Declaring boxing’s premier division is an extremely subjective matter. The long-time favorite is arguably the talent-rich welterweight division – even nearly 12 months after the retirement of boxing’s pay-per-view king Floyd Mayweather and his unblemished professional record.
For my money, give me the next division up – 154-pounds or junior middleweight/super welterweight. This division feels like one that is getting ready to sort some big things out in the near future. In fact, Friday September 16th was set to answer some major questions for a pair of promising super welterweights when Dayton, OH’s Chris “Young King” Pearson (14-1, 10 KO’s) was going to face Augusta, GA’s Justin “The Chosen One” DeLoach (15-1, 8 KO’s) in the co-main event of The Next Round – another Premier Boxing Champions card.
Pearson and DeLoach were slated to be the co-main event before Ishe Smith versus Frank Galarza on the upcoming Bounce TV telecast. Unfortunately, Pearson sustained a serious cut while sparring in the earlier part of last week, and after returning back to Dayton, OH to be evaluated by his doctor, a decision to re-schedule Pearson’s return for a possible mid-October bout was the final outcome. Hopefully the cut heals without any setbacks, and if necessary, maybe fight fans can see Pearson and DeLoach meet up down the road. However, this is boxing and adjusting is required both inside and outside the ring. DeLoach will now face Michigan’s Domonique Dolton – another fighter with previous action at middleweight.
The Pearson-DeLoach showdown presented boxing fans with an intriguing match up because Boxrec currently lists Pearson as the 17th-ranked middleweight and DeLoach as the 19th-ranked super welterweight in the U.S. Add in some impressive recent TV performances by Maryland’s Jarrett “Swift” Hurd (18-0, 12 KO’s) and Florida-based southpaw Erickson “The Hammer” Lubin (16-0, 11 KO’s), and boxing fans are looking at the next set of fighters poised to begin seriously challenging the division’s top 10 contenders.
While current IBF welterweight champ Kell Brook readies himself to (inconceivably) jump up two divisions to challenge Gennady Golovkin for GGG’s WBC/IBF/IBO middleweight titles, the super welterweight division is in the midst of some credible divisional housekeeping.
At the world championship level, WBO super welterweight champion Liam Smith (23-0-1) will face lineal middleweight champ Saul Alvarez (47-1-1) Sept. 17th on pay-per-view card being held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. On October 1st IBF champ Jermall Charlo (24-0) defends his title against hungry contender Julian “J Rock” Williams (22-0-1) of Philadelphia, PA in a highly anticipated match up. Lastly, extremely skilled Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade appeared on Showtime back in June and cemented himself as a major threat for any fighter from 154-160 with his commanding performance against Willie Nelson which culminated in a 12-th round knockout victory.
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