Fighter of the Week (10/30-11/5): Adrian Curiel
Eddie Heard has put many of his top young fighters in the ring with rugged young Mexican and Mexican-American fighters without a perfect record. Rugged opponents he thought would present a challenge but ultimately get outboxed. He has not had good results with this method to say the least. Saturday in Monte Carlo was no exception. Adrian Curiel walked into the ring with four losses and a draw at just 24 years old. He walked out without a KO of the year candidate, his 24th win, his fifth KO, a name no one will forget, Sivenathi Nontshinga's IBF Light Flyweight title, and our Fighter of the Week award.
If this fight didn't look like much on paper, you could sense it was going to be something special as soon as the opening bell rang. Nothing began giving ground to the front foot-heavy Curiel. Clearly not a fan of Curiel's power. He was looking to walk the Mexican onto his hard power shots. Curiel was able to close the distance. The Champion was able to get onto the inside and dig with bodywork, however, it ended up playing into the hands of Curiel who was happy to engage with the South African Champion. With both men wanting the fight on the inside, the drama was building in the second round, and the ending came abruptly. Nontshinga threw out a lazy jab that Curiel saw from a mile away and fired off the biggest right hand of his life. The right hand put Nontshinga out before he hit the floor. The official time of the shocking upset was 1:09 of round two.
Curiel has made himself a recognizable name with his stunning knockout of the year candidate and is now a candidate for Upset of the Year, as well. The Mexican Light Flyweight will clearly have plenty of doors open to him now. A match-up with unified WBA/WBC Champ Kenshiro in Japan would certainly be the most profitable opponent. A unification bout with WBO Champ Jonathan Gonzalez would be an intriguing chapter of the Puerto Rico vs Mexico rivalry. The other option would be to jump up to 112, a division he has competed at before, and take on the winner of Bam Rodriguez vs Sunny Edwards showdown next month.
