Will a Top Rank Traffic Jam Force Great Match-Ups at Super Lightweight?

By Anthony “Stacks” Saldaña

This past Saturday night at the Stubhub Center in Carson, California, Viktor “The Iceman” Postol, 28-0, 12 KO’s walked away as the new WBC Super Lightweight Champion. Postol’s stunning knockout of Lucas “El Maquina” Matthysse, 37-4, 34 KO’s left the large Southern California crowd in complete shock as Lucas took a 10 count on a knee. Viktor’s win has propelled him to the #1 ranked fighter in the Super Lightweight Division, just in front of another stablemate and WBO Super Lightweight Champion Terence “Bud” Crawford, 26-0, 18 KO’s.

That night in Cincinnati, Ohio while newly crowned WBA Super Lightweight Champion Adrien Broner, 31-2, 23 KO’s was calling out a young “Money Team” prospect and making a fool of himself, Viktor was in his post fight press conference. When Postol was asked who he liked to fight, he stated “In the ring I was told there’s a big fighter out there, he’s the WBO Champion Terence Crawford. A unification fight between Postol and Crawford would be a very makeable fight for 2016 with both fighters being advised by Bob Arum’s Top Rank. A fight between Terence and Viktor would be a great technical fight and would definitely showcase the “Sweet Science” at it’s purist form.

Will the fight between Crawford and Postol happen? NO… I don’t see Top Rank having Postol and Crawford unifying the title against each other anytime soon, especially not in Postol’s first title defense. Crawford fights on October 24th in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska and will not fight again until possibly the spring of 2016. I believe the WBC will allow Postol defend his title against a top 20 contender in his first defense before making him fight the mandatory challenger, Amir “The Young Master” Imam, 18-0, 15 KO’s. Amir who is advised by Don King became the mandatory after his Knockout victory over Fernando Angulo.

One intriguing fight I can see happening in 2016 is between Viktor and Manny” Pacman” Pacquiao. Manny is rumored to be fighting one more fight before retiring and focusing on his political career. A fight with Pacquiao for Postol would bring him a very large pay day and even more exposure to the mainstream fight fans. Manny is managed by Top Rank and also trained by Freddie Roach. A fight with Postol would leave Freddie in one hell of position to choose who he’d be in the corner of. Earlier this month during a media workout Freddie told the press “Viktor was his new favorite fighter”

Terence Crawford like Postol, a Top Rank Champion in this loaded division, still has yet to take that step into super stardom. 2016 will bring many opportunities for Bob Arum to make Terence and Viktor household names. Whether it be a unification bout between the fighters or having them fight a few big names in the division, Bob guaranteed to have a winning hand if played right.

For the WBA Champion Adrien Broner only time will tell what Al Haymon and Showtime have in store for fight fans. One thing that is certain is that Top Rank and Golden Boy have a stable of top notch fighters at 140 lbs, and for Adrien to have a big fight at Super Lightweight in near future Haymon must be willing to cross promotional lines.

Other top fighters at the Super Lightweight Division include

Ruslan Provodnikov, 24-4, 4 KO’s
Antonio Orozco, 23-0, 15 KO’s.
Jose Benavidez, 23-0, 16 KO’s.
Jesse Vargas, 26-1, 9 KO’s
Mauricio Herrera, 22-5, 7 KO’s

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