By Scott Gilfoid: #1 IBF contender Lee Selby (20-1, 8 KOs) has a big fight on Saturday against IBF featherweight champion Evgeny Gradovich (19-0-1, 9 KOs) at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Selby, 28, says he wants to go after the other world champions if he defeats Gradovich.
The guys that Selby is specifically interested in fighting at WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko and WBA champ Nicholas Walters. It goes without saying that Selby’s chances of beating even Gradovich is quite low, but it’s pretty much unfathomable to imagine Selby getting in the ring and defeating the likes of Lomachenko and Walters. I mean, I don’t even think Selby’s own diehard fans can see him beating either of those guys.
Gradovich is someone that is obviously flawed and can be beaten if Selby fights the perfect fight without any mistakes, but it’s a different story with Lomachenko and Walters. Selby can fight the most perfect fight, and those guys are just going to adjust and likely stomp him into the canvas.
“It’s a fight [Gradovich] I’m confident I’ll win,” Selby said to Skysports.com. “If I win this fight then super fights can be made like me against Lomachenko, and me against Nicholas Walters. They’re massive fights. It would make me a big star in boxing,” Selby said.
It would be interesting if Selby beats Gradovich on Saturday, and if his promoter Eddie Hearn actually allowed him to fight the likes of Lomachenko and Walters. I have a lot of doubts that Hearn would green light either of those fights. But even if Hearn puts his foot down and tells Selby ‘No, you can’t fight Lomachenko and Walters. They’re just too good. Let’s milk this IBF title for a few years,’ I don’t see Selby being able to hold onto the strap for long.
The problem is the No.3 IBF contender is Abner Mares and the No.4 IBF guys is Jayson Velez. Those fighters would bring almost as much trouble as Lomachenko and Walters would. As such, the only thing that Selby would get out of avoiding Lomachenko and Walters is a lot of trouble in fights against Mares of Velez.
I see both of those guys beating Selby by knockout. Selby can’t punch, and he’s just a guy that’s tall for the featherweight division. Mares and Velez have excellent punching power and superb boxing skills. In order to beat those guys, you need monstrous power like Jhonny Gonzalez, and Selby doesn’t have that kind of power in his arsenal.
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