Arguably the most over-looked bout of this coming weekend sees unbeaten power puncher Omar Figueroa (21-0-1, 17) taking on Japan's Nihito Arakawa (24-2-1, 16) in a bout for the WBC Lightweight title.
In the US Figueroa has been making a name for himself in recent bouts with his explosive and exciting style that combines determined offense with fast and powerful hands. Although yet to score a genuine world level victory he did look genuinely amazing last time out as he took out the previously unbeaten Abner Cotto in just 2 minutes 57 seconds.
Other than the victory over Cotto it's fair to say that Figueroa hasn't really beaten anyone else of note with his second best victory coming over Michael Perez.
Whilst Figueroa has yet to really prove himself against steady competition what everyone knows about him is that he's a very quick starter and will jump on an opponent almost form the off. The hot starts of Figueroa has seen him scoring 15 victories in the opening 2 rounds of his contests. On paper that is admittedly tremendous though having only been beyond 6 rounds twice in his career there are question marks about what he does when forced to go to plan B, what's his stamina like, what's he like mentally when he can't just bully a fighter with aggression?
With Figueroa having already appeared on American TV and having looked relatively sensational in all honesty many are backing him without really knowing anything about his opponent. This could well be a mistake as the Japanese fighter is one of the most durable men in the Lightweight division and combines his toughness with an under-rated defense and an intelligent, if somewhat lazy attack.
In his 27 fights to date southpaw Arakawa has yet to be stopped. He had been in with big punches punchers before such as Randy Suico, Mitsuya Omura, Jay Solmiano and Ryuji Migaki and only Solmiano has ever really seemed to have him hurt, sending Arakawa down to the canvas in the second round of their bout almost 2 years ago.
Although a mystery to those in the west Arakawa is a former OPBF and Japanese Lighweight champion who is actually unfortunate not to be the current holder of the WBC Silver Lightweight title after being controversially defeated, by technical decision by Daniel Estrada. In his bout with Estrada the Mexican was forced to retire due to an injury that was ruled to have come from an accidental foul though many felt it was a punch.
Although Arakawa has mixed in the better company and has more experience, especially over the distance, he is viewed as a clear under-dog. Many in the US have effectively written his death warrant already though I can't help but think that if he rides out the initial storm from Figueroa he has a very, very solid chance of the upset. He hits hard enough to test the chin of the unbeaten youngster and has the ability to drag the contest into the later rounds where he may find a tiring Figueroa looking somewhat out of energy and ideas.
Prediction-Arakawa TKO9
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