This is a great fight between one of the best bantamweight prospects in Caraballo and long time veteran Sultan who holds a win over current WBO bantamweight world champion John Riel Casimero.
I’m really high on Caraballo’s potential due to his skill set and power. I personally think hes going to make a statement and stop Sultan.
This is a good fight though the main reason for that is we don’t know if Zepeda is still the same fighter after that brutal fight with Baranchyk. He didn’t look good in his last fight and also seems to struggle to make the weight which has led a lot of people to believe hes likely only 50% of the fighter he used to be. Josue Vargas is a decent prospect who has respectable boxing skills but is liable to getting caught. This is also a massive step up in levels for him.
I think Jose Zepeda looked less weight drained at the weigh in compared to his last fight. I think Zepeda should still have enough left to beat Vargas by decision after hurting and potentially dropping him once or twice. A stoppage for Zepeda wouldn’t surprise me.
On paper this is a step up for Babic but may end up being one of his easier fights. Eric Molina has competed at world level and while he’s mostly lost when stepping up hes still clearly fought at a better level than Babic. The problem is hes 39 and doesn’t seem to have the will to dig deep to win anymore. He looked good against Wardley until he was finished in a strange sequence but I think that was more to do with Wardley letting Molina have success than Molina having a career resurgence. Wardley wouldn’t let his hands go which is generally all you need to do to beat Molina at this point unfortunately.
I think Babic will fight like he usually does and will overwhelm Molina in two or three rounds. Molina won’t want to keep taking the punches after the first round and will take a 10 count. The only way I see Babic losing is if he doesn’t have a good chin and takes a big counter right hand as he’s coming in without moving his head, it would also have to be in the first round before Molina gets tired.
This is a good fight between a dangerous puncher in Canizales and a rising contender in Valenzuela. Canizales looked rusty in his last fight but was starting to get back to his usual self until he was brutally knocked out by Esteban Bermudez. German Valenzuela is coming off a win but recently lost a fight to Jose Javier Torres who is around fringe world level.
Carlos Canizales is a fairly big puncher for the weight but generally breaks his opponents down rather than taking them out with one punch. He has underrated boxing ability and will likely try to use that in this fight especially after getting stopped in his previous one.
German Valenzuela isn’t the biggest puncher but has respectable power and throws with mean intentions. He loves throwing the overhand right and can rattle off some good combinations when he gets up close but often smothers his own work. After landing one or two punches he’ll fall in and lose any of the momentum he was building. His defence is fairly standard with a little head movement but nothing spectacular.
I think Carlos Canizales will win a decision after ten rounds due to having more ways to win. If he wants to box his way to a victory I think he’s capable of doing so in this match up and if he wants to break Valenzuela down I also think he can do that. Canizales is technically better and will make less mistakes, I also expect Canizales to be at his best as hes no longer rusty and knows he needs to win this fight.
This is a decent step up for Kulakhmet who is a fast rising prospect in the super welterweight division. He’s only 4-0 but is stepping up to a fight with Abreu who has been a solid gatekeeper for years. Abreu is moving up for this fight but was a big welterweight so it shouldn’t be to much of an issue.
Kulakhmet is technically sound though has been known to jump in to much without setting up his punches and has let opponents who aren’t on his level off the hook after hurting them a few times. Juan Carlos Abreu is a big puncher who’s only losses have been at world level and in a few of those losses hes put in good performances. I do think hes on the decline at this point but should still be dangerous early on versus Kulakhmet.
I think Tursynbay Kulakhmet will win by decision after ten rounds due to landing the harder and more effective punches over ten rounds. I think Abreu will struggle with Kulakhmet’s angles and will struggle to bridge the gap with his power as Kulakhmet is a decent puncher himself.
This is an excellent fight between the WBO super featherweight world champion Jamel Herring and former featherweight world champion Shakur Stevenson. In this fight Stevenson will be trying to become a two weight world champion while Herring is trying to get the biggest win of his career which will elevate him into big unification fights and even the verge of the top 10 p4p.
Jamel Herring is an underrated fighter with a good jab and solid fundamentals. He’s very tall for the weight but makes it without a problem. He’s not the biggest puncher in the world but the accuracy on his shots has led to him scoring knockdowns and knockouts over opponents he wasn’t expected to.
Shakur Stevenson is one of the best pure boxers in the sport but still needs to rise up to meet the expectations put on him. He is risk averse and this leads to boring fights because his opponents often aren’t good enough to pressure him effectively and he makes them miss for twelve rounds.
I think in the end the skill gap will be to much and Stevenson will out-box Herring over twelve rounds. Herring’s a good fighter but Stevenson is very hard to hit and in a boxing match at range I see Stevenson picking Herring off for twelve rounds. My prediction is Shakur Stevenson on points in what will probably be a fairly boring fight.
Czerkaszyn is one of the best prospects in the middleweight division and a fighter I’ve been keeping an eye on for a while. He’s got a good skill set which involves breaking his opponents down combined with great timing. I think his power is decent for the division though he’ll never be a massive puncher.
Gonzalo Gaston Coria is a tough fighter from Argentina with a lot of experience for a 24 year old. He isn’t quite as skilled as Czerkaszyn especially when looking at their footwork and punch selection. I also don’t think he has much power especially for a middleweight.
I personally think Fiodor Czerkaszyn will win by knockout in the sixth or seventh round due to consistent body work which will break Coria down. Coria has come in on fairly short notice as well so may not be fully prepared.
This is a stay busy fight for Madueno who is a rising contender in the lightweight division. He’s 25-0 with 23 knockouts and the power he shows on his record is real. Jose Luis Rodriguez is a tough journeyman who’s aim will be to go the distance in this fight.
I think Miguel Madueno will break Rodriguez down with his unrelenting bullish style and win by knockout in the fifth or sixth round.
This is a solid fight between rising blue chip prospect Xander Zayas and tough domestic contender Dan Karpency. Zayas is seen as the future of Puerto Rican by many people involved in boxing, including his promoters at Top Rank who signed him when he was only 16 years old. Now at the age of 19 and 10 fights into his professional career, Zayas is starting to step up in competition and on his current trajectory will fight for a world title by the time hes 22.
Dan Karpency has a decent jab when he uses it and clearly has some power in his right hand. He’s better than his record of 9-3-1 suggests and is a decent fighter domestically, a level that Zayas hasn’t yet bypassed. His defence is what will likely let him down in this fight along with handspeed.
Xander Zayas seems to have the full package of power, boxing ability and a mean streak to get his opponents out of the ring. He should have the advantage in almost every department over Karpency though he isn’t as experienced.
I think Xander Zayas should land the more telling punches over six rounds and win a decision. A knockout win would be impressive but I don’t see it happening personally even though Karpency’s defence isn’t the best. Over six rounds , Karpency’s experience won’t come into play so he’ll have to hope to get a knockout early in my opinion.
This is a good fight though unfortunately one that has an unneeded title attached to it. This fight will crown the first WBC Bridger weight world champion, an unneeded division recently made up by the WBC. Mauricio Sulaiman who is currently the head of the WBC decided that small heavyweights had no chance against bigger ones and that a division needed to be put in place to help them out. This was of course proven wrong not two years since the division was created when Oleksandr Usyk beat Anthony Joshua to become unified heavyweight champion. Usyk was a cruiserweight moving up and had no problems beating the much bigger man. Povetkin was another small heavyweight that had a very successful career. Wilder has rarely weighed more than 220 lb’s and yet is one of the most successful heavyweights of this era. To me this is just a blatant chance for Sulaiman to create his own division and attempt to follow in his fathers footsteps. I think the WBC is being run into the ground by incompetence and most likely corruption.
This will be a fun fight while it lasts until someone gets knocked out. I think it’s likely Rivas lands something big on Rozicki and wins by knockout as Rozicki doesn’t have the greatest defence and isn’t used to being hit by heavyweights in a professional ring. I can also see a situation where Rozicki simply outworks Rivas who doesn’t throw nearly enough punches.
Boxing Fulcrum