David Papot is Due for Stiffer Competition. Time to Test the US Circuit?
After serving his last tour of duty in the ring, French super welterweight David Papot (26-0-1, 4 KO’s) remained undefeated. Instead, Papot slapped a fresh loss on the ledger of Ahmed El Mousaoui (34-4-1, 8 KO’s) who he bested by way of split decision. It was the first fight of the year for Papot who only fought once in 2021 and 2020.
Naturally the voluminous southpaw is happy to scoop up this latest win and the opportunity to hone his skills a bit more. Yet, if the Frenchman has true ambitions to challenge for a world title, he should be thinking about increasing his competition level. To date, he has only left his native France to fight one time. On that occasion he danced with James McGirt Jr in the US and flew home with his first and only draw.
TIME TO ELEVATE?
With his #15 (WBO) standing, Papot could reasonably chase a fight with #11 (WBO) Charles “Bad News” Conwell (17-0, 13 KO’s). The Cleveland fighter has been slowly gaining momentum and making a name for himself but doesn’t yet command a great deal of fan or bargaining power. If Papot could secure a match with Conwell, he’d certainly put himself on the US radar. Now if the Frenchman actually won, then he’d most definitely radically warp his present reality for the better.
Another big name that Papot could chase after is # 10 (WBO) Erickson “The Hammer” Lubin (24-2, 17 KO’s). Lubin is extremely well-known in the sport and even challenged Jermell Charlo, but came up short, for his WBC super welterweight title. After losing that dramatic first title opportunity to Charlo, Lubin spent the better part of the next five years clawing his way back to title contention. Then in his last match, which many have as their leading Fight of the Year candidate, Lubin lost once again. This time he was defeated by the impossibly tall Sebastian Fundora.
It is precisely because he is coming off a loss that now would be the ideal time to slide in. More than likely Lubin is not going to come straight back to the top of the food chain anyway. So a fighter who is ranked in the top fifteen, but not viewed as a top predator, could be ideal for The Hammer. For now however, let’s just sit back and see what actual fight Team Papot can put together for their fighter.
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By: Bakari Simpson
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