Mexico's Fernando Montiel is eyeing off a bout against the likes of Nonito Donaire or Vic Darchinyan after claiming the WBC bantamweight title.
Montiel claimed the belt with a surprise fourth-round TKO defeat of Hozumi Hasegawa in front of the Japanese fighter's home fans on Friday.
``There are a lot of options for potential opponents,'' Montiel told BoxingScene.com.
A bout with either Filipino Donaire or Australia-based Armenian Darchinyan would require either them moving up from super flyweight or Montiel going back down to that level where he formerly held the WBO title.
The Mexican staggered Hasegawa with a series of punches at Nippon Budokan and the referee stopped the bout at 2 minutes, 59 seconds in the fourth round.
``I didn't think I would be able to knock out Hasegawa so quickly,'' said Montiel. ``Hasegawa is a powerful boxer.''
The 31-year-old Montiel improved to 41-2-2 with 31 knockouts while Hasegawa, who had held the WBC crown since April 2005, dropped to 28-3 with 12 KOs.
Hasegawa was bidding for a Japan record of six straight KOs in a world title bout.
``I got caught off guard when I lost focus for a split second,'' said Hasegawa. ``I was in top form and put in all the training necessary so I can't argue about who was the better fighter if I lose.''
