Friday Night Fights Quick Picks

Austin Trout vs. Daniel Dawson: Unfortunately for boxing fans this Friday's edition of ESPN2's Friday Night Fights will be the season finale.  The good news however is that it will be headlined by the very talented Austin Trout (26-2, 14 KO).  Trout will be in the ring against Daniel Dawson (40-3-1, 26 KO) in a bout scheduled to go 12 rounds in the junior middleweight division.  Trout is coming off a long layoff and last fought in December of 2013 when he lost badly to Erislandy Lara.  Trout's other career loss also came in 2013 in a very close fight to Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.  Previous to those two losses Trout was riding high coming off the biggest win of his career when he bested Miguel Cotto in Madison Square Garden.  Now after eight months out of the ring Trout will be looking to climb back into the title picture in the crowded junior middleweight division.  Trout who is a southpaw made his name as a slick counter puncher.  He has an excellent jab along with a good straight right hand.  Besides a ton of one-twos with an occasional uppercut Trout doesn't do much else on offense but he doesn't need to.  His jab and good counter punching keeps opponents at bay and his footwork and defense keeps them from landing clean.  After a string of high profile fights on subscription cable Trout will be taking a step down when he faces off against Dawson but he is on the comeback trail so he shouldn't overlook the Australian Dawson.  Dawson isn't a well known name in the U.S. having only fought there once.  Most of Dawson's fights have come in his native Australia and his last big fight came in 2010 against Serhiy Dzinziruk.  Besides that notable fight Dawson has also fought Daniel Geale but he has lost both of those fights.  While Dawson has lost his two big step up fights that doesn't mean he is without talent but he like Trout will also be coming off a long layoff having last fought in August of 2013.  In the ring Dawson is a busy orthodox fighter with a quick jab and a pretty good right hand he likes to throw uppercuts with.  One problem for Dawson is that he seems to wait for his opponent to get off first before he lets his hands go.  Also he doesn't move his feet particularly well and usually will stand in front of an opponent and trade.  This may not be the most exciting fight if neither man takes the lead early on.  Don't expect Trout to take the lead like he did against Trout, something that didn't work out well for him.  Dawson will certainly come to win and not just be an opponent but he should be even rustier than Trout which will make the counter punches of Trout look sharper then ever as he wins this fight by the way of unanimous decision.  


Erick Bone vs. Mahonri Montes: The co-feature of Friday's card will feature two fighters who aren't very well known but will both be looking to make a statement on national television.  Those fighters are the young Erick Bone (14-1, 8 KO) and the even younger Mahonri Montes (29-3-1, 21 KO) and they are scheduled to go 10 rounds in the absolutely stacked welterweight division.  While Bone has yet faced any top opponents he clearly has talent.  Bone is an orthodox fighter with very good had speed.  He likes to use his jab as a range finder at to control the distance of his fights and he uses his excellent footwork to avoid much punishment.  Bone also has a solid left hook and pretty good right hand and he can unleash combinations at any moment because of his quick hands.  But it may be the movement and footwork of Bone that will be his best weapon going forward.  This fight will be a clear contrast of styles because while Bone is a slick boxer his opponent Montes is a tough slugger.  Bone likes to work from the outside where Montes likes to stand forehead to forehead and pound away.  Montes is also an orthodox fighter but at times he will really square up to his opponent which gives them plenty of space to land clean punches.  Montes does his best work in the pocket where he can land his heavy left hook to the body and throw his nice short right uppercut.  The problem is that when his opponent can create space they can usually land for a high connect percentage against Montes.  Most of the time when a boxer faces off against a puncher it is the boxer who can control the action and come out ahead and that is what should happen in this bout with Bone getting the win via unanimous decision.