IBF Super Flyweight Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr (15-1-1, 8) was one of boxing's unsung hero's in 2012. He'll be hoping to keep up his impressive run as he attempts to defend his belt for the first time 3rd time in total (and first time this year) and takes on the unbeaten mandatory challenger Roberto Domingo Sosa (24-0, 14).
The 22 year old Sanchez Jr seemed to burst out of nowhere last year as he scored 3 really notable wins. Those first of those saw him upset Rodrigo Guerrero to win the world title before he defended it against Juan Alberto Rosas and Rodel Mayol. All three victories saw Sanchez over-coming more experienced opponents and whilst none are elite class opponents all were solid.
Before he scored his 3 title victories however Sanchez had actually defeated Juan Francisco Estrada a victory that now looks to be his most impressive (considering Estrada pushed Roman Gonzalez close and defeated Brian Viloria).
Sanchez is a very mentally strong fighter. He's not the most technically solid, though he's a fighter who has improved drastically from the fighter who was stopped in 2 rounds by Daniel Rosas back in February 2010. He's still flawed, and can still be hurt but he's still a tough fighter and is very awkward due to not only being a southpaw but also a very tall fighter for the weight.
Argentinian challenger Sosa is a bit of a mystery man to many boxing fans. He's been a professional since March 2006 but has yet to fight outside of his native Argentina. As well as being hidden in South America he's also only fought one or two "names" with the only really notable one being South African southpaw Zolani Tete.
Tete fought Sosa last time in an IBF Flyweight eliminator. Although Sosa claimed a majority decision over Tete many felt that the Argentinian fighter had been given a very favourable decision in a bout that he appeared to lose. Tete was able to land his straight left time and time again on Sosa and with that in mind Sanchez Jr may be looking to land his own straight left on Sosa.
In the ring Sosa is pretty wild looking fighter, he appears to want to get inside but looks limited. In his fight with Sosa he was spending a lot of time on the outside and being tagged at range on the inside he was being tied up easily and made to look very toothless.
Although Sosa is unbeaten it's hard to see him beating Sanchez. Sanchez has a number of the qualities that Tete gave Sosa a nightmare with (the southpaw stance, the height and reach), sure the styles are different but he's also good enough. This time however Sosa lacks his "equaliser" of fighting at home, it was only really that that allowed him the win over Tete.
Prediction-Sanchez Jr UD12
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