Adrien Broner vs. Marcos Maidana (for the WBA welterweight title) ? A lot of credit must be given to Robert Garcia for his work with Maidana. Maidana now pops out a hard jab from time to time, before Garcia, the jab was pretty much nonexistent. But will the use of a jab that is just now recently being applied mixed with some head movement, be enough to derail Broner?s plan for superstardom? I myself would not bet on it, it will take a stiff, quick, persistent jab and having the fortitude of staying in close to subtract the distance to beat Broner. When I picture this fight, I picture it in such a way that always seems to have Broner catching, shooting, then stepping in and brutalizing Chino?s mid section. The thing that makes this fight interesting, is Maidana?s powerful shots. How will Broner react the second he gets hit with something heavy? The bigger question will be if Chino will be able to hit ??The Problem?? flush enough to find that answer out? It?s going to get physical in there, but I am going to take Broner by unanimous decision. Keith Thurman vs. Jesus Soto Karass (for the WBA Interim welterweight title) – Soto Karass is one tough customer, and is coming off of his biggest win in stopping Andre Berto, but I feel that Thurman is going to be too strong and will land the harder more damaging shots during exchanges. Karass will need to be watched very closely by his corner, his most recent grueling battles with Berto and Maidana were physically very taxing on him. Even going back to the Rosado fight, when Karass was stopped in the 5th round, he was blitzed by a Rosado right hand and Thurman throws a mean right cross that Karass will be wide open for. Karass will hang in there for a while, but I see Karass getting stopped in similar fashion as when he was stopped by Maidana in September of last year. Even if Karass is on his game, Thurman has showed that he can box a little, so give me Thurman by 9th round stoppage. Leo Santa Cruz vs. Cesar Seda (for the WBC super bantamweight title) ? There is no secret to how Teremoto Santa Cruz likes to operate. The kid brings the fight directly to your front door and grinds his opponents down with an accumulation of punches. Seda is going to have to use angles to keep his opponent turning, force him to fire out shots on the move. Seda?s jab must also be on point and must be doubled and tripled up on, otherwise, Santa Cruz will be in his comfort zone fighting the fight that he is comfortable fighting. I am going to take Teremoto to stop Seda in the 8th round.
