With Abe, Mares and JuanMa, the division is in good hands

Manny Pacquiao, Eric Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Israel Vasquez and Rafael Marquez have three things in common; one, they are all hall of fame bound (well three of them are hall-of-fame shoe-ins right now), two, they are all P4P listers and lastly, they all held titles in the super bantamweight division.

Pacquiao, Morales and Barrera went on to win titles in higher weight divisions leaving the division in the hands of more-than-worthy successors Vazquez and Rafa Marquez but both these guys at 30 and 33 years of age respectively aren’t getting any younger and would definitely need to pass on the baton to the next generation.

Molitor and Caballero does hold titles now but at ages 28 and 32 respectively, aren’t really what you call “young guns”. The undefeated Molitor doesn’t seem to want to fight outside Canada, while tall and lanky Caballero doesn’t seem to have the chin to go with his vaunted power much like erstwhile title holder Daniel Ponce de Leon who was drilled in one round. Still the division is quite deep with prospects. You have in that list the likes of 21 year-old Boom Boom Bautista from the Philippines, 22 year-old Brazilian Alex de Oliveira, 22 year-old Kiko Martinez of Spain, undefeated 22 year-old Mexican Abner Mares, 20 year-old Filipino Abe Concepcion who is the current NABF Champ and undefeated 25-year old WBO Champ Juanma Lopez.

The most promising of these prospects are Beristain-trained Abner Mares, Roach-trained Concepcion who wowed Kellerman, Lampley and Stewart in his demolition of Adam Carrera and of course the fearsome Juanma Lopez, who took out Daniel Ponce de Leon in one round for the WBO belt. So the old-boys in the division better watch out..the young guns are coming, and they are a nasty bunch.