Erick Rosa is prepared to enter the developmental stage of his career after racing to the contender level.
The precocious Dominican strawweight has already secured two separate lesser versions of the WBA strawweight title, doing so in just his fourth and fifth fights, respectively. The latest haul by Rosa (5-0, 1KO) came in a twelve-round, split decision win over Philippines’ Vic Saludar to win the WBA “World” title on December 21 in his hometown of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The bout was part of a four-man tournament ordered by the WBA to determine the next mandatory challenger for Thailand’s Thammanoon Niyomtrong (23-0, 9KOs), who holds the sanctioning body’s “Super” strawweight title. The other side of the bracket pits an all-Nicaragua clash between former titlist Byron Rojas (27-4-3, 11KOs)—whom Niyomtrong has twice beaten, including their June 2016 title consolidation clash—and Leyman Benavides (19-6-1, 3KOs), who is currently on a six-fight win streak.
Rosa turned pro just last October, with all five career fights scheduled for ten or more rounds. Rosa went the full ten-round distance in his pro debut and has been aggressively matched in a career just fourteen months young. Belgica Peña, the brilliant-minded driving force behind Shuan Boxing is pleased with her protégé’s progress and now plans to nurture his talent in the year ahead.
“We would like for Erick to make one or two title defenses before facing Niyomtrong,” Peña told BoxingScene.com. “We understand that the WBA ordered a fight between Leyman Benavides and Byron Rojas to determine the next mandatory challenger.”
Rojas-Benavides is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2022. An ideal scenario for the 21-year-old Rosa would be to return around the same time, and then facing the winner of the eliminator.
By that time, it is expected that Niyomtrong will have made a title defense or two and continue his run as the leading strawweight in the world. The unbeaten 31-year-old from Surin, Thailand has spent the entirety of his career in Asia and all but one career fight in his home country.
Rosa has fought exclusively in the Dominican Republic, where Peña is by far the nation’s most powerful promoter. The expectation for the next several months is for the rising strawweight to win out and then become enough of an attraction to where Niyomtrong will be compelled—if not forced through a purse bid, should it come to that—to travel abroad.
“After (one or two title defenses), we will be ready for Niyomtrong,” insists Peña. “We will do our best to bring the fight to the Dominican Republic or the United States.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox