The first world title fight of this week sees unbeaten Dominican Javier Fortuna (21-0-0-1, 15) make the first defense of his WBA "interim" Featherweight title as he takes on little known Mexican Miguel Zamudio (25-1-1, 13) on ESPN Friday Night Fights.
Going in to the bout the champion is a clear favourite. Although Fortuna was disappointing last time out when he defeated Patrick Hyland in an unexpectedly tough test he is a very talented fighter who not only has an excellent amateur pedigree but also some fantastic natural attributes include lightning speed and brilliant athleticism. In fact as an athlete Fortuna is genuinely special with both his hands, feet and reactions being incredible.
Sadly for Fortuna despite his attributes he does seem to, at times, switch off and leave the boxing behind whilst deciding to use his legs more than his hands. This can make for an awful fight when he decides to almost run from an exchange rather than box and move. Sadly when Fortuna realised he wasn't going to budge Hyland he decided to run and this is probably the lingering imaage some fight fans have of him.
At his best Fortuna is an explosive fun to watch fighter who can drop an opponent with an instant as he did when he faced Cristobal Cruz and if we see that version of Fortuna here he could easily put the memory of the Hyland stinker behind him. If he's however "showing off" his negativity we could be in for a long boring night.
The challenger is much less well known than the champion and in fact it's fair to say only a handful of boxing fans will have seen much, if anything of Miguel Zamudio and that probably should tell you a lot about him in all honesty. The Mexican, who has been a professional for a little over 4 years has a very, very scratchy record which has seen him only fighting in Mexico so far and often against very limited opponents.
The most well known opponent of Zamudio is probably 20 year old Mexican Adrian Young who himself is merely a prospect (currently 17-0, 15). Young isn't only the most known fighter Zamubio has faced but he is also the man who defeated Zamudio via 2nd round TKO back in December 2009. This loss probably says more about Zamudio than any of his wins and would suggest that if Fortuna can connect he can finish this off very quickly.
Whilst on paper this looks like a good bout I sort of feel this is set up to let Fortuna score an eye catching stoppage and help make fans forget about the Hyland bout. I really can't see the talented Fortuna doing anything but blasting Zamudio out of there within 4 rounds.
Prediction-Fortuna TKO4
Please note-
After this preview went online Fortuna failed to make weight. He has been stripped of the title and will be unable to reclaim it.
No comments:
Post a Comment