Darleys Perez vs. Jonathan Maicelo: The 2015 season of ESPN2's Friday Night Fights will start this week and boxing fans couldn't be happier. The main event of the first Friday Night Fights card of the year will be a 12 round lightweight bout between Darleys Perez (30-1, 20 KO) and Jonathan Maicelo (21-1, 12 KO). The two prize fighters will be going head to head for Perez's interim WBA lightweight title. Perez is an orthodox fighter who puts his combinations together well. He has a quick jab he will lunge forward with and a very stiff straight right hand. Along with those punches Perez carries a pretty solid left hook and a dangerous overhand right. Defensively Perez is adept at slipping punches and he has only ever been down in one fight. Across the ring will be Maicelo who was looked at as a top prospect until he suffered a knockout loss in 2013. Maicelo is an athletic fighter who moves well in the ring but his skills aren't the sharpest. He does have a strong jab he uses often but he doesn't throw his left hook very often at all. Maicelo also throws a wild right hand that can do some damage but doesn't land often. On defense Maicelo moves well but he does get touched up and as fans saw in 2013 when he took on Rustam Nugaev his chin is a big question mark. This is an evenly matched fight that could easily go either way. While Maicelo may be more athletic it is Perez who has the experience against a better level of opposition and his skills are a little sharper. It should be a good fight but it will be Perez who comes out ahead by the way of split decision.
Santana should have no problems with Mena
Francisco Santana vs. Kendal Mena: The co-feature of Friday's card might be deceiving. When you look at the records of the fighters it might look like one has the advantage, that is until you take a closer look. Francisco Santana (21-3-1, 10 KO) will be taking on the undefeated Kendal Mena (20-0, 11 KO) in a 10 round bout in the junior middleweight division. The deception comes into play when you take a close look at both fighters resumes. Santana hasn't lost since 2011 and his three career losses came against quality fighters in Jermell Charlo and Karim Mayfield whom he lost to twice. Santana also has a draw against top prospect Julian Williams and has wins over Freddy Hernandez and Joachim Alcine. As for Mena he has never fought outside of his native Dominican Republic and has only ever faced one fighter with a winning record. It gets even worse than that though, out of Mena's twenty opponents nine of them had never recorded a win as a professional and his opponents combined record is a putrid 41-245-14. Santana is the one to watch in this bout. He is an orthodox fighter who likes to do work on the inside with a heavy left hook and a nice right hand. There is absolutely no tape of Mena online which is never a good sign. Francisco may knock Mena out quickly but if he doesn't he will win the fight with a unanimous decision win as wide as the Gran Canyon.
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