NBC Sports Quick Picks

Mansour is looking to rebound after his 1st loss

Amir Mansour vs. Fred Kassi: Fans of knockouts should get what they want this Saturday on NBC Sports.  The network will be airing a tripleheader which will be headlined by the heavy hitting Amir Mansour (20-1, 15 KO).  Mansour will be taking on Fred Kassi (18-2, 10 KO) in a 10 round heavyweight bout.  Mansour is 42 years old but seems to be in the prime of his career.  He is coming off a loss to Steve "USS" Cunningham which was the biggest fight of his career but he did look good in that fight and dropped Cunningham twice.  Mansour is a southpaw with a very stiff jab and an awkward style.  He is very aggressive and tends to leap in with his punches in a similar style to Shawn Porter.  The reason Mansour is dangerous is because he has tremendous power in both hands.  While his right hook can drop an opponent his monster left hand can turn out the lights.  Across the ring from Mansour will be the unknown Kassi.  There is virtually no tape of him online and his resume is filled with sub par opponents.  He has two career losses which came against fighters with records of 21-13-2 and 31-15-1 so he may be in for some trouble against Mansour.  One positive for Kassi is that he has never been knocked out or even knocked down but he has never faced anyone as good as Mansour.  Also Kassi has only gone 10 rounds once in his career while Mansour has had a few fights that went 10 & 12 rounds.  Kassi may have a decent record but Mansour should expose that record which was built by beating less than average opponents.  Mansour will look good on Saturday night as he wins the fight via 8th round knockout.

Mikhaylenko looks to keep his 0

Dmitry Mikhaylenko vs. Ronald Cruz: The middle fight on the NBC Sports tripleheader will feature the unbeaten Russian Dmitry Mikaylenko (17-0, 6 KO) taking on the hometown kid Ronald Cruz (20-4, 15 KO) in a 10 round welterweight bout.  Mikhaylenko is a fun fighter to watch because he stays very busy in the ring and loves to throw punches in bunches.  He is an orthodox fighter who rarely throws a jab and doesn't have much power because he doesn't always turn his punches over.  Mikhaylenko seems to throw punches from everywhere and although his left hook is wide he does land it frequently to the body.  He also throws a crooked right hand but his sharpest punch is his straight right that he lands clean upstairs.  Mikhaylenko rarely finds himself outside of the pocket and loves to do battle at close range.  Like Mikhaylenko, Cruz was once an undefeated fighter.  Then the wheels seemed to fall off of his career and he has gone 3-4 in his last seven fights, six of which came in his hometown of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  Cruz likes to come forward but his problem is that he really squares up to his opponents and takes a lot of clean punches.  The orthodox Cruz has pretty slow hands but he is able to bring a left hook nicely to the body.  The punch Cruz relies on most is a wild overhand right but it doesn't land very clean often.  Like Mikhaylenko, Cruz will also be looking to stay in the pocket which should make for a fan friendly fight.  Neither Mikhaylenko or Cruz are world class fighters and this bout could get sloppy from time to time but ultimately the sharper skills of Mikhaylenko will be the difference as he wins the fight by the way of split decision.

Lepikhin will look to maintain his perfect record

Vasily Lepikhin vs. Jackson Junior: The opening bout of the night has mismatch written all over it.  That fight will be between the undefeated Russian Vasily Lepikhin (16-0, 9 KO) and the heavy hitting Brazilian Jackson Junior (15-1, 13 KO).  The bout is scheduled to go 10 rounds in the crowded light heavyweight division where Lepikhin is looking to make a statement.  Lepikhin is a tall orthodox fighter with a nice long jab and straight right hand.  He is a patient fighter and does a good job of using his height advantage and making his opponents miss.  While Lepikhin's power numbers aren't overwhelming he does have a very heavy short overhand right and he can also bring that right hand to the body awkwardly.  The left hook of Lepikhin is also a nice punch for him but his right hand is his best weapon.  Junior is also an orthodox fighter but he isn't nearly as talented as Lepikhin.  Junior usually just looks to land left hooks or wild right hands to knock opponents out but he throws everything besides his jab very wide.  His jab is a decent punch but doesn't have much behind it.  As for the defense of Junior its terrible.  He get caught upstairs a lot and he is fairly easy to counter.  Junior also doesn't take a punch very well and seems to really get pushed around.  Also Junior is from Brazil which is known for producing MMA fighters more than boxers so a lot of Junior's opponents haven't been all that good.  The sharp, patient skills of Lepikhin should look fantastic against the wild, aggressive style of Junior and will be the difference in this bout as Lepikhin gets the win by the way of 4th round knockout.