Featherweight (126 pound) Tournament

[chrisJS]

I think it would be a Russell vs. Rigondeaux final and assuming it happened over a year a solidbet would be that Russell would win it.

[Eff Pandas]

Seeded:
#1-Leo Santa Cruz
#2-Carl Frampton
#3-Gary Russell Jr.
#4-Lee Selby

Unseeded:
Guillermo Rigondeaux (I hope he gets more opportunities after Loma beats him.)
Oscar Valdez
Joseph Diaz Jr.
Abner Mares

Going WBSS format I'd have:

LSC picks Mares. He'll beat Mares in a clearer decision then the first fight.

Frampton picks JoJo Diaz. Tighter than expected fight. Frampton with the homefield advantage gets the edge doe.

Russell picks Valdez. Valdez starts off well early, but fades late & gets Russell a late stoppage or 8-4 type decision.

Selby gets matched up with Rigo. Rigo makes Selby look amateur & beats him wide & one sidedly although the scorecards are tighter than the action most of us saw.

Semis:

LSC vs Russell, tight fight with not much give either way. Controversial decision for Russell.

Frampton vs Rigo, Rigo looks the better fighter & the winner, but across the pond things go Frampton's way.

Finals:

Russell just too quick for Frampton. Takes a wide decision.

[HI-TECH Boxing]

Thats a damn fine tournament and it is easy to forget how good the division is because these guys just arent fighting each other or are fighting far too few fights a year. No excuse for the little guys to only fight once or twice a year with maybe 1 in 4 fights being of any quality.

Frampton for example should have gone straight from the loss to Quigg rematch or Selby/Mares fight. No idea why LSC/Mares isn't happening but will fight on the same card, etc.

Btw I'd have Quigg in the tournament rather than Diaz Jr tbh.

Anyway, if the tournament has that format I think Rigo/Selby/LSC win it.

Maybe Diaz and Quigg could fight for the final spot. That would be better.

You really think that highly of Selby?

[HI-TECH Boxing]

Going WBSS format I'd have:

LSC picks Mares. He'll beat Mares in a clearer decision then the first fight.

Frampton picks JoJo Diaz. Tighter than expected fight. Frampton with the homefield advantage gets the edge doe.

Russell picks Valdez. Valdez starts off well early, but fades late & gets Russell a late stoppage or 8-4 type decision.

Selby gets matched up with Rigo. Rigo makes Selby look amateur & beats him wide & one sidedly although the scorecards are tighter than the action most of us saw.

Semis:

LSC vs Russell, tight fight with not much give either way. Controversial decision for Russell.

Frampton vs Rigo, Rigo looks the better fighter & the winner, but across the pond things go Frampton's way.

Finals:

Russell just too quick for Frampton. Takes a wide decision.

Russell may get away with defending against Diaz since he is Gary's mandatory.
That is what happened with Gassiev.
And yeah I wouldn't doubt that Leo goes for Mares. I would hope he would choose a different opponent.

[HI-TECH Boxing]

I think it would be a Russell vs. Rigondeaux final and assuming it happened over a year a solidbet would be that Russell would win it.

I really want to see Rigo vs. Russell. They almost fought in the amateurs.
I think Russell could have been a handful for Rigo believe or not.
Rau'shee Warren who is a fast Southpaw gave Rigo all types of trouble.
Russell is an even faster Southpaw and he is naturally bigger than Warren.

[Boxfan83]

No doubt. Most of these guys are on similar level, so we will get several competitive and great fights.

They would have to do it sooner rather than later.

Carl Frampton has already admitted that he won't fight much longer. He joked that he wants to go until he is 35, but he promised his wife, I believe, that he won't fight that much longer. I think he probably has 2-3 more years in him, so he will be 32 or 33 when he calls it a day.

Russell has admitted that he doesn't really love professional boxing. That's probably why he doesn't stay active. I doubt Russell will fight much longer as well. He will probably prefer to help his younger brothers out. Even though he is the most talented of the Russell brothers.

Rigondeaux is 37. I would love to see him get another opportunity after Loma beats him. Obviously he doesn't have a lot of time left.

I believe Mares said he only wanted to fight for 2 or 3 more years. If you notice Mares is already moving onto being a manager.

Valdez and Diaz are the only ones that will fight for several years afterwards, but I'm sure they would love to get an opportunity like this.

As you can see a lot of these guys are already thinking of calling it a day. So why not have a tournament like this?
I seriously doubt it would be expensive either. We are not talking about Heavyweights here. Heavyweights would demand millions of dollars per fight.

A tournament would only take a year a little over a year. The fighters can move on with their careers soon afterwards.
Frampton, LSC, Russell, and Mares have all admitted to wanting to capture titles above 126.
I'm sure Valdez and Diaz will move up later as well.

I think a tournament would light a new fire under guys like Frampton and Russell Jr. The featherweights 122-130lbs have always been my favorite divisions. Great athletes with little entitlement and very very diverse! Not many divisions have African Americans, Mexican Americans, Mexicans, Cubans, Dominicans, Irishmen, etc that could all potentially beat each other on any given day.

[soul_survivor]

Maybe Diaz and Quigg could fight for the final spot. That would be better.

You really think that highly of Selby?

I think Selby is a very good fighter. Skill plus size is always a handful. Sadly he may have regressed with all his inactivity and lacklustre opposition.