A fun little weekend this weekend of boxing. This isn’t a weekend where the casual fans will be watching this is a weekend strictly for the very hardcore boxing fans. Two ShoBox cards and 4 other fights that have the potential to be really exciting.
Starting off with the mismatch of the potential mismatch, Omar Narvaez-William Urina. I love watching Narvaez fight, it’s a shame that he doesn’t fight in the States on a more world wide level. He is massive in Argentina though. This will already be the 3rd fight for Narvaez, he is staying very active and really is under the radar, but I think he has the potential to be a Fighter of The Year candidate, in my opinion. This is he has already taken on the sturdy Mexican in Victor Zaleta, and the young, massive the used to be undefeated champion from Puerto Rico, Cesar Seda. This fight, isn’t on that level though. This is more of a “stay busy” fight for Narvaez. Urina, is very crude, has good pop against the fighters he has been facing, but let’s be honest…he hasn’t fought anybody. No quality wins on his resume whatsoever, but that all can change this saturday, you never know. I don’t it happens, I think Narvaez wins every round….maybe loses one round, may’be Urina gets a couple of mercy rounds, but I think Narvaez dominates and may’be gets a late stoppage, but I’ll go with a very wide 120-108 to 118-110 UD.
Another fight on saturday that takes place in the Ukraine. The newly crowned IBO champion Avtandil Khurtsidze is a quality fighter. He has a loss and two draws early on in his career, but he has been winning ever since. (aside from a minor setback against the very good and underrated fighter in Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam) He’s got a couple of nice scalps against Mariusz Cendrowski, Mihaly Kotai, and Attila Kovacs. Solid fighter, wish he would get more exposure, and more exposure on those fighters on that side of the world in general. Anyway, he is taking on Dionisio Miranda. As always, Miranda brings a big punch, but he’s very long in the tooth now. How he is getting a shot at a sort of “world title belt” I don’t know, because in the last couple of years he’s been knocked out by Gio Lorenzo, Roman Karmazin, and Renan St Juste. So, not sure how he is getting a shot, nonetheless though, I think he gets beat up by Khurtsidze and loses a decision and quite possible gets stopped in the championship rounds, but I’ll go with Kurtsidze by a pretty wide UD.
On Friday, Juan Carlos Reveco will be taking on Jean Piero Perez. Reveco is the hometown fighter, fighting in Argentina, a very talented young fighter. Fast hands, fast feet, decent pop. Overall good fighter, Reveco is the smaller fighter of the two as well. He mostly campaigned at 108 in his career. He had a shot at the 108 title versus Roman Gonzalez, but opted to duck him and move up to 112 instead. So, after a couple of fights he’s got a shot to win an “interim” belt from an organization at 112. He’s taking on the bigger, stronger, Jean Piero Perez. He’s from Venezuela, but fights mostly in Panama. He’s only fought in his home country once, and a couple of times in Mexico. So, fighting in Argentina is no big deal for Perez. He’s lost a couple of times both questionable decisions one against Ricardo Molina, and the first fight between Rafael Concepcion. They rematched and Perez was stopped in 3, but put Concepcion on the deck twice in that fight. Perez has legit power and I think this is a tossup fight. I think Reveco, speed and youth will win him rounds early, and it will be interesting to see if Reveco can start denting Perez. That’s when Reveco’s power shows up, he breaks down his opponents late and wear them down. Against the bigger Perez I don’t know if he can do that. I think as the fight progress Reveco slows down and gets hurt late, but survives and wins a MD over Perez.
Luis Orlando Del Valle-Dat Nguyen is a refreshing fight between two prospects. They both are fast, talented, and I think this is an interesting fight. Luis Orlando Del Valle is another hot prospect from Puerto Rico that has world title aspirations down the line. This is his first real step up. Del Valle after 12 wins, doesn’t have any quality wins, but again he is young, only 12 fights, and he is a talented young fighter. The same can be said about Dat Nguyen, a fighter with 17 wins, but no quality wins and has tasted defeat once. Nguyen though in his last 4 fights or so, has shown to be getting better. He’s slowing down a bit and throwing punches with more pop, while being in control with his speed. If he takes those skills, because he’ll need it, against Del Valle then he has a great chance of pulling off the upset. It’s all about not getting caught up in the moment. I think though, he will get caught up in the moment, forget to use his skills that he has, and Del Valle beats Nguyen to a pretty clear UD 97-93/98-92 type decision.
Now, we get to the most intriguing fight of the weekend and that is Matt Godfrey and Lateef Kayode. Kayode in 2010 starting taking step ups in class taking on Alfredo Escalera Jr., Epifanio Mendoza, and finishing off 2010 by stopping the game Ed Perry. 2011, his team has taken the same approach, only this time things have been a bit different. In Feburary, he took on Nicholas Iannuzzi, in what looked like he could be an Upset of the Year candidate….wasn’t quite so. As, well, this whole year has been filled with upsets, but instead, the fight has gone on the list of being Robbery of The Year candidate. Iannuzzi clearly, outboxed Kayode, but such as life, boxing is not fair sometimes. Kayode, the more marketable and more T.V. exposed fighter got the nod. Which brings me to his fight with Godfrey that has me thinking. If Nicholas Iannuzzi can clearly outbox and shutdown Kayode, Matt Godfrey can easily do the same, and may’be even stop him. This fight though, is a bit hard to call just based on the fact that even if Godfrey outboxes him, will he get the decision or will he need a knockout? Godfrey is, basically, going into Kayode’s operation of base, in So Cal and I don’t think, if it’s close, he’s getting a decision. Unless Kayode has dramatically improved in the last couple of months, working behind a jab, throwing his hands more, and cutting off the ring I think he clearly gets outboxed….but he might get the decision…ugh, I hate fights like this. I’m going to go with Godfrey by UD, but I may end up changing this pick.
Last, but definitely not least, it is the Austin Trout-David Lopez fight. Very high drama fight, that has me realy nervous. I like Austin Trout his a good guy, smart fella, loves boxing, he’s been through a lot he’s boxing career was almost derailed because his brain is too big for his skull. He’s good people and he’s on the verge of getting on HBO/Showtime and having lots of exposure. And David Lopez is not one to underestimate. Do not be fooled by his record, he is much much much better than his record indicates. He’s beaten the likes of Danny Lopez, Michael Walker, Billy Lyell, Samuel Miller, Saul Roman. He’s got a terrific resume, and big pop in his left hand. I do think Trout realizes this and he knows he can’t underestimate Lopez with his title, and future on the line. I think Trout shows up really look to impress and he uses his speed, and decent pop to keep Lopez off him for awhile, Lopez starts coming on in the later rounds, but comes up short. This is in Mexico, but Trout has been around the world, from Panama, to Mexico, to Canada, and in the States. He knows, what’s up, and I think Trout beats Lopez by a good 8 to 4 9 to 3 and even the Mexican judges couldn’t rob Trout. Real good fight though, I cannot wait for this fight. This has me amped up for a good weekend of boxing!
Dan’s Verdicts:
Jean Piero Perez vs. Juan Carlos Reveco- Juan Carlos Reveco by MD
Lateef Kayote vs. Matt Godfrey- Matt Godfrey by UD
William Urina vs. Omar Andres Narvaez- Omar Andres Narvaez by UD
Luis Orlando De Valle vs Dat Nguyen- Luis Orlando De Valle by UD
Austin Trout vs. David Lopez- Austin Trout by UD
Dionisio Miranda vs. Avtandil Khurtsidze- Avtandil Khurtsdize by UD
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