Interesting decision, thought he looked big at super and could have moved up to bantem! Wonder if he saw Tete (supposedly the weakest champion at Super Fly) beat Butler and thought best option to move down. Nothing wrong with that, good career move.........does he win a world title at Fly??
Well whatever division he chooses, he'd want to get active....another great talent languishing in inactivity. Hope to see him box soon....
Kono's the weakest title holder at 115, unfortunately he's a bit of meat and the vultures are circling with Koki Kameda set to get a mandatory shot at him soon. Fly is the toughest division out there right now. He's sure as hell not beating Gonzalez (WBC) or Estrada (WBA super and WBO) he might have a chance with Ruenroeng (IBF) but it's certainly not an "easy" route to a title. For what it's worth Ruenroeng has a mandatory in summer with Casimero (Filipino puncher who famously beat Lazarte in Argentina causing a riot). The weak link is probably WBA "regular" champion Juan Carlos Reveco, though he's a very capable fighter and will be defending his belt in April against Kazuto Ioka. If Ioka wins that title won't be leaving Japan until someone very good takes it from him (aka-"He won't be travelling"). When you look at the contenders you get: Sosa (Mexican veteran, former 108 champion) Viloria (Filipino American) Mthalane (Talented and tough South African) Arroyo (Former Puerto Rican amateur standout) Eto (Asian champion, former WBA interim champion, bloody and guts kid) Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep (former WBA interim champion, tough pressure fighter) Muranaka (all action work horse, Japanese champion) Fuentes (Fringe contender who was battered by Gonzalez and narrowly out pointed by Ruenroeng) Nawaphon (Huge Thai who is probably even bigger than Yafai) Alvarado (Tough Nicaraguan warrior) Saludar (Touted Filipino boxer-puncher) Hernandez (Mexican former Light Flyweight champion who has moved up after problems making 108lbs) Tete (South African who's brother beat Butler-apparently he's the better of the two brothers as well) Alvarez (talented Filipino boxer who gave Estrada hell, despite the cards being wide) Shiming (not great but certainly not as bad as Ruenroeng made him look) Also, just for trivia the division also boasts Noknoi, who has the longest winning streak in the sport at 51 straight wins! He is however ****. Whilst Sosa and Viloria are coming to the end of their career that's still a lot of depth and it goes with out mentioning prospects like Ken Shiro (who scored a great win on the Japanese domestic scene today) Cris Paulino (a lovely boxer form the Philippines who needs more seasoning in the later rounds) Marvin Solano (Nicaraguan hopeful) Petchchorhae Kokietgym (a promising Thai fighter) Giemel Magramo (touted Filipino puncher) Artem Dalakian (Ukrainian who was a solid amateur) Iwan Zoda (the rising star of Indonesian boxing) Ben Mananquil (under-rated Filipino who SHOULD have had a TKO1 win over Kwanpichit) and Kongputorn CP Freshmart (former muay Thai stand out who is a joy to watch) Not saying Kal can't win a title there in a few years but right now it's tough at the top and a lot of emerging fighters are coming through the ranks