MANCHESTER, Conn. (Feb. 12, 2010) – WBC rated No. 10 featherweight contender, unbeaten NABF champion Matt “Sharp Shooter” Remillard, is getting closer and closer to a major fight.
In his last bout (Jan. 29), Remillard destroyed Rafael “The Dominican Man” Lora (11-2, 5 KOs) for the second time in a row, defending for the first time the NABF belt he won September 19 by way of a fourth-round technical knockout. Lora’s team complained that the original fight was unjustly halted, but they soon discovered that sometimes you should watch out for what you wish.
At Mohegan Sun in the rematch, Remillard unleashed pure, unadulterated fury on and all over Lora, who was unable to answer the bell for the fourth round. Rumors after the fight circulated that Lora broke two or three ribs and possibly suffered a fractured jaw.
“I just wanted to get the fight over with and move on with my career,” the 23-year-old Remillard explained. “They petitioned the NABF after our first fight. We gave them a rematch because we didn’t want anything hurting us. It was nice to have my first title defense at home, too. I was able to showcase some of the things we had been working on.”
Now the WBC’s No. 1 ranked American featherweight, Remillard is almost there in terms of his ultimate goal of fighting for a world title. “A big fight is right around the corner,” Matt remarked. “It’s starting to hit me and came on fast. My team has done a great job getting me here. My division is full of talented fighters. I’d like to fight anybody in the top 15, top 10. There are a lot of good fights out there for me and a few of us are trying to get from prospect to contender.”
WBA featherweight champion Elio “The Kid” Rojas (21-1, 13 KOs) defends his belt Feb. 20 in Mexico against No. 3 rated Guty Spades, Jr. (45-7, 28 KOs), while No. 1 contender Israel “Magnifico” Vazquez (44-4, 32 KOs) faces rival Rafael Marquez for the fourth time May 22 in Los Angeles. The other top rated WBC featherweight contenders are, in order, No. 2 Juan Carlos “Miniburgos” Burgos (24-0, 17 KOs), No. 4 Jhonny Gonzalez (42-7, 30 KOs), No. 5 Cholatarn O. Piriyapinyo (33-0, 19 KOs), No. 6 “Doctor” Oleg Yefimovych (17-1, 1 KOs), No. 7 Rafael “Chocho” Guzman (24-1, 17 KOs), No. 8 Justin “Le Malin” Savi (23-0, 15 KOs), No. 9 Cyril Thomas (36-3-4, 10 KOs), and No. 10 Remillard.
“Maybe a fight against another unbeaten prospect is next,” Remillard offered. “We’re all waiting in line along with a few guys who have one loss. Whatever my promoter and manager want to do is good by me. One way of moving up the list, though, is to takeout each other. Last year at this time, I remember thinking about being where we are right now. One great fight for me can lead to a TV network picking up a world title fight. That’s what I’m aiming for.”
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