By Scott Gilfoid: 2nd tier slugger Rogelio Medina (33-6, 27 KOs) is hoping to get a world title shot in his next fight against unbeaten WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell. Medina, 25, pulled off a huge upset in knocking out fringe contender J’Leon Love (18-1, 10 KOs) in the 3rd round last Saturday night at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Medina appeared to be trailing going into the 3rd round when he caught Love with a big left hook that knocked him senseless. Medina was able to tag Love with a finishing right hand as he fell to the floor face first. The fight was stopped immediately.
“I would love to fight next for the WBC title against Anthony Dirrell,” Medina said via Fightnews.com.
Here’s my take. It was nice that Medina was able to defeat Love last night in what is likely the biggest win of Medina’s career thus far, but let’s not get it twisted. Medina came into the fight having lost 3 out of his last 4 fights, and 4 out of his last 6 fights.
How in the heck is Medina going to get a fight against Dirrell with a record like that and without him even ranked in the top 15 at 168? Medina needs at least 3 more big wins before he warrants a title shot against a talent like Dirrell.
I mean, we can’t have the standards lowered with champions taking on 2nd tier guys left and right just because they got a upset win over a guy who probably had no business being ranked in the top 15 to begin with.
With Dirrell’s hand speed, punching power and his pinpoint accuracy, I couldn’t see Medina lasting more than 4-5 rounds against him. The thing is Dirrell wouldn’t run from Medina like Love did. He’d likely stay in the pocket and unload on him with his big punches and test his chin. It would be brutal watch and I wouldn’t like Medina’s chances of lasting more than a handful of rounds.
Medina looked good against Love because he didn’t have the chin or the talent to compete with him, but there’s a huge difference between Love and Dirrell. It would be a much different story.
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