This Saturday night from the “War Grounds” in sunny southern California Sebastian Fondura faces Carlos Ocampo in the main event of a Showtime tripleheader. Although this bout doesn’t scream headliner, the card itself is full of all-action fights and, for obvious reasons, is flying under the radar.
The vast majority of boxing fans have been focused on the cancellation of Benn vs. Eubank Jr., along with wondering when and if the Errol Spence vs. Terence Crawford fight will be announced.
On the surface, most folks will be hard-pressed to get excited to see Sebastian Fundora take on a fighter in Carlos Ocampa, that was stopped in the 1st round by Errol Spence in 2018. To his credit, Ocampa has strung together 12 victories since. In reality, the list of boxers he beat won’t make anyone believe he can win on Saturday. The best we can hope for is a full-on brawl that begins early and features some two-way stuff, eventually ending in a knockout, assumingly by Fundora. Ocampa did manage to land a bomb on Spence and will not be looking just to pick up a paycheck.
This will be Ocampa’s fourth fight of 2022, so he should be in great shape and ready to put on a show. Speaking of putting on a show, in April, Sebastian Fondura scored a thrilling 9th round stoppage over Erickson Lubin in surely one of the best fights of the year. Fondura is in a bit soft considering his opposition over the last few years, but to be fair, he’s biding his time to get a shot at the winner of Jermell Charlo vs. Tim Tszyu, which should happen in early 2023.
My Official Prediction is Sebastian Fundora by Mid-Round KO.
Fresh off his finest performance as a pro, Carlos Adames aims to keep the good vibes going for Dominican boxers taking on a game fighter in Juan Macias Montiel in the co-feature. This one is right; he should be a banger with both guys coming into this important spot in their careers. Look for Adames to get out to his normal quick start, but can his stamina hold up in the later rounds? Montiel is a tough son of a gun his ability to take a punch and deliver one will likely set him up for success in mid to late frames. Can Carlos duplicate some of the quality work he displayed versus Sergiy Derevyanachenko? Another key will be if Montiel can attack the body of Adames to slow him down as this fight wears on. The more talented sharper guy of late, anyway, is Adames, and this hack-of-a-scribe believes he’ll find a way to win, say 8-4 or 7-5, but he will face adversity, no doubt.
My Official Prediction is Carlos Adames Split-Decision.
Back in February, Fernando Daniel Martinez pulled off an upset over Jerwin Ancajas in what was a very entertaining albeit one-sided bout. Martinez landed an outrageous amount of punches, 427 throwing 1046; according to Compubox, his accuracy of 41% is off the charts. Ancajas later complained about being weight drained but still threw 816 punches finding a home on 192 of them. Ancajas isn’t getting any younger, and if he is having some weight issues, that, combined with 37 fights and turning 30 at the lower weight classes, may have taken its toll. Jerwin can improve on his performance, but it won’t be enough to get over the hump. Should still be entertaining and possibly a tad closer but look for Martinez to outwork and outland ala their first meeting.
My Official Prediction is Fernando Martinez by Unanimous Decision.
Closing out the preview and predictions article is a highly-intriguing bout between Egidijus Kavaliauskas and Mykal Fox as the main event of the prelims on Showtime’s Facebook and YouTube channels. It’s been well over a year for either of these fighters to have stepped in the ring as they square off in a crossroads scrap. “Mean Machine” has just one victory over his last four outings, a draw with Ray Robinson, and TKO losses to Terence Crawford and Vergil Ortiz. Fox had a decision loss to Gabriel Maestre in what was a WBA screw job, to say the least, as it appeared that Mykal had easily won enough rounds to get his hand raised.
Fox’s length, which measures at an 81 reach, and outside boxing ability could be a difficult task for Egidijus, especially in the early to mid rounds. In this boxing podcaster’s mind, Fox is a live dog sitting anywhere from +285 all the way up to +333. Don’t be shocked to see Mykal get out to an early lead. At some point, the ‘Mean Machine’s’ power will take hold as soon as he can cut the ring off on Fox. The styles should give us a nice blended matchup of boxer vs. puncher, with the guy landing the bigger blows in the second half of the fight as the difference maker.
My Official Prediction is Mean Machine by Majority-Decision.
Side Note: Also streaming before the main card on YouTube and Facebook is Slavinskyi vs. Vazquez and the sister of Sebastian, Gabriel Fundora vs. Naomi Reyes.
Written by Chris Carlson, Host/Producer of The Rope A Dope Radio Podcast Available at www.blogtalkradio.com/ropeadoperadio Follow on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio