This is a sort of step up fight for Vianello as Ibeh has fought a lot recently and shown hes got a lot of heart even if hes not the most skillful fighter.
Guido Vianello was a good amateur and is much better technicaly wise than Ibeh. He seems to have power though he hasn’t fought anyone great yet. His stamina and chin have held up perfectly so far in his pro career.
Kingsley Ibeh throws big punches and clearly has power though no where near the technical ability of Vianello. He also gets tired very quickly and that factor will be his biggest downfall in this fight.
Guido Vianello should win this fight by knockout in the 3rd or 4th round as while Ibeh is tough he just doesn’t have the stamina or skills to keep up with Vianello.
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.
Ivan Baranchyk
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.
This is a tune up fight for Rungvisai before he heads into a bigger fight likely with the winner of Estrada versus Chocolatito.
Rungvisai is a huge puncher and should be able to knock Fajardo out within four or five rounds as Fajardo hasn’t gone the distance in a defeat since early 2019. He’s also been stopped by boxers that aren’t nearly as powerful as Rungvisai is.
It’s good to see Rungvisai be active now as he was out the ring for a long time following his defeat to Estrada. Hopefully he keeps active and gets a big fight soon as hes very talented but is coming towards the end of his career.
This is a decent match up between two prospects in the lightweight division. Eranosyan has a very good amateur background and only recently made his professional debut. Valentin Portalatin has been professional for just over a year now but doesn’t have the extensive amateur background that Eransyan does. Eranosyan is 1-0 with one knockout while Portalatin is 3-0 with one knockout.
Otar Eranosyan seems to be an aggressive fighter who fights on the front foot and pressures his opponents until they crack. He works to the body nicely and his body shots seem to really hurt his opponents. He also has nice uppercuts and seems to be decent at fighting on the inside. His head and upper body movement are both good as you would expect from an accomplished amateur. It looks like he wants to stay active and I think thats very important for fighters at all levels but especially ones just starting their professional journey.
Unfortunately I can’t find any footage of Portalatin but what I can tell you is hes tall for the weight at 5ft 11. From his record it doesn’t look like he has much power but its hard to tell at this stage of his career.
Luis Valentin Portalatin
I’m predicting Otar Eranosyan to win by stoppage due to his amateur background and aggressive style. I think with how Eranosyan works to the body and throws his uppercuts that Portalatin’s height may not be an advantage.
This is a 10 round fight for Contreras’s WBA featherweight ranking belt.
Contreras is a decent fighter who has fought anybody offered to him and is coming off a good upset win only a few weeks ago. I wouldn’t say he does anything special but hes a tough guy who punches hard and in boxing sometimes thats all you need.
Carlos Efrain Flores is only 20 and hasn’t fought anybody good at all. He’s not a bad fighter but he just doesn’t have any experience in a hard fight which this one will be.
I think Contreras will likely break Flores down and stop him in 7 or 8 rounds because of the massive gap in experience. Contreras is battle tested and has fought lots of fighters just as good as Flores while this is Flores first test.
This is a solid domestic fight in Japan where I presume the winner will look to progress towards world level. Ogawa is most known for his controversial fight with Tevin Farmer which was eventually declared a no contest because Ogawa failed a drugs test. This is Nishitani’s big chance as hes never competed past domestic level and has lost multiple times at that level.
Kenichi Ogawa has good power and puts a decent amount behind his shots. He’s a decent counter puncher and has good reaction speed. He doesn’t have the best defence but I feel this is mostly because he forgets to move his head. He throws nicely to the body which is good too see as its very much an underrated skill. He has been cut badly before but fought threw it until a doctor stopped the fight.
Kazuhiro Nishitani seems to have decent power himself and has used that power to get a few come from behind victories after trailing on the cards. I don’t think he has a great defence as he mostly just keeps his gloves up and stands in front of his opponent while they punch. His opponents don’t have a problem punching round the guard or straight through it sometimes. He doesn’t have the reaction speed or timing of Ogawa but he is calm when under pressure. I like his straight right hand which is powerful and crisp when he sets it up. When he puts his mind to it he has an active jab which keeps opponents off of him. Similar to Ogawa he throws to the body well and normally throws a hook to one side then to the other before resetting.
Kazuhiro Nishitani
I think Kenichi Ogawa will win this fight by decision because Nishitani has never been stopped and should be competitive to an extent. I don’t think Nishitani has the reaction speed to catch Ogawa cleanly when they are exchanging. Ogawa is a decent counter puncher and times it well which makes him stylistically hard for the slower Nishitani.
Eddie Hearn announced earlier today that he had tested positive for the Corona Virus and had left the bubble at Marshall Arena. He also said that everyone else has tested negative so at least the card can carry on.
We currently don’t know if he is experiencing any symptoms but by his tweets i’m inclined to think hes largely asymptomatic.
I’d like to wish him a full recovery and good health.
This is the first time I’ve created a P4P list but after this i’ll update it every month or so. In the future I may make an extended P4P list up to 20 but for now its just going to be limited to the standard 10 fighters.
1.) Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (53-1-2) : Canelo is rightly at the top of most of peoples P4P list because of a combination of factors. For me he’s technically very good and is strong in every attribute you need as a boxer. I think he has the second best resume of any active boxer with the other one being Pacquiao. His recent achievements have really boosted him up the P4P rankings with his 2019 being arguably the best year of his career. He currently has legal troubles which may keep him out the ring which is a shame as I think hes currently the best boxer in the world.
2.) Vasyl Lomachenko (14-1) : I’ve got Loma second due to his superb skills but not quite having the resume of Canelo. If he wins his up coming fight versus Teofimo Lopez he may have to move to the number one spot however.
3.) Naoya Inoue (19-0) : I’ve got Inoue in third because of his underrated resume and also the manner of how hes beaten his opponents. He’s destroyed world champions in two rounds and the only fight hes struggled in was with future Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire.
4.) Terence Crawford (36-0) : I think at the start of 2019 I would have had Crawford higher but for me he just hasn’t been facing a good level of competition since moving up to Welterweight. His resume is a bit underrated but I wouldn’t say its that strong compared to others. The reason I still have him so high is because hes clearly one of the best boxers on the planet and also the manner of how hes beaten his competition.
5.) Juan Francisco Estrada (40-3) : Estrada is criminally underrated and really should be talked about more. Of his three losses hes avenged two with one of them being over Sor Rungvisai who may end up going into the hall of fame himself. He has a really good resume and has been a world champion in multiple weight classes. He also has a really good fight coming up versus Carlos Cuadras.
6.) Oleksandr Usyk (17-0) : Usyk’s Cruiserweight run is without exaggerating one of the best runs of all time in that division. He is also without doubt a top 3 Cruiserweight of all time. He’s extremely skilled and has a great resume. I’d rank him higher but hes been inactive recently with injuries so I need too see how he looks in his next fight. He’s also moved to heavyweight and i’m not sure how well that will work out for him.
7.) Errol Spence Jr (26-0) : Errol Spence Jr is an excellent fighter who has been making a good run at Welterweight recently. He’s now a unified champion and is looking to take another good fight versus Danny Garcia who has been a staple in American boxing for a while now. He can box on the outside and also fight well on the inside which makes him a very versatile fighter. He was in a bad car crash last year and no one yet knows how that will effect him in his fights going forward.
8.) Jermell Charlo (34-1) : Jermell Charlo has been making a great run at 154 and has real depth to his resume in that division. His current style is to be a puncher but in the past he has shown he can be a good boxer and move a lot. He has real world class power and if he carries on could easily become one of the best 154 pounders ever.
9.) Kosei Tanaka (15-0) : Kosei Tanaka is a three weight world champion with a good resume. He has great skills and gets into wars in a lot of his fights. This might mean he won’t have huge longevity in the sport but it’ll be fun while it lasts. He has an upcoming fight with Kazuto Ioka and if he wins that he becomes a four weight world champion. If he does win I will be putting him much higher on this list.
10.) Josh Taylor (17-0) Taylor has gone on a great run at 140 pounds and is only one fight away from becoming undisputed. He has great boxing skills and is currently one of the best inside fighters in the sport. He has a good resume and beyond his fight with Regis Prograis has always been a clear winner.
Those 10 are my current P4P list though by the end of the year I expect it will look very different.
Jacobs and Rosado have reportedly agreed terms to fight November 27 at a currently unknown location. Jacobs is having his second fight at Super Middleweight after campaigning at middleweight for years. This is also Rosado’s second fight at middleweight however hes not actively trying to fight in that division hes just moving up for a big fight.
I’m just going to be truthful and call this fight what it is, terrible its a horrific fight that no one asked for and no one wanted. Matching up a former world champion who pushed Canelo and GGG close with Rosado who loses all his big fights (and not so big ones) is absurd. The reasoning for this fight is that the two have some sort of issue with each other which i’m sure will be heavily referenced in the build up before being forgot about post fight as they celebrate together because of the money they made each other. The majority of bad blood in boxing isn’t serious and in many cases isn’t real and I think this is one of the two.
Gabriel Rosado
While i’m not surprised this fight was made I am disappointed and hope that Jacobs next fight is better if he makes it through this one. A big shout out has to go to Rosado who has managed to get himself another good pay day despite losing constantly. He does always give it his all so hopefully the fight is somewhat competitive.
This is a really solid fight that should be close to a 50/50. Conroy has had mixed results recently but did go on a good run of form before losing to mega prospect Joshua Buatsi. Serge Michel followed the standard route of a rising prospect before being derailed by hard hitting gatekeeper Ryan Ford.
Liam Conroy isn’t a hugely active fighter and doesn’t throw much in combination. His jab isn’t hard to counter in my opinion and he doesn’t use it a whole lot. He clearly has some power though it hasn’t really translated past domestic level yet. His defence isn’t great and he won’t be making many people miss consistently. He does throw decent punches to the body and is clearly very motivated for this fight.
Serge Michel had a good amateur career and competed internationally as an amateur. He has decent power himself as showed in his last fight where he dropped his opponent twice. He throws in combination a lot and is quite active. He may have stamina issues as he was KO’d by Ryan Ford after slowing down a bit and also slowed down in his most recent fight where it looked like he would get the KO.
Serge Michel
I’m going to back Serge Michel to win this fight on points due to his superior amateur background and the fact he throws in volume which I think the judges will like.
Boxing Fulcrum 