Julian Williams vs. Michael Medina: Leading into Showtime's Saturday night fight card headlined by Adonis "Superman" Stevenson their sister station Showtime Extreme will have an early evening card of its own. That card will be headlined by the unbeaten Julian Williams (15-0-1, 9 KO). Williams will be challenged by Michael Medina (26-4-2, 19 KO) in a 10 round junior middleweight fight. Medina is only four years older than Williams but has much more experience against the higher level of opposition. Medina has fought Vanes Martirosyan, John Duddy, Saul Roman, and Willie Nelson but unfortunately has lost all of those "step up" fights. The question is how much of a step up is Williams? Williams best opponent was Joachim Alcine and he beat him easily by unanimous decision and has impressed many in his young career. Williams is an orthodox fighter who is very sharp offensively with a good long jab and strong left hook, although he sometimes gets wide with it. It's not just the jab and left hook that is dangerous however, Williams strongest punch may be his right hand. Williams isn't exactly an aggressive fighter but he does usually take the lead and doesn't back up very often. He likes to fight from the outside where he can really unleash his punches and defensively doesn't do too much moving, instead choosing to plant his feet and slip punches with his head movement. Medina has a very different style and likes to fight from the pocket. On defense Medina is not very skilled and half of his losses have come by the knockout. He usually just sits in the pocket with a high guard and waits for his opponent to be done throwing before he unleashes his own attack. Medina doesn't have much of a jab but the way he fights at such close range he doesn't really need one. The thing Medina does probably better than Williams is bang to the body and he will need to do a lot of that if he hopes to win. Every time Medina has taken that next step up in competition he has lost and Williams represents a slight step up. Due to the fact that Williams is sharper offensively and much better defensively he should be able to win this fight by the way of 8th round stoppage.
Alvarez will try to remain perfect
Eleider Alvarez vs. Alexander Johnson: The other notable bout on Showtime Extreme is also scheduled to go 10 rounds but will take things up to the light heavyweight division. This bout features two fighters who combined only have one loss and twenty-nine wins and they are Eleider Alvarez (14-0, 8 KO) and Alexander Johnson (15-1, 6 KO). While there records are similar their careers are not, Alvarez is viewed as a quality prospect but at 30 years old needs to speed things up if he wants to climb to the top of the division. On the other hand Johnson is already 32 years old and has never really fought any quality opponents outside of Farah Ennis and may not be much more than a tough stepping stone. Alvarez is an interesting fighter, he isn't very busy and he also doesn't have much of a jab. Its not that he doesn't throw the jab but it is more of a measuring stick than a weapon. And the punch he is measuring for is his right hand that he throws from everywhere. Alvarez will throw the right hand upstairs and when he turns it over its dangerous but he shoots it out of his hip and digs it to the body. On defense he doesn't do much moving instead he will just stand behind a high guard, absorb some punishment and go back to work offensively. Alvarez may never be good enough to win a world title but he won't need to be that good to get past Johnson. One thing that could give Alvarez problems is the fact that Johnson is a southpaw. Unlike Alvarez, Johnson has a very good jab and very short, quick right hook. Along with the right, Johnson also has a nice straight left hand. Between the two Johnson is the more athletic and that is evident by the way he moves in the ring. Johnson fights better when he can stay on the outside and use his athleticism so he will really need to work his jab to keep Alvarez from getting inside where he likes to fight. The problem with Johnson is he tends to get tired quickly in fights and because of that takes a lot of punishment. However is he has improved his stamina from recent fights he may be able to outbox and out-slick Alvarez. The fighter with the higher ceiling is Alvarez but that is mainly due to his younger age. Alvarez usually fights flat footed so as long as Johnson doesn't fade late he should be able to use his faster hands and athleticism to win this fight via majority decision.
Comments
Post a Comment