Coach Cunningham feels Erickson Lubin will shine against Jeison Rosario
In his next assignment, Erickson “The Hammer” Lubin (23-1, 16 KO’s) will take on former world super welterweight champion Jeison “Banana” Rosario (20-2-1, 14 KO’s). It is a fight that he warmly welcomes. Looking to put his full talents on display, Lubin feels he will be able to shine against Rosario.
A BETTER DANCE PARTNER
In his last outing, The Hammer found himself matching wits with Terrell Gausha. Despite prevailing by a pretty comfortable unanimous decision win, Lubin knows that he was not allowed to present his full arsenal. This was largely due to Gausha’s defensive responsibility and cagey style of fighting. When in against Rosario, neither Lubin nor his chief second, Kevin Cunningham, believe opening up will be a problem, as Cunningham revealed on a recent interview with Barbershop Conversations.
“You have no choice but to fight when you are in with a guy like Rosario because he is bringing the fight to you. It’s one thing to fight a guy like, our last fight we fought Terrell Gausha. You fight a guy like Terrell Gausha who has an extensive amateur background, a former Olympian, he is smart and he’s got [the type of] power that the average person watching doesn’t realize how strong he is.”
“And he is defensive, he fights with the high guard and tries to fight off of his defense. So what we had to do was fight him at range and control the distance as opposed to fighting him in the clinches because that’s what he wants to do, fight close and punch in between your shots off his defense.”
“So a guy like that, it’s hard to get him to open up. That’s not going to be the case Saturday night! Saturday night you going to have a guy coming across the ring taking chances and opening up, which is going to create those sharpshooting shots that we’re looking to drop! So it’s going to be an exciting fight.”
OPPORTUNITIES ON THE HORIZON
For his part, Rosario is looking to jump straight back into deeps waters. In his last at bat, the Dominican fighter lost his WBA Super and IBF 154-pound titles to Jermell Charlo. After being battered to the canvas several times, Banana was punched into fight-ending convulsions in the eighth round. Even with the loss, Rosario is still a well-ranked fighter being #3 (WBC), #6 (WBO) and #10 (IBF). Obviously, he is not looking for any soft touches.
Erickson Lubin is not ranked with as many organizations but has a crucial position nevertheless. At the moment, Lubin is #1 (WBC) and perfectly placed to challenge unified super welterweight champion and current top dog Jermell Charlo. First however, Charlo is looking to take on WBO Super Welterweight champion Brian Castano, with the winner becoming undisputed.
If Lubin was to secure a fight with Charlo, that would be one juicy rematch. Not only could he get revenge but would emerge as the undisputed champion of the division. That is the stuff that Hollywood scripts are made of. First of course, both would have to take care of business in their next assignments!
By: Bakari Simpson
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