Daniel Román vs. Ryō Matsumoto - now for WBA Super championship!

Making good on a threat made before Guillermo Rigondeaux moved up to challenge Vasyl Lomachenko that, should he lose, he would be stripped of his Super champion status at 122lbs, the WBA have declared that erstwhile "regular" champion Daniel Román now occupies that position, with Ryō Matsumoto now presented an opportunity to swoop in and steal it at the end of next month.

The incumbent, Román, had a heck of a 2017, stopping previously unbeaten Texan prospect Adam Lopez in January on ShoBox in a WBA eliminator, and then claiming the regular iteration of their super bantam strap by going on the road and stopping previously unbeaten Shun Kubo in September in what could have been a FOTY candidate were it a tad less one-sided. He is a patient and intelligent boxer-puncher, with a tight jab-and-parry game at mid-range and some excellent body punching in his repertoire. He lacks single-blow consciousness-depriving pop, and hand speed relative to many in his division - but his timing and fluidity make up for this, and he packs one hell of a chin.

Like his fellow Nihon-jin, the southpaw Kubo, challenger Matsumoto will tower over Román as he towers over most. The advantage in height, reach, speed and power all belong to Ryō, and this isn't merely a case of athleticism vs. skill, as he also etched himself an impressive amateur record of 53-3 (39), which is somewhat laudable anywhere, really, but all the more so when done in Japan. The only problem is that he picked up (and later avenged, true, but still...picked up) his first loss in rather embarrassing fashion, stopped by Mexican nonentity Victor Uriel López...a little prematurely but following several weak clinch attempts by Ryō, the whole ordeal demonstrating at the very least an inability to absorb damage gracefully, if not an outright poor constitutional resistance - but again, Román isn't exactly packing somniferous thunder.

You have two skillful guys with vastly different styles and mesotypes/dimensions, one an iron-chinned feather-fist and the other a glass cannon. This kind of match-up always makes for a fun and unpredictable ride.

El Chacal has been dropped altogether from the WBA super bantamweight rankings. I doubt at this point you will find too many fans (reduced in number from double-digits to single, and perhaps even down to just immediate blood relatives, after his shameful effort versus Lomachenko) rosining up their bows to play him any hero's dirges on the violin.

 

Presumably.

 

So this begs the question: are people on the side of the WBA in spite of being sick of their nonsense, or the side of Rigo despite feeling he's probably deserving to be stripped of title and rank?

 

Reckon he'll do as well as Kubo, same, or worse?

 

Danny's gonna earn himself a reputation for chopping down every giant in Japan. Next up Amagasa? Then...Kyotaro???

 

Three days out!

 

Fuji TV will provide live coverage starting at 5:30am EST.