Zahir Raheem vs. Bayan Jargal: This weeks edition of ESPN2's Friday Night Fights was supposed to be headlined by Arash Usmanee and Juan Antonio Rodriguez however that fight was canceled after Usmanee suffered an ankle injury. The main event will now see Rodriguez take on Yenifel Vicente but I will not be covering that fight since it is only an 8 rounder. So instead we focus on the appetizer for that fight, a bout between Zahir Raheem (34-3, 21 KO) and Bayan Jargal (17-4-3, 11 KO). The two men will square off in a 10 round fight in the welterweight division. Clearly Raheem is the higher quality fighter who has been in the ring with some of the best including a win over Erik Morales and losses to Rocky Juarez and Ali Funeka. Raheem is 37 years old now but has taken long breaks during his career, he didn't fight in 2009, 2011, or 2012. When Raheem returned to the ring last year he looked very impressive going 3-0 with 3 knockouts and he hopes to be just as successful in 2014. Raheem still has very fast hands and an explosive jab and while he isn't in the same category as Gennady Golovkin he does have solid power. Across the ring Jargal does not have nearly as impressive of a resume. His only opponent worth noting is Breidis Prescott and he lost that fight via unanimous decision. Also in Jargal's last ten fights he has a record of 4-4-2 and his last fight was a TKO loss, the first such loss of his career. In the past Jargal has had more of an aggressive style than Raheem but considering he was knocked out in his last fight he might be more timid come Friday night. Jargal may be a little shell shocked and has much slower hands than Raheem all of which lead me to predict that Raheem will win this fight via 5th round stoppage.
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