ShoBox Quick Picks

Errol Spence Jr. vs. Ronald Cruz: On Friday night after the first episode of All Access: Canelo vs. Lara there will be another edition of ShoBox: The New Generation.  It will be headlined by the 24 year old Errol Spence Jr. (12-0, 10 KO) who is a top prospect and looks like a superstar in the making.  Spence Jr. will be in the ring against Ronald Cruz (20-3, 15 KO) in a 10 round fight in the welterweight division.  Spence Jr. was a member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team and as a pro has looked outstanding.  Spence Jr. is a southpaw with very fast hands and he likes to flash that speed when he pops the jab upstairs and to the body.  Along with that Spence Jr. also has a nice straight left hand and when he throws that left hand to the body it does serious damage.  Spence Jr.'s left hand is probably his heaviest but make no mistake about it his right hook can put opponents to sleep as well.  Perhaps the most impressive thing about Spence Jr. is the fact that he remains very calm in the ring and always has a good idea of what he wants to do.  He fights with a patient style that keeps him in position to punch and also defend.  It will still be some time before fans really know how good Spence Jr. but getting past Cruz would be a good start.  Cruz will be the toughest fight of Spence Jr.'s career but that doesn't mean he will give spence a hard time.  Cruz is an orthodox fighter with a nice long jab and a strong overhand right.  Cruz doesn't have very good footwork and his hands aren't the fastest so he tends to just put on the earmuffs defensively and likes to fight in close.  His best shot at beating Spence Jr. will be to catch him with an overhand right he doesn't see coming.  That won't be an easy thing for Cruz to do though and his slow speed should make Spence Jr. appear even faster than usual.  I think Spence Jr. will look phenomenal in this fight as he utterly outboxes Cruz on his way to a unanimous decision victory.  

Dominic Wade vs. Nick Brinson: The other notable fight on Friday's ShoBox card will feature two solid prospects.  The one looking to remain perfect is Dominic Wade (15-0, 11 KO) and he will take on Nick Brinson (16-1-2, 6 KO) in a 10 round middleweight fight.  Wade is an aggressive fighter who likes to throw a lot of punches.  He doesn't use his jab very often and he also doesn't use his feet much.  Wade won't be moving laterally in the ring and prefers to stand and trade rather than stick and move.  As an orthodox fighter Wade has a very good left hook and also a nice right hand.  One thing Wade does well on the inside is go to the body but his defense leaves much to be desired.  Because he doesn't do much moving in the ring Wade is usually there to be hit and he will need to improve on that going forward.  However before starts thinking about the future he needs to get past Brinson, a fighter who has faced a higher level of opposition in his career most notably Jason Escalera and Jorge Melendez.  This fight could be very good because like Brinson, Wade is also an aggressive, come forward style fighter.  He fights better than Wade does from the outside but that doesn't mean he is great at it.  He does use his feet more and has a nice jab from the outside which should allow him to control the action from that distance.  At closer range Brinson has a good left hook and a wild, and dangerous overhand right.  However he doesn't always bring his hands up after he punches and he is definitely susceptible to a clean power punches upstairs.  Whoever wins this fight really comes down to the distance.  If this fight takes places in the pocket it should be Wade he comes out ahead since he has much better power.  However if the action is on the outside Brinson should be able to use his superior movement to control things.  I have a feeling Wade will be able to pull Brinson into a dogfight and the action will be at close range which will allow Wade to win this fight by the way of 8th round stoppage.