By Allan Fox: #1 WBC 154-lb contender Erickson ‘Hammer’ Lubin (23-1, 16 KOs) and former IBF/WBA champion Jeison ‘Banana’ Rosario (20-2-1, 14 KOs) have agreed to a fight in June on Showtime. Mike Coppinger and @Idecboxing are reporting the news of the Lubin vs. Rosario fight.
The timing of this fight isn’t ideal for the 25-year-old Rosario, as he’s coming off an eighth-round knockout loss to WBC 154-lb champion Jermell Charlo on September 26th last year.
It’s not exactly the best tie for Rosario to be taking a dangerous opponent like the ‘Hammer’ Lubin, who has won his last five fights since getting stopped in the first round by Jermell in October 2017.
There’s obviously a tremendous upside for Rosario if he beats Lubin, as he would be right back in a position to challenge Charlo (34-1, 18 KOs) for one of his three titles at junior middleweight.
But the downside of Rosario taking this fight is he could get knocked out again, which would wreck his career potentially. It’s taken Lubin four years to come back from his own loss at the hands of Jermell in 2017.
Lubin is coming off a 12 round unanimous decision win over Terrell Gaushua in September. It was a good performance by Lubin, who looks improved from the way he fought against Charlo.
Lubin’s five-fight winning streak
- Nathaniel Gallimore
- Terrell Gausha
- Ishe Smith
- Zakaria Attou
- Silverio Ortiz
Rosario lost to Gallimore by a sixth-round knockout in 2017, but that was a long time ago. He’s improved a lot since then, and he’d likely beat Gallimore in a rematch.
If Lubin or Rosario is to have a shot at beating the 30-year-old Charlo, they’re going to need to prove it by showing something. Lubin was knocked out by a single right-hand shot from Charlo when he made the mistake of dipping down in front of him.
One of Charlo’s favorite punches is a chopping right hand, and Lubin made it too easy for him by dipping low directly in front of him.
For his part, Rosario was competitive with Charlo, landing many big shots, but they did not affect him. Charlo was hurting Rosario throughout the contest, knocking him down in rounds one, six, and eight.
In Rosario’s fight before that, he stopped IBF/WBA 154-lb champion Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams in the fifth round of January last year.
“Source: Former unified 154-pound champ Jeison Rosario and Erickson Lubin have agreed to fight in June on Showtime. Rosario coming off KO loss to Jermell Charlo. Lubin’s last performance was a win over Terrell Gausha. A good matchup in a stacked division,” said @MikeCoppinger.