MITCHELL, MUNROE and RHODES title shots?

[Autobarn]

isn't it good to see ppl winning tough or apparently dangerous eliminator fights, to earn a world title the hard way?

rhodes stopping moore, in WBC 154 elim, a fight with tremendous short clean punches - in their dramatic 7 rounds.

munroe simply outworking maludrottu, in a breathless 12-rounder to decide the challenger for toshiaki nishioka's WBC 122 belt.

mitchell frustrating prescott and then comfortably outboxing him over the 12 rounds, most recently. for the right to face whomever is left holding the WBO 135 belt, currently owned by marquez / perhaps soon to be passed on to katsidis.

when will these 3 get their shots? rhodes doesn't seem to have a promoter and it could be tough for him to get noticed. champ martinez just wowed many ppl with his war vs paul williams on HBO...will maloney win purse bids and bring over nishioka and the WBC title for munroe? or will they look for the lucrative bernard dunne, instead? and will mitchell have a long wait for the WBO 135 title?

while none may be favoured to beat the champs, it was encouraging how well each man fought in the late, hard rounds to do their thing. i am particularly impressed with munroe.

[15829]

I think rhodes will be promoted by warren seen him at one of his shows

Out the three of them think mitchell will be the only 1 to win a world title martinez and the japanese guy will have to much for rhodes and munroe, but I think mitchell will beat katsidis stopping him late on he's had to many wars

[twenty six]

I can bring you up to speed re Rhodes.
It is in fact very complicated.
Martinez v Williams was at Middleweight. The rematch is very much being discussed.
Not sure however at what weight and how the WBC will react if it's at Middle.
Then there is the scandal of Chavez !
He's WBC 2 and failed the drug test following his bore fest 14th Nov again at Middle, for using a banned substance.
He is facing a suspension.
Will he lose his ranking ?
Will Rhodes get the mandatory spot, or Cintron ?
As regards Cintron, he is also considering a weight class move I understand.
Back down at EBU, Cancleaux has now been withdrawn from the mandatory position following his failed attempt to secure the WBO Intercontinental title last Saturday.
The new mandatory will be appointed very soon, then its out to purse bids.
Rhodes remains a free Agent Promotionally, but is jointly Managed by Wazza.
Whilst all seems quiet as you can see from the above, far from it.
As soon as there's any official news I'll put it up here.

[twenty six]

Diggler,
Rhodes attends many shows, with varying Promotors.
Wouldn't read anything into that - but of course he would be seen with his Joint Manager.

[15829]

i think he might be best going with warren who as much as people hate does tend to get his fighter world title fighters, maloney and hennesy rarely get their fighters world title fights

[Autobarn]

i don't think munroe gets enough credit for the maludrottu win. the brilliant hasegawa, who beat maludrottu down at bantam, probably didn't land as many clean shots as munroe. ok, hasegawa didn't take many, but what i'm getting at is munroe won a superb fight, whereas hasegawa won a horrible calzaghe-starie type of fight.

munroe can do some things vs the japanese fighter, nishioka. nishioka is very good and very tough. but munroe showed some things vs maludrottu. workrate early. picked his punches fairly well later on. sustained a superb pace, even though they weren't all clean power shots. what a brilliant fight that will have served munroe well for a world title challenge.

nishioka has the WBC title. like israel vazquez (pre-marquez trilogy), nishioka is fighting slightly past it or moving up in weight mexicans. munroe will be a different story. maybe he is tight at 122 but he has a good engine and some good skills.

it will be a travesty if he doesn't get a world title shot. after such a punishing world title eliminator win, in which he was getting beaten up in the last round, after seeming to win most of the late sessions, and after putting so much into that fight.

122 is really the action division, after all the marquez-vazquez fights and juan manuel lopez v rogers mtagwa. munroe has shown he can be part of it.

[Counter-puncher]

i think nishioka has too much for rendall but it could be interesting if rendall's size and southpaw style give him an early advantage.

[Autobarn]

when was the last time a japanese fighter came over here to fight a brit, or vice versa?

[MrBoxingUK2]

mitchell will beat katsidis in my opinion. the aussie has been in 1 too many wars.
munroe will do ok against nishioka but come up short on a fairly wide decision
rhodes has no chance against martinez

[Counter-puncher]

when was the last time a japanese fighter came over here to fight a brit, or vice versa?

McCoulough (sp? always get it wrong) is the last 'brit' or something like it i can recall going there, great fight he won too

Japanese fighters over here? no chance surely.

[twenty six]

There's no doubt Martinez is quality.
That said many thought Moore would have the beating of him.
Not sure if you agreed with that mate, but if Jamie had a punchers chance then you'd have to say so does Rhodes.
Personally I think that fight's the least promising of the potential options anyway.
Martinez is chasing the dollars.
He got $350,000 for the Williams fight, with a guarentee his title wasn't up for grabs or his ranking at risk.
The fight was so good you've got to say he deserves more for the rematch so I think that's the way he'll go.

[Counter-puncher]

i would give ryan a slightly better chance of beating martinez than Jamie, or at 154lbs at least, twentysix on the basis ryan's a slightly better mover and would be better able to stop Martinez controlling the pace of the fight and stealing breaks in the rounds at lightmiddle than Jamie would now.

twentysix which fights do you consider more promising than martinez?

[twenty six]

I think as things stand right now, Counter, he can't look beyond the EBU Mandatory.
Every avenue is being explored mate.

[Counter-puncher]

gotcha cheers

[mickey1975]

when was the last time a japanese fighter came over here to fight a brit, or vice versa?

McCoulough (sp? always get it wrong) is the last 'brit' or something like it i can recall going there, great fight he won too

Japanese fighters over here? no chance surely.

I think Terry Marsh defended against a Japanese fighter over here

[Counter-puncher]

you learn something every day cheers

[alexpaterson]

Yes it is good to see all have come through tough hard fights. I think they can all become world champions

[Autobarn]

There's no doubt Martinez is quality.
That said many thought Moore would have the beating of him.
Not sure if you agreed with that mate, but if Jamie had a punchers chance then you'd have to say so does Rhodes.
Personally I think that fight's the least promising of the potential options anyway.
Martinez is chasing the dollars.
He got $350,000 for the Williams fight, with a guarentee his title wasn't up for grabs or his ranking at risk.
The fight was so good you've got to say he deserves more for the rematch so I think that's the way he'll go.

when you think martinez gets the HBO money, that HBO like him...and considering that rhodes lost to lockett, would HBO not completely block this fight? considering how bad lockett and also jennings were in title fights.

it would be a shame if this happened. because rhodes actually fought ppl - vuma, moore - who would get him ready for world level. whereas lockett and jennings just appeared suddenly in the WBO wankings, didn't have to overcome tests that might actually ready them for their big chance.

hopefully the yanks see the quality of rhodes-moore. it would be horrid if the lockett loss came back to haunt him.

[Tykemania]

mitchell will beat katsidis in my opinion. the aussie has been in 1 too many wars.
munroe will do ok against nishioka but come up short on a fairly wide decision
rhodes has no chance against martinez

I reckon Katsidis is pretty vulnerable to anyone who can take his shots and keep coming - and I think Mitchell has a pretty granite chin.

[twenty six]

Autobarn,
The Lockett fight is totally irrelevent.
That was a Middleweight fight for starters - Rhodes in an unbeaten Light Middleweight.
I've said it a few times now, Martinez is chasing the dollar - and good luck to him.
For that reason as things stand the Rhodes fight will be difficult to make.
Forget the HBO angle - you are missing three vital factors.
It's WBC's title - not HBO's.
WBC will be appointing his mandatory - and at the moment the next in line (Chavez) is facing a ban for testing positive for a banned diruetic taken before his last fight.
Finally the fight with Williams was at Middleweight and it's likely the rematch will be at Middle as well.
If he decides to carry on at Middle then he will either have to vacate - or be stripped.
Cintron is also ahead of Rhodes but he is considering which weight division to fight at going forward.
Maybe Cintron v Rhodes for the Interim title ?
Who knows - but for now, Rhodes can look no further than his mandatory EBU who should be appointed next week, following Cancleaux's defeat.

[Autobarn]

Autobarn,
The Lockett fight is totally irrelevent.
That was a Middleweight fight for starters - Rhodes in an unbeaten Light Middleweight.
I've said it a few times now, Martinez is chasing the dollar - and good luck to him.
For that reason as things stand the Rhodes fight will be difficult to make.
Forget the HBO angle - you are missing three vital factors.
It's WBC's title - not HBO's.
WBC will be appointing his mandatory - and at the moment the next in line (Chavez) is facing a ban for testing positive for a banned diruetic taken before his last fight.
Finally the fight with Williams was at Middleweight and it's likely the rematch will be at Middle as well.
If he decides to carry on at Middle then he will either have to vacate - or be stripped.
Cintron is also ahead of Rhodes but he is considering which weight division to fight at going forward.
Maybe Cintron v Rhodes for the Interim title ?
Who knows - but for now, Rhodes can look no further than his mandatory EBU who should be appointed next week, following Cancleaux's defeat.

i don't know, HBO has a big say in things. it's all about the TV money over there. fighters (incl paul williams) will even ignore world titles, in order to get the biggest money available. martinez promoted by former mr hbo boxing dibella, also.

it is the WBC, but blimey, the WBC have fvcked up light middle and fighters who have earned their shots kept on getting put back, delayed. forrest was kept waiting (DLH-Payweather). martinez was kept waiting (forrest-mora 1 & 2, incredibly). martinez won an elim in 2007 over saul roman yet wasn't recognised as champ until forrest was murdered, i believe. getting a WBC 154 title shot is like Waiting for Godot.

does williams want a rematch with martinez, who probably got the better of thier fight, i wonder. obviously if HBO come up with the money...but what if williams wants pavlik, for the middleweight titles? does williams have a valid contract, can he hold pavlik to their fight?

i hope rhodes doesnt get beaten in an EBU title defense, while waiting for the title shot. it's a disgrace IMO, the WBC happy to take their sanctioning fee, but putting bums like chavez jr in pole position.

[lowersmiths]

i doubt chavez jnr will get any penalty, he is simply too big a name with too many connections in the WBC.

perhaps ryan should be hoping that he doesn't, because chavez is winnable fight. what a name that would be for him. the loss to lockett could also lull his people into thinking the fight would be easy, which is the modus operandi of chavez's entire career so far.

[alectrifyingalex]

Very difficult weight division domestically

[Neri]

Chavez Jnr should be removed from the rankings but don't count on it, the WBC arer too busy washing fighters mouths out with soap.

[Autobarn]

Lol munroe will get hammered at world level no disrespect to him but that weight division is one of if not the hardest out

munroe showed some stuff to come through a tough test in maludrottu. it was a typical super bantamweight fight in that it had sustained action and no little class. it will have prepared him well, and i hope he lands the fight because he earned it.