Jadier Herrera vs Ricardo Nunez interim title fight joins Kabayel vs Knyba
Alright, a quick recap before we begin.
At their annual convention earlier this month, the WBC ordered no. 3 lightweight Jadier Herrera to face no. 1 Ricardo Nunez for the interim title. This is a rare case where such a fight is warranted, as reigning champion Shakur Stevenson challenges Teofimo Lopez for the welterweight belt early next year.
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A few days later, Stephen Fulton missed weight for what was supposed to be a super featherweight title fight against champion O’Shaquie Foster. PBC successfully petitioned the WBC to sanction it as an interim lightweight title fight, leaving Foster in possession of two (one and a half?) worth of hardware after dominating “Cool Boy Steph.”
Fortunately for Sulaiman and co., Foster opted to drop the new duds, leaving the belt open for Herrera and Nunez to fight at the Jan. 10 Agit Kabayel vs. Damian Knyba show in Oberhausen.
Herrera (17-0, 15 KO) is one of the new school Cuban wrecking balls, dispatching his last nine foes at range. He still has a ways to go at 23, but the power seems real and he has serious size for the division at 5’11”.
I don’t immediately understand how Nunez (26-7, 22 KO) got so high in the WBC rankings. He’s not far off a three-fight skid that saw him fall to Alberty Batyrgaziev, Zaur Abdullaev and Masanori Rikiishi and is actually coming off a DQ loss to Jon Fernandez at 140 for shots after the bell. Still, he has some good wins under his belt and is a reasonable opponent for this stage of Herrera’s development, with enough power to punish the youngster’s defensive errors if he’s not on the ball.
