Guty Espadas is no pushover. He proved that in the ring against some of the best boxers in the sport. The way Rocky Juarez knocked Espadas out with one punch sends a message out to all of the top featherweights that this kid is for real. I always hear people say that Rocky is “economical” with his attack. That just means that he does not throw a lot of punches and no one will ever confuse him with volume punchers like Juan Diaz. His strongest points are his punching accuracy and his power. Against Espadas, Juarez was landing hooks and uppercuts through the defense of his opponent. The left hook that stopped Guty was picture perfect and landed directly on Espadas’ nose. Looking at the replay you can see the cartilage in his nose shifting to one side when his nose broke. Those kinds of images make me question why I ever wanted to become a pro boxer.
With that kind of dominating win, Juarez is in a great position to attract high profile fights. He is the mandatory against the winner of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez championship bout. Rocky is very well rounded and appears that he could be pound for pound material. A fight with Marquez or Pacquiao will either bring out the greatness in him or ruin him. He is a hot young fighter right now. The only question left to be asked of him is how he stacks up with the best in the world.
On the undercard, Serguei Lyakhovich put his name on the map by soundly beating Dominick Guinn by decision. Guinn fought an uninspiring 10 rounds that was reminiscent to his loss to Monte Barrett. Occasionally he let his hands go and did some damage, but those combinations were too few. Lyakhovich was able to smother most of the potential offense from the gun shy Guinn and outworked him.
That may have been that last chance for Guinn. He has lost two fights in a row because he has no sense of desperation. Even though he has many of the great tools that other fighters would love to possess (chin, power, resolve, etc?), Guinn does not have a champion’s spirit. Dominick is one of those boxers that seem to be destined for stardom, but for one reason or another cannot put it all together.
Lyakhovich was impressive in victory, but did not blow me away. He does not have any spectacular qualities and looks rather average. Lyakhovich did apply good pressure and kept Guinn off balance and honest with his power punches. It is not clear if Serguei has the potential to be a world class heavyweight, but this win is a step in the right direction. I would like to see him again in the near future.
Results from Overseas
Across the pond in Germany, Luan Krasniqi fought Timo Hoffman to a draw on Saturday. Krasniqi is a decent looking heavyweight that had a chance to crack the top 10 with an impressive win. A draw is a setback even though Hoffman is a quality opponent. The heavyweight ranks are getting thinner by the week as the big guys that are close to becoming big time contenders are failing to make an impact. With neither Krasniqi nor Guinn separated themselves from the pack, it appears that no one has the ability to rise to the top and contend for the most coveted prize in the sport. Is the heavyweight division destined for a continued stretch of mediocrity? It appears that way right now.
