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By Cliff Rold - A cerebral Jr. Featherweight division just feels wrong.
A drought of classics at Jr. Featherweight just feels like a vile black hole in the space/time continuum.
Jr. Featherweight isn’t the oldest of weight divisions (at least not in terms of continuous existence) but in its shorter existence it has become one of the most storied. From the reign of Wilfredo Gomez to very recently, Jr. Featherweight has been one of the great action sources for the sport.
It was so good from the mid-90s t the mid-2000s one could almost be spoiled. With four ‘Fight of the Year’ winners in the 2000s alone, names like Barrera, Morales, McKinney, Vazquez, Marquez (Rafael), and Monshipour were a standard for violence.
Since the end of the three-fight series between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez (not including their Featherweight epilogue), it’s been a littler quiet. Oh, there have been good nights, but recently there has been a little too much boxing going on in the beast class.
The Cult of Rigo might want to skip down a bit.
Current champion Guillermo Rigondeaux is almost the anti-Jr. Featherweight. As sublime as his skills are, he is an anomaly in class. The expectations the division has built over the years are in stark contrast to the cerebral king of now and that may explain some of the box office results. The brief run of Nonito Donaire in the division prior to his loss to Rigondeaux didn’t really set things ablaze either.
Whe [Click Here To Read More]
A drought of classics at Jr. Featherweight just feels like a vile black hole in the space/time continuum.
Jr. Featherweight isn’t the oldest of weight divisions (at least not in terms of continuous existence) but in its shorter existence it has become one of the most storied. From the reign of Wilfredo Gomez to very recently, Jr. Featherweight has been one of the great action sources for the sport.
It was so good from the mid-90s t the mid-2000s one could almost be spoiled. With four ‘Fight of the Year’ winners in the 2000s alone, names like Barrera, Morales, McKinney, Vazquez, Marquez (Rafael), and Monshipour were a standard for violence.
Since the end of the three-fight series between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez (not including their Featherweight epilogue), it’s been a littler quiet. Oh, there have been good nights, but recently there has been a little too much boxing going on in the beast class.
The Cult of Rigo might want to skip down a bit.
Current champion Guillermo Rigondeaux is almost the anti-Jr. Featherweight. As sublime as his skills are, he is an anomaly in class. The expectations the division has built over the years are in stark contrast to the cerebral king of now and that may explain some of the box office results. The brief run of Nonito Donaire in the division prior to his loss to Rigondeaux didn’t really set things ablaze either.
Whe [Click Here To Read More]
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