By Dan Ambrose: Unbeaten #3 IBF welterweight contender Konstantin Ponomarev (30-0, 13 KOs) was supposed to be facing #2 IBF Errol Spence Jr. (20-0, 17 KOs) in a unification match to pick out a mandatory challenger to IBF welterweight champion Kell “Special K” Brook (36-0, 25 KOs).
Spence is now reportedly going to be facing #7 IBF Leonard Bundu in an eliminator in August, according to Fight News. The promoters for the two fighters will be negotiating the fight.
The International Boxing Federation had already ordered Ponomarev and Spence to start negotiations for a fight this summer. However, according to Dan Rafael, the 23-year-old Ponomarev suffered a hand injury in his last fight against Brad Solomon last April on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley 3 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ponomarev struggled to win a close 10 round split decision in a fight that could have gone either way. Perhaps the reason Ponomarev looked so bad was due his hand injury. Whatever the case, Ponomarev is injured and cannot fight Spence.
“He has a problem with his right hand that is still not healed,” said Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti to ESPN.com. “Because of the injury, he is unavailable, so the IBF will move on to the next available contender,” Moretti said. “I think Ponomarev would want to be 100 percent for a fight against Errol Spence. It was enough of an injury to reconsider going through with the fight. His hand was badly bruised.”
It’s probably seen as good news for Top Rank that Ponomarev is injured because it would have been asking a lot from the 23-year-old to get inside the ring with a knockout artist like Spence. There are fighters that Ponomarev undoubtedly would match up well against in the welterweight division, but Spence is not one of them.
Ponomarev is more of a carbon copy of Chris Algieri than a Genndy “GGG” Golovkin type of puncher, and that’s not good for Ponomarev. He would need Golovkin like punching power for him to be able to compete against Spence. Spence destroyed Algieri in five rounds in his last fight in April of this year after knocking him down multiple times along the way.
Ponomarev would be better off being used as an opponent for WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas if he wins his next fight against Brook in the summer. Even if Vargas loses that fight, Ponomarev would be a good opponent for him to see if he’s worth salvaging by Top Rank.
If Vargas loses to both Brook and Ponomarev, Top Rank can always look in another direction towards other fighters to sign to their company. Vargas could also move back down in weight to 140.
When the news first broke about the IBF ordering Spence and Ponomarev to face each other in an IBF eliminator, I had strong doubts whether Top Rank would give Ponomarev the green light to take the fight. It was not a good match-up for Ponomarev with his skillsets and his lack of punching power. Ponomarev needs more time to mature and add punching power before he starts facing guys like Spence. Now would not be a good time for that fight.
If Ponomarev never does develop any power to speak of, then Top Rank will need to figure out a place where he can useful. I’m not sure Ponomarev is cut out to be a welterweight because you need to be able to punch to do anything in the welterweight division.
Right now, Ponomarev is too similar Algieri, and he’s probably not going to be able to find too much success in this weight class. he can beat the guys like Solomon and possibly Erick Bone, but not the really good fighters in this weight class.
Spence has been looking very good since turning pro four years ago after fighting in the 2012 Olympics for the U.S. Floyd Mayweather Jr. attempted to lure Keith Thurman into fighting Spence a year ago, but Thurman was having none of it. He said Spence didn’t have the experience. Spence wasn’t going to get a fight against Thurman or any of the top fighters. He was going to have to earn, and that’s what he’s in the process of doing right now by fighting Bundu in an eliminator.