By Scott Gilfoid: IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby (21-1, 8 KOs) will be making a soft defense for his first title defense of his IBF 126lb strap on October 14th when he faces 36-year-old former three division world champion Fernando Montiel (54-4-2, 39 KOs) on Premier Boxing Champions on a still to be determined network and venue.
I think this is a really bad match-up. Montiel is a little guy who hasn’t done a thing with his career since being knocked out by Nonito Donaire. Yeah, Montiel has won a number of fights since then, but against just awful record-padding opposition.
This is a fight that is understandable given that Montiel is better known with the hardcore boxing fans in the UK and U.S than most of the other contenders the International Boxing Federation has ranked in their top 15 at featherweight. It’s a predictable match-up made by Selby’s promoter Eddie Hearn. He seems to have a patter where he has his fighters face weak opposition until they fight for a world title.
Once they win a title, then he has them fight the most well-known guy possible. In this case, it’s Montiel, but I don’t think that’s a good thing for the fans. If you wanted a competitive fight, Selby should be fighting the likes of Jonathan Barros, Jayson Velez, Satoshi Hosono, Evgeny Gradovich, Simpiwe Vetyeka or Eric Hunter. I rate all of those fighters as being well above Montiel at this point in his career.
Don’t get me wrong; Montiel was a good fighter 5-10 years ago, but he left his prime behind in the rearview mirror a long time ago. Besides that, he’s way too small at 5’4” for the 5’8 ½” Selby. The size difference alone is going to make this a huge mismatch. Of course, I think that’s the whole idea in Montiel being selected for this fight for Selby rather than a better contender.
Montiel, ranked #11 IBF at featherweight, is a tiny 5’4” fighter who arguably shouldn’t be fighting above the flyweight division, which is where he started his pro career out 19 years ago in 1996. He captured a world title at flyweight in 2000, but he then moved up to super flyweight in 2002 to capture the WBO World super flyweight title.
Montiel moved up to bantamweight and won the WBC and WBO titles in that weight class with wins over Hozumi Hasegawa and Rafael Concepcion in 2010. Montiel lost his WBA/WBO titles in February 2011 in getting knocked out in the 2nd round by Nonito Donaire. That’s pretty much the last time Montiel fought a quality opponent unfortunately. Montiel has won his last 8 fights against weak opposition like Cristobal Cruz, Jesus Rios, and Rogelio Jun Doliguez.
Montiel appears to have moved up to the featherweight division to chase bigger paydays than he would be getting if he stayed down at bantamweight, super flyweight or flyweight. Montiel would make good money if he could get a fight against the likes of Jhonny Gonzalez, Abner Mares or Leo Santa Cruz. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon, especially if Montiel gets obliterated by the much bigger Selby.
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