By Patrick McHugh: 33-year-old former world title challenger Matt Korobov (25-1, 14 KOs) will be trying to keep his career alive next month against 34-year-old journeyman Bryan Vera (23-10, 14 KOs) on June 25 on the Mike Alvarado vs. Josh Torres fight card at The Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas.
Korobov will be fighting at super middleweight rather than middleweight. It remains whether he’ll be stronger at this weight.
The fight will be the second for Korobov since he was stopped in the 6th round by Andy Lee in December 2014. That was a bout in which Korobov was ahead in the 6th round when he was caught by a hard right hook from Lee and then taken out with a flurry of heavy shots.
Korobov got sloppy against a big puncher in Lee and he paid the price by getting knocked out. Korobov didn’t fight at all in 2015. He came back in January of this year to defeat journeyman Josue Ovando (14-9-1, 11 KOs) by an eight round unanimous decision at super middleweight.
Now Korobov is fighting another journeyman in Vera. You can’t argue that Korobov is rushing back into any tough fights after his knockout against Lee, because he’s on pace to blow through two years of his career in coming back from that loss. The go slow approach would be fine if Korobov was a younger guy just starting out, but he’s 33 now and he needs to take his career at a more urgent pace if he wants to be able to take advantage of the remainder of his youth.
Korobov fought in the 2008 Olympics for Russia. He turned pro in 2008, and took it slow until 2014, at which time he beat the dangerous Jose Uscategui by a one-sided 10 round decision in June of that year. Things were looking good for Korobov going into his fight against Lee. Korobov initially was supposed to challenge Peter Quillin for the WBO 160lb title, but he vacated his belt rather than take the fight with the Russian fighter.
Vera’s one promising career has tanked recently with him losing his last four fights against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. [x 2], Willie Monroe Jr. and Rocky Fielding. Vera was arguably robbed in his first fight against Chavez Jr. in March 2013. However, Vera has looked poor in his last two bouts against Fielding and Monroe Jr. Both of those fights were bad ones for Vera, as he looked slow, lethargic, and unmotivated. Vera made Monroe look better than he actually is.
Vera has wins over Sergio Mora [x 2] and Andy Lee during his career. During Vera’s best years, he was a solid fighter with excellent punching power. It’s only been recently where he’s slipped a notch. Vera still can punch, and he could pull off an upset against Korobov if he can hang in there long enough to land something big against him. Korobov’s chin is questionable, especially after his KO loss to Lee. If Vera can connect with something big, he could take Korobov out of there. Vera has an advantage in the fight having been accustomed to taking heavy shots. Korobov isn’t nearly as rugged a fighter as Vera.