Friday Night Fights Quick Picks

Roberto Garcia vs. Victor Cayo: This week ESPN2 will air Friday Night Fights on Thursday night.  That card will be headlined by Roberto Garcia (34-3, 22 KO) as he takes on Victor Cayo (32-4, 23 KO) in a 10 round welterweight bout.  It should be an interesting fight because both fighters have such drastically different styles.  Garcia isn't a very slick fighter and usually comes straight ahead.  While he doesn't have quick feet he does typically do a good job of cutting off the ring which allows him to keep opponents against the ropes.  Because he doesn't have quick feet he is usually there to be hit but has shown a good chin despite the high number of punches he takes.  On offense Garcia isn't highly skilled, he doesn't use a jab often and relies on hooks and other power punches to win fights.  Garcia is not very effective from the outside and that is where he usually gets really touched up.  When he is able to get inside he fights much better and can land strong punches so against Cayo he will look to keep him in the corners and on the ropes.  Cayos has a much different style than Garcia does.  The best way to describe Cayo as a fighter would be to call him awkward.  He likes to fight with his hands low and because of that his punches seem to come from all over the place.  Cayo is definitely an offensive fighter, he has fast hands and usually throws a high volume of punches.  Unlike his opponent Cayo has pretty quick feet and likes to sit down on his combinations and then move around the ring.  If it wasn't for Cayo's one major flaw chances are that he would be a highly regarded fighter.  That flaw is his glass chin.  Cayo has four career losses and every single one came by the way of knockout, two of them came at the hands of Marcos Maidana and Antonio Margarito and while there is no shame in that it still isn't a good stat.  Whoever controls the pace and distance of this fight should win.  Garcia will look to keep Cayo pinned against the ropes where he can land power punches and expose Cayo's chin.  However Cayo is the faster fighter both in his hands and feet so he should look to last quick combinations and dance out of the way.  If Cayo fights intelligently he should be able to use his speed to win the fight.  There is a very good chance Cayo gets knocked out but I expect him to make Garcia look slow and box his way to a unanimous decision win. 

Jonathan Gonzalez vs. Rogelio Medina: The co-feature for Thursday night will yet again renew the best rivalry in boxing, Puerto Rico vs. Mexico as Puerto Rican Jonathan Gonzalez (17-0-1, 14 KO) takes on Mexican Rogelio Medina (32-5, 26 KO).  The two fighters will battle it out for 10 rounds in the middleweight division.  Both fighters are still very young but are seemingly headed in different directions.  Gonzalez is undefeated and on the rise while Medina already has five losses to his name and is just trying to stay relevant.  Gonzalez is an orthodox fighter with plenty of power.  He has a solid jab and he sometimes turns it over into a quick left hook upstairs but he really digs that left hook in when he goes to the body.  Gonzalez also throws a good straight right hand and a lot of uppercuts.  His flaw on defense is the fact that he tends to go straight back which is a good recipe for being knocked out but so far he hasn't been stopped.  Gonzalez is clearly still raw but at only 24 years old still has time to improve as he climbs the ladder to the top tier fighters.  As for Medina he is desperately trying to get his career back on track.  Medina is 2-3 in his last five bouts and of his five total losses three have been by knockout.  Luckily for Medina his offense is better than his lackluster defense.  Medina has good pop on his punches but unfortunately he isn't very accurate with them.  Medina has a good left hook and solid right hand but when he throws the left hook he often drops his right hand which leaves him wide open to be countered. by Gonzalez's left hook.  This could turn into an entertaining fight but chances are that Gonzalez will handle Medina fairly easily.  Every time that Medina has been knocked out it came in the 6th round and I expect him to last longer than six but ultimately get stopped in the 8th round.