By Kirk Jackson: Two important fights took place in the featherweight division this past weekend. One fight, showcased the rising Puerto Rican star and Super Bantamweight Champion Juan Manuel Lopez, as he took his first step into the featherweight division and challenged the champion Steven Luevano, for the WBO Featherweight Title. Unlike Juanma’s last fight against Mtagwa which happened to be a life and death struggle, this fight was much easier for Lopez, as he pleased himself and most critics with his dominant performance en route to a 7th round tko victory over Luevano. With this victory, the unbeaten, newly crowned two division champ pushes his record to 28 – 0, with 25 of his wins coming by technical stoppage or knockout.

The other premier fight of the evening included rising Cuban Star and WBA interim Featherweight Champion Yuriorkis Gamboa, as he took on the tough challenger Rogers Mtagwa. This fight garnered some interest because in his previous fight, Rogers Mtagwa took Juan Manuel Lopez to the brink of defeat in a 12 round decision that went in Lopez’s favor. Rogers would not have similiar success as Gamboa made quick work of the Tanzanian challenger, stopping him in 2 rounds. Emerging victorious, Gamboa pushes his unbeaten mark to 17 – 0, 15 of his wins coming by way technical stoppage or knockout.

Now this obviously sets up a clash between these two young stars as they seem on a collision course to meet sometime in the near future. But there is one problem. There is a very deserving, and proud champion from Panama, Celestino Caballero, who now seems to be left out of the mix. Caballero the IBF and WBA Super Bantamweight Champion, has been waiting in the wing, scratching his palms, waiting for an opportunity to face Juan Manuel Lopez. Caballero has been very open in regards to expressing his desire to face Juanma Lopez. He has even mentioned taking a lessor cut in the money split, and is even willing to fight Lopez on his turf in Puerto Rico. But Apparently, Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions has other plans for their fighter Lopez.

Although many hardcore purists of boxing would love to see these two fighters clash in a super bantamweight championship classic, Arum eyes bigger paydays for Lopez and for himself, and would more than likely like to place Lopez against the more well known fighters in the higher divisions. Also, Caballero poses a threat to put a blemish on Juanma’s record, and Arum probably wants to advertise and get the most out of Lopez, and make the most money off him, before that blemish could potentially happen. Unfortunately for Caballero, he is an older fighter as he turns 34 this year. As every day passes by, his skills will depreciate and his time in the sport will shorten as well.

There is always the possibility of Caballero moving up to featherweight to challenge Lopez, as he probably can make a successful transition, granted he possesses the size and power to carry with him. But even with that said, more than likely, we will never see a fight between Juan Manuel Lopez and Celestino Caballero. Eventually Lopez may end up fighting Gamboa, which is surely to be an exciting fight to look forward to in the future, but as it remains, the champ from Panama is left out, probably feeling like the loser.