James Tennyson continues his rise towards the top of the lightweight division on Saturday night by fighting for the vacant IBO Lightweight world title versus an unheralded opponent from Mexico which is something British and Irish fighters have come to fear recently.
James Tennyson is a massive puncher who relentlessly comes forward throwing combinations with the sole intention of knocking his opponents out. While he is very much a puncher rather than a boxer he still has technical ability and clearly wouldn’t be able to set up his knockouts if he couldn’t box. He’s certainly hittable but hasn’t shown any weaknesses to his body or chin which he showed at lower weights so I would be led to believe his knockout losses were more to do with horrible weight cuts rather than an inherent flaw.
Jovanni Straffon isn’t very good technically at all. From watching footage he rarely jabs and doesn’t set up his punches. He regularly throws an overhand left with no set up from far out of range and gets countered because of it. In his fight with Carlos Cardenas he was getting out boxed for large periods of the fight and seemed to catch every counter that Cardenas threw on his face. He does seem to possess a good chin though it can only hold up to so much especially considering how easy he is to hit. I’m not sure how real his power is as a lot of his record is padded and hes struggled to put away some of the better fighters he has faced.
I expect Tennyson to win by knockout within six rounds because he should be able too see everything Straffon throws at him and counter it fairly easily. I also think Tennyson is quicker and if they go to war his power will work in his favor especially against a fighter like Straffon who doesn’t care about defence. While we’ve seen a lot of Mexican fighters come over to the UK recently and score upset wins I really don’t see it happening in this fight.
Boxing Fulcrum 