By Ryan Burton
On Thursday a press release was received from WBA "regular" junior middlweight champion Austin Trout, and ran on BoxingScene.com, in which Trout would state that he would have no problem putting his title on the line against fan favorite Pawel Wolak.
The fighter of Polish descent and IBF champ Cornelius "K9" Bundrage have waged a war on BoxingScene in recent weeks as Wolak seeks to capitalize on his recent battle with Delvin Rodriguez. The fight had tremendous back and forth action and is a serious candidate to win Fight of the Year honors. Trout's team saw the verbal battle between Wolak and Bundrage unfold on BoxingScene and decided to offer Wolak a shot at their title.
Wolak reached out to BoxingScene to offer a response to the offer made by Trout and his team. Wolak said that he respects Trout for offering him the shot at his title unlike some of the other champions. He also said that he told his team to take a look at the offer to see if it makes sense for his next fight.
"I will never bad mouth a guy who steps up. Austin Trout is stepping up. I honestly don’t know much about the guy but I respect him because he has a title and he is man enough to put his title on the line with me. Some of these other title holders are either babied by their promoters or have overvalued themselves. This dude I respect for at least manning up in a sport that demands men be men and not boys. I told Top Rank and Cameron (Dunkin) about this and they will do what they do. I know there are some talks with other guys so I'm not sure if Trout is too late or no, but with nothing signed maybe he gets right in the mix," Wolak told BoxingScene.
Wolak admitted that that he really doesn't know much about Trout. Trout's biggest fights have occurred south of the border in Mexico. Wolak went on to say that making the fight will come down to two main factors. The fight needs to make economic sense and the two fighters styles need to match up in a manner which will make for an exciting fight on what is expected to be a very large crowd at Madison Square Garden for the card that is being headlined by the Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito rematch. The first fight took place in Las Vegas and had over 10,000 fans in attendance and sold over 450,000 pay-per-view buys as well.
"Without knowing really anything about him, I have immediate respect for his belt and his willingness to put it on the line in what would be a serious challenge to him. At the same time I have to look out for my family and my fans. Can I make enough so my wife doesn’t throw me out and can I make my fans who will spend the money and take time out of their lives to watch me fight be entertained so I can keep them following me afterwards?" Said Wolak.
Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com Follow Ryan on twitter @ringsidewriter