by James Slater: In his last fight, the quite murderous-punching Columbian Fulgencio Zuniga ruined the perfect record of the equally hard-hitting Victor Oganov – stopping the then 26-0(26) fighter known as “Destroyer” in 9 rounds. Now, on June the 6th, the big-punching 30-year-old takes on another unbeaten fighter in Canada’s 21-0(14) Jean Pascal. Can Zuniga ruin another guy’s perfect record?
The fight will take place at The Uniprix Stadium, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the bout will contest the NABF super-middleweight championship. The 25-year-old Pascal currently holds the belt, but the five years older man will be looking to rip it off him. Indeed, this is a very risky fight for the highly touted Canadian boxer to take. With his record of 20-2-1(17) the Columbian is a proven puncher, as Oganov found out to his cost last September. Since his win over Oganov, arguably his career-best performance, Zuniga has been inactive. Will his nine months put of the ring affect his timing and ability to land his bombs? Pascal will likely be hoping so.
The 25-year-old has not fought the high quality that Zuniga has. In his last two fights, against the hardly stellar, but tough nonetheless, duo of Brian Norman and Omar Pittman, Pascal made hard work of things. Winning both fights on points, the Canadian looked more than a touch vulnerable at times. This leads one to think the 25-year-old will have some serious problems with Zuniga – a fighter who has beaten not only Oganov, but also good men like Jose Luis Zertuche and (an admittedly shop-worn) Antwun Echols. The Columbian has also been in with current middleweight king Kelly Pavlik – giving “The Ghost” all he could handle before succumbing via a 9th round TKO.
Pascal may be the unbeaten fighter, he may be the younger fighter, and he have home advantage when he faces Zuniga on June 6th, but this writer’s money is on the Columbian getting the victory. He may not KO Pascal, though this result is a distinct possibility, but I believe Zuniga’s greater power, his hunger and his greater experience at a higher level will see to it that he gets a win.
Come June the 6th, another unbeaten fighter’s once perfect record will be slightly less impressive due to it having a 1 added to it after the word lost.