Raymundo Beltran vs. Luis Ramos Jr.- Luis Ramos Jr. by UD
Dyah Davis vs. Alfonso Lopez- Dyah Davis by SD
Michael Perez vs Omar Figuera- Michael Perez by UD
Bryan Vazquez vs. Eugenio Lopez- Bryan Vazquez by KO
Ah, a new year and boxing is back! Surprisingly enough 3 of the 4 fights we have on tap is pretty even matchups on paper, and the one that isn’t (which might not happen) is a title fight. So, go figure. Other than that, pretty good fights.
The first I’ll get to is the title fight (and again, that actually not might happen, so, I’ll keep this pretty brief) Bryan Vazquez is a very good fighter. He’s a legit talent and I hope, sooner rather than later, he comes on the scene and fights a couple of big names to really test his metal. A Cristobal Cruz, or Martin Honorio, or even Jorge Solis would be fine just to see where he really stakes up in the 130 division. Eugenio Lopez is a pretty bad fighter. Not that he’s a bum, but he’s more of a club fighter, a fighter that you would like a young prospect type fighter to fight early on. You know what I mean? A young prospect 6, 7 and 0 fighting a vet that’s been in the ring. He’s that type of fighter now. So, there’s not much point in this fight (if it does go down) Vazquez by early to mid KO. If Vazquez did get beat, it would be a very early Upset of the Year candidate, and quite frankly, that would be pretty hard to beat.
Now, the better fights this weekend. All on Friday, on Telefutura, in Indio, California (side note: anybody else notice Solo Boxeo Tecate is in Indio a lot? I don’t know, it seems like at least once a month they are there) Michael Perez-Omar Figueroa this is a great match up between two undefeated prospects. Michael Perez is the boxer of the two. He’s mostly on the outside, looking to counter, thinks defense, and has superb timing. Omar Figueroa is going to be coming in, aggressive, he leaves himself open, but he has a lot of bang in his gloves. A bit crude coming in at times. He’ll leave himself square going from orthodox to southpaw. And really, it’s about what you like. Perez will get his shots in and he has nice pop, but will that be enough to stop Figueroa in his tracks. And if it isn’t look out, Figueroa can land a couple of shots and it might be over. Perez’ chin hasn’t really been tested as of yet, so who knows if he can take a punch. Hopefully, we’ll be able to see. Anyway, I like Michael Perez. He has more tools in his tool box and I think he’ll wins a pretty clear decision. In the 97-93 region. I’m even leaning towards a 9, 10th round stoppage, but I’ll go with Perez via UD.
Also, on the card is Luis Ramos-Raymundo Beltran, again, a toss up fight really. I’m leaning towards Ramos because he is a really good looking prospect. And I love the way they are bringing him up. Early on he was tested nicely, fighters like Cristian Favela, Walter Estrada, Joshua Allotey, Jose Hernandez, Francisco Lorenzo, and David Rodela. It is quite an impressive list of stepping stone fights, and now, he’s up against his toughest test in Raymundo Beltran. After his defeat of Ameth Diaz, it looked as though he was done, but he came back, trained at Wild Card and has been 3-1 since his return. The thing about that loss is that it was a very close fight with blue chip prospect Sharif Bogere. That was last year in May, and this fight could resemble a lot like that fight. Bogere was lucky to escape with his virginity. Beltran has another shot to pop a prospects cherry in Ramos, and I think he has a great shot. I can’t see this being a schooling one way or the other. Both can fight, Beltran is a vet, and that troubled Bogere and that might give Ramos fits. We’ll see, I’m expecting a good, close fight, and if Ramos just blows away Beltran, I’ll be very impressed and he’d be about ready to graduate from prospect to contender.
On ESPN 2’s Friday Night Fights they are opening with a nice competitive fight on paper. In the ring, though, a lot of people want to be entertained and want slugfests. If that’s what you are looking for, you might just want to go to Telefutura. Dyah Davis and Alfonso Lopez are boxers, and movers, especially Davis. Davis is always boxing, bordering on running. So, Lopez will be the one coming forward for most of the night, and he’ll have to cut off the ring effectively. If he can’t Davis might win yet again and continue the momentum of a great 2011. He had a draw against Francisco Sierra, but new rule this year, if a fighter loses, convincingly, I’m going to say that’s a loss. So, Davis-Sierra, Davis won that fight and he won going away. No way that fight was a draw. So, anyway, Davis beat Sierra, upset Marcus Johnson on ShoBox 2 months later, and capped off the year beating Darnell Boone. Three name fighters and Davis beat them all. 2011 for Lopez was great as well, even though he lost for the first time. He have Pavlik fits, just didn’t step on the gas and really take it. And with that fight, he gets this fight on National T.V. He then went on to beat Michael Walker and here we are now. So, style wise, both are movers, both move a lot, Lopez is going to come forward, and if he can’t cut of the ring, Davis will 1-2 his way to victory. Much like he did in his victory against Johnson. I think this will be a close, controversial fight, but one that Davis gets. A fight that can go either way, truthfully, I think Davis can’t win backing up, and if it’s close, Lopez will get the nod, but last year i let what the judges influence my picks. I’m just going to go with who I think is the better fighter and I think Davis is just a bit better than Lopez. So, Davis via SD is my pick.
Three good, competitive fights to start the year is great. And a side note: On Telefutura expect to see Frankie Gomez sometime during the night, and on Friday Night Fights, Dannie Williams is on the undercard. He may make an appearance on T.V. you may remember him on the undercard of Antwone Smith and Kermit Cintron. He knocking Antonio Cervantes into next week, a KO of the Year candidate. Steve Martinez-Denis Douglin is a good fight, hopefully, they’ll be enough time to get that in. Martinez is a really good boxer. Douglin “The Momma’s Boy” is a powerful, exciting fighter. He brings it, it would be a shame if this fight isn’t scheduled to be on T.V.
Also, Willie Nelson, he was on the wrong end of an upset on ShoBox last year (the same card that Davis-Johnson was on) and Derrick Wilson might (probably not though) get some air time as well. A couple of years ago he was on Versus Fight Night Club and he knocked out Charles Huerta in about 30 seconds. Eventually, got beat by vet Guadalupe De Leon, avenged that loss last year, and was KO’d by Javier Foruna in March last year and hasn’t fought since.
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