Pugilistic Predictions

There are a couple of pretty good fighters featured tonight, and a few potentially great fighters on the slate tomorrow. In the Friday action, I like Omar Narváez by knockout over Omar Soto, and Daniel Jacobs the same way over George Walton. I also want to see Narváez fight in the States sometime soon; lots of talent and no exposure is a disappointing combination.

Tomorrow, I'll take Arthur Abraham and Jorge Linares in easy but spectacular KO wins over underwhelming competition. In the HBO bout, I like Victor Ortiz over Marcos Maidana* in what should be a great character-building scrap for the Californian future star. Rumor has it that Ortiz is chinny, and Maidana has a lot of pop, so any liabilities that have yet to be exposed could well come out in Los Angeles. But I don't see that happening, I like Ortiz by a unanimous decision.

In Atlantic City, we have the pleasure of seeing Juan Manuel López, who I think has the potential to be a pound-for-pound top five entry really soon. He should blast out poor Olivier Lontchi in the early rounds. The only question for López at this point is his ceiling. He hits like a mule, has a lean frame that suggests that he could carry 130 or even 135 pounds without too much trouble, and has an adaptable style. We've yet to see him in a war, and speculative fights against Yuriorkis Gamboa or Celestino Caballero might dampen my enthusiasm, but right now I think he has the greatest potential of any young fighter with the possible exception of Paul Williams.

Gancho is 51-16 on the year. 

*A last word on Maidana: the stylistically awkward, big-punching Argentine is one of boxing's under-the-radar prototypes. There's Maidana, Jorge Barrios, and surely a bunch more who just aren't coming to mind just right now. They typically make for a safer step-up fight than the unknown Colombian slugger from Barranquilla or Cartagena.