Showtime Quick Pick

Alexei Collado vs. Rod Salka: On Friday night with a busy fight schedule Iron Mike Promotions will be putting on a card on Showtime.  That card will be headlined by undefeated Cuban power puncher Alexei Collado (18-0, 16 KO) as he faces off against Rod Salka (18-3, 3 KO) in a 10 round lightweight bout.  Collado isn't your typical defense first Cuban fighter.  While he isn't overly aggressive he does come forward at a steady pace behind a stiff jab.  Collado also has a good left jab which he uses in different ways.  At times Collado will quickly turn the left jab over without much power behind it to score points and other times he will throw it wider with and land it like his fist is made of bricks.  Along with that strong left hook Collado also has a good straight right hand upstairs and a good crooked right hand that he digs to the body.  Defensively Collado remains very calm at all times and while he isn't as slick as a Guillermo Rigondeaux or Erislandy Lara he can definitely hold his own.  As good as Collado has looked he still remains a great unknown because he has been fighting mostly tomato cans to this point in his career.  One thing fans won't see on Friday night is Collado having his chin checked by the light hitting Salka.  Salka fights a lot like former junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman.  He is constantly moving laterally and also utilizes a lot of head movement to avoid punishment.  Salka has a good jab and will often slip a punch, throw his jab and follow it up with a right hand.  Unfortunately Salka doesn't have any real power behind his punches and he also doesn't have a high punch output.  Still, Salka's record is solid and he has won most of those fights due to his good defense.  However he also won a lot of those fights because like Collado he has been fighting tomato cans.  Salka's best opponent was arguably Ricardo Alvarez who he fought his last time in the ring, a fight that ended in a majority decision loss for Salka.  This fight is all about the power of Collado against the defense of Salka.  If Collado can consistently find Salka he should be able to put on a pretty good show.  Salka has never been knocked out so it will be interesting to see if Collado can be the first to do it.  I expect Salka to look good and not get touched up too much for the first round or two.  Eventually though Collado will start to land and will be the first fighter to stop Salka doing so in the 8th round.