This is a really good fight that will likely determine who gets a title shot next. Jose Zepeda fought Jose Carlos Ramirez to a majority decision loss where some people felt he did enough to win. He’s bounced back from that loss with good wins over Jose Pedraza and Kendo Castaneda. Ivan Baranchyk is a former world champion who’s only loss comes to Josh Taylor who is universally seen as the number one fighter at Super Lightweight. He’s had one comeback win but hasn’t fought for a year since that win.
Jose Zepeda is the better technical boxer of the two and he’ll likely try to use his angles and superior foot work to win this fight on points. He does have decent power but it’s never properly translated to world level. I think he has some stamina issues as in the Ramirez fight he slowed down near the end and he did the same in his most recent fight with Castaneda. I didn’t think he looked all that great versus Castaneda and he’ll need to be improved on Saturday night to beat the hard hitting Baranchyk.
Ivan Baranchyk is the puncher of the two and clearly hits very hard. A lot of the reason he is perceived to have so much power is that he puts a lot on every shot and is extremely aggressive. He’s not as good technically as Zepeda and doesn’t have the angles he has though hes still a good boxer himself. He’s not great defensively and has been dropped before though only by big punchers in Abel Ramos and Josh Taylor.
I think Ivan Baranchyk will win this fight by decision because the judges will like his aggression and Zepeda will struggle to hold him off for the full 10 rounds. Your only as good as your last performance and I didn’t think Zepeda looked great and showed he still has stamina issues he needs to sort out. Baranchyk may lose a few of the early and mid rounds but will come on strong late and potentially drop Zepeda before taking a decision.
Boxing Fulcrum 