The two questions that surrounded the lead up to the Sergio
Mora-Abraham Han fight. Would the
cancellation of Mora’s scheduled challenge of IBF Middleweight world champion
Jermain Taylor have any effect on his focus as he prepared to face Han. As well, could seize the opportunity to make a
name for himself in the talent deep Middleweight division after stepping in to
face Mora.
Those questions were answered when Mora and Han met for the
vacant USBA Middleweight title on February 6th at the Beau Rivage resort and
casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. The story throughout much of this fight was
Mora’s lateral movement, ring generalship, and ability to land the cleaner more
effective punches. Although Mora was not always the aggressor, he was able to
make the most out of the offense he put forth.
The change in opponent and what had to be disappointment due
to missing out on an opportunity to become a two-division world champion did
not seem to have much effect on Mora, who has previously held the WBC Jr.
Middleweight world championship in his career. Mora however, did face a fighter
in Abraham Han who was very “Game” and who was able to rally late in the fight
including scoring a knockdown of Mora in the tenth round. Han was able to make the fight close as after
the conclusion of the twelve round title bout the three official judges
rendered a split decision. One judge
scored the fight in Han’s favor 115-112, while the two other judges saw the
fight 114-113, and 115-112 for Mora.
Although I felt that Sergio Mora won this fight convincingly
as I unofficially scored the fight 117-112 in his favor, it was a competitive
fight from beginning to end. The primary difference in this fight was Mora’s
ability to execute his offense in spurts and in particular how effective he was
in landing his right hand throughout the fight. This along with his ability to
be an elusive target and make Han miss often, despite his aggressiveness was
the basis of my score. It is understandable however, how some could feel that
Han was able to win more rounds due to his aggression. This was a case where
the question was whether simply being more aggressive would be enough to win
the fight while not necessarily being effective.
Even though Han came out of this fight on the losing end, he
was able to give a good account himself and it would not surprise me if he were
able to secure a fight against someone in the top ten in any of the sport’s
respective sanctioning organizations. The Middleweight division is very deep
and Han would be an interesting opponent for any of the top contenders in the
division.
As for Sergio Mora, the question is what will his win over
Han mean for him in the long-term. It was announced prior to the fight between
Mora and Han that the International Boxing Federation (IBF) had stripped
Jermain Taylor of its Middleweight world championship and that the sanctioning
organization would mandate a fight between it’s number one contender Hassan N’Dam
and it’s number three contender Felix Sturm for the vacant IBF championship.
This however, will apparently not be the case as it has been
announced that Felix Sturm will decline the opportunity to fight for the IBF
championship in favor of moving up in weight to the 168lb. Super- Middleweight
division. Sturm’s intention to move up in weight with his sights on a potential
fight with current WBO Super-Middleweight world champion Arthur Abraham now
leaves a question of who will fight N’Dam for the vacant IBF Middleweight
championship.
One possible scenario could be that the IBF could award the
title to N’Dam seeing as he did win an elimination bout, defeating Curtis
Stevens in October of last year for the number one ranking in the IBF’s
Middleweight ratings. It would not be the first time that a top contender has
been named champion, as fighters who have held interim champion status in other
organizations respective ratings have been elevated to champion. If such a
scenario were to come to fruition an argument could be made that either N’Dam
would be mandated to defend his title against a top contender or the IBF may
hold another elimination bout between two top contenders to determine a new
mandatory challenger.
An interesting question is what would this mean for Sergio
Mora? As I stated last week prior to Mora’s fight with Abraham Han, it is
important to remember that Mora, who entered the fight with Han rated number
fourteen in the IBF’s Middleweight ratings, was in line to challenge for the
IBF world championship prior to the cancellation of his fight with Jermain
Taylor. The fight with Han was for the
United States Boxing Association (USBA) Middleweight title. Mora’s victory over
Han has elevated his ranking in the IBF ratings to number seven. In this
observer’s opinion, seeing as the USBA is a regional title under the umbrella
of the International Boxing Federation, it makes sense that Mora should be in
line to fight for the IBF title off of his recent victory.
Although fighters such as Sam Soliman, David Lemieux, and
Billy Jo Saunders are rated above Mora currently in the IBF Middleweight
ratings, it is important to note that Saunders is currently the number one
contender in the World Boxing Organization’s (WBO) ratings and there is no word
as of this writing as to what the future plans might be for Soliman and
Lemieux. Based on this and Mora having previously been scheduled to fight for
the IBF world championship, I believe he should be in line to fight for the
vacant title.
An interesting question is how will all the circumstances
surrounding the IBF Middleweight world championship impact the rest of the
division. For now, the attention of the division will focus on unified WBA/IBO
Middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin’s title defense against top
contender Martin Murray on February 21st.
If Sergio Mora is not in line to fight for the vacant IBF
championship in the near future, it will be interesting to see whether he could
be a potential future opponent for the winner of the Golovkin-Murray fight. The
sport of Boxing is after all a sport of opportunities. For a fighter who was
going to have an opportunity to fight for a world title and who unfortunately
missed out on that opportunity due to circumstances that were beyond his
control, he was able to make the most out of a disappointing situation and
elevate his standing as a top contender.
Whether or not Sergio Mora will get the opportunity to fight
for a world title in a second weight class remains to be seen. In my opinion,
he has earned the title shot.
“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”
The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison
All Rights Reserved.
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