait, there’s more…

Cliff’s Notes…

Vitali Klitschko got a lot of grief about last weekend’s Kevin Johnson fiasco.  It’s unfair.  Was Mike Tyson blamed when Bonecrusher Smith went Bonehugger?  Was Evander Holyfield pilloried as the world drifted to sleep while he faced Vaughn Bean?  No one wins pretty every time…On another Klitschko note, before anyone gets excited about the thought of a showdown with WBA titlist David Haye, let’s remember Haye has to beat mandatory John Ruiz first.  Ruiz should make anyone nervous.  He’s played spoiler before…Love seeing Tavoris Cloud is calling out Chad Dawson BUT the best call outs come with fresh knockouts.  Cloud needs to get in the ring and continuing proving that, in terms of excitement, he might be the real future at 175 lbs. 

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com