Juan Carlos Salgado v Argenis Mendez II

In what will probably turn out to be the fight of the weekend IBF Super Featherweight champion Juan Carlos Salgado (26-1-1-1, 16) will attempt to defend his belt against the highly ranked Argenis Mendez (20-2, 10) in a rematch of their brilliant 2011 bout which saw Salgado claiming a controversial unanimous decision in his homeland of Mexico.

The 28 year old Salgado burst on to the scene back in 2009 when he scored an upset of the year contender blasting out Jorge Linares in just 168 seconds to claim the WBA Super Featherweight title. Whilst his reign didn't last long, losing hit title to Takashi Uchiyama in just his first defense, he had proven his ability was at least near world class and had actually put on a solid effort against Uchiyama.

Since the loss to Uchiyama, Salgado has claimed the IBF title and gone 5-0-0-1 actually claiming the title when he first beat Mendez. Although he hasn't looked great as a champion, scraping a decision over Martin Honorio and seeing his bout with Miguel Beltran Jr called off early after a clash of heads he has managed to keep a hold of his title significantly longer than his first reign.

Salgado is a solid enough fighter, he's a hurtful puncher, he's a hard worker and whilst he's not the most polished he has solid skills. There is nothing that's going to blow you away about him and he can fight down to his opponents level (as he did with Honorio) though at his best he's probably in the top 5 of a weak Super Featherweight division with out too many questions. He's not invincible but only Mendez and Uchiyama have managed to drop him so far and both of those came in the 12th round.

Whilst the Super Featherweight division is weak Mendez is deservedly ranked highly and boxrec's rating of #5 is around what I'd have him personally. He's a fighter who is very highly skilled and a fighter who has had to prove his ability against some of the other top Super Featherweights to get his chance in title fights.

Prior to the first Salgado fight Mendez had to travel to South Africa in an IBF eliminator, whilst there he widely out pointed former title holder Cassius Baloyi. Although he lost in Mexico the first time he faced Salgado he gave him a very tough fight, dropping Salgado before controversially being out pointed. Since then he has beaten Honorio (for a second time) in an IBF eliminator.

Born in the Dominican Republic though based in the US, the 26 year old Mendez, trained by Brit Lee Beard was a very good amateur and certainly has the superior skills of the two men. As long as he shows those skills he should get the decision this time, especially with the bout now being in the US rather than Mexico. It should also be a fantastic fight just like the first.

Prediction-Mendez by UD