By Jake Donovan

The junior lightweight division has witnessed a massive thinning of the herd in 2008, which is both good news and bad for undefeated contender Urbano Antillon.

That there are fewer people standing in his way of an inevitable title shot is obviously the good news. The bad – by the time he gets there, the money won’t be anywhere near as close as it could’ve been a year earlier.

But well before he eyes any sort of hardware, he still has the rest of 2008 and one more fight to get through. That road takes him to Los Angeles, where he meets Juan Ramon Cruz in a scheduled ten round super featherweight bout (Friday, Telefutura 8PM ET/PT). 

This weekend’s bout will mark the fourth of 2008 for Antillon (24-0, 17KO), whose career has moved against the grain. The normal course of action is for the beginning and prospect years to focus more on quantity, with the transition to contender status normally emphasizing on quality, resulting in fewer fights per year.

Not so much for Antillon, who enjoys a more active campaign than in any year since 2003, in fact only fighting four teams in just three of his eight years as a professional.

Even more surprising is that his current run has been a healthy mix of ring activity and quality opposition, even if a contender has yet to be found among the lot. Top opposition will eventually come – Antillon is presently the mandatory challenger for Humberto Soto’s 130 lb alphabet interim strap. But what’s been missing, as of late has been consistency.

It may sound strange to worry about remaining steady when discussing a fighter that’s undefeated and riding a streak of seven straight stoppage wins. But beyond the numbers, we’ve seen the best and worst of the Mexican boxer-puncher.

Two of his last three fights – a 1st round knockout of Bobby Pacquiao in March and 4th round stoppage of Daniel Attah this past September – have seen Antillon at his best and more importantly, at his most motivated. The Pacquiao win was his second straight televised opening round knockout, which is about as convincing a manner of building momentum when you’re angling for a title shot.

The only question after the quick hit in March was not when Antillon would receive a title shot, but where. Having spent most of his career at or around the lightweight limit, it appeared as if that was where he’d eventually settle in. It seemed like a sound strategy, especially with both Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez bolting from super featherweight.

But it was his struggles in what was intended as a lightweight tune-up against Jose Leonardo Cruz (no relation to Juan) that had his handlers second-guessing where to campaign.

It was a given going in that Antillon would be in for a tough night; prior to the fight, Cruz had never been stopped or dropped. Half of that equation remained true after their Telefutura-televised battle. Cruz remained upright for the duration of the fight, and even sent Antillon sprawling to the canvas late in the second round.

Antillon showed his mettle, dusting himself off and slowly chipped away at Cruz in regaining control of the bout. By round six, it was clear that Antillon was on his way to racking up win number 23 – perhaps a little too clear to referee Steve Smoger. One of the best in the business and noted for giving fighters the benefit of the doubt down to the very last punch, the veteran third man was surprisingly quick with the hook, delivering perhaps a more devastating blow to Cruz than any from the fists of Antillon that evening.

The win was less-than-satisfying on every level, from the knockdown to the inconclusive ending. But far be it from Antillon to show it, as he sat ringside less than an hour later, doing his best to blend in with the crowd to take in the rest of the action and ponder his next move.

Three months later, the game plan was revealed – lightweight was done, at least for the moment. Antillon figured to be considerably stronger at super featherweight, so long as he could make weight.

That would be the toughest part of his September match with former title challenger Daniel Attah, which also aired on Telefutura. Antillon needed three tries to finally clock in at the 130 lb limit, before eventually taking his frustrations out on Attah, dropping him twice in perhaps his most complete performance to date, fittingly enough on his 26th birthday.

It was an expert stroke of matchmaking on the part of Top Rank’s Brad Goodman, one of the very best in the business. Antillon was in need of a respectable enough opponent to look good against while keeping busy, and Attah turned out to be the perfect customer.

History repeating itself is far from guaranteed this weekend. At his worst, Cruz has still proven to be a pest; at his best, a dangerous spoiler. 

Benjamin Flores can attest to the latter. The one-time noted featherweight prospect was undefeated prior to meeting Cruz in their January ’06 affair, but left battered, bruised and no longer undefeated after suffering a 4th round upset stoppage.

Unfortunately for Cruz, that fight now classifies as “the good ol’ days.”

He’s managed to lose a lot more than win since that night, having dropped four of his last six in a stretch spanning three weight classes as he heads into Friday’s bout.

The Puerto Rican had his moments over that period, giving almost as good as he got in consecutive fights against Fernando Trejo and Miguel Angel Huerta. All he would garner from either bout were moral victories, a nice way of saying he lost both times out.

But the Huerta fight didn’t come without a glimmer of hope. The fight itself ended a ten-month hiatus from the ring, not to mention having lost three of his previous five. It was the perfect formula as far as Huerta was concerned, having wound up on the wrong end of an upset in his March scrap with faded former titlist Javier Jauregui. 

Huerta would eventually find his way back into the win column against Cruz, but not before scraping himself off the canvas late in the seventh round of their Telefutura-televised 10 round main event. The moment was short-lived for Cruz, who held his own but in the end could only managed two rounds on each of the three official scorecards.

Having recently celebrated his 30th birthday as well as his 9th year as a pro, it’s sink-or-swim time for Cruz, who either pulls off the upset this Friday, or is stuck in the role of journeyman for however much longer he continues to remain a prize fighter.

It’s a much better set of concerns for Antillon, whose primary mission statement this weekend is “win and in,” as in win, and he’s immediately in the title sweepstakes. Looking good won’t hurt, especially since the super featherweight division is in desperate need of a new superstar.

Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com