HBO Latino Quick Picks

Francisco Vargas vs. Will Tomlinson: An incredibly busy week of boxing will kick off this Thursday on HBO Latino.  Francisco Vargas (21-0-1, 15 KO) will be taking on Will Tomlinson (23-1-1, 13 KO) in a junior lightweight bout scheduled to go 10 rounds.  Almost out of nowhere it seems that the junior lightweight division is now a very competitive one.  Vargas is looking to climb the ladder in the division and has looked good recently, most notably his blowout win over Juan Manuel Lopez.  Vargas is an orthodox boxer-punhcer who likes do double and sometimes even triple up his jab.  Typically Vargas will follow those jabs up with a straight right hand and he also loves to bang a left hook to the body.  Finding Vargas is not hard to do, he usually comes straight ahead and likes to fight on the inside.  That does leave him open for return fire and defense is not the best weapon for Vargas, although he has shown a solid chin.  What makes Vargas so difficult to beat is that he can out-jab opponents from a safe distance and win a fight or bang it out on the inside and also come away with the victory.  His opponent Tomlinson is also an orthodox fighter who has a similar boxer-puncher style.  Tomlinson also likes to stay busy with his jab but he usually follows that punch up with a looping overhand right.  The most dangerous weapon Tomlinson has in his arsenal is his short left hook.  Tomlinson will have the advantage in hand speed in this fight and his quick left hook could play a huge role in the outcome.  One thing to note is that the two have had a recent common opponent in Jerry Belmontes and had very different results.  Vargas won a unanimous decision against Belmontes and won nearly every round of the fight while Tomlinson lost a unanimous decision and nearly every round of the fight.  In this fight Tomlinson should find some early success with his left hook but eventually Vargas will start to slip the punch and land some power of his own and will end up winning the fight by the way of majority decision.


Vyacheslav Shabranskyy vs. Fabiano Pena: The co-feature of Thursday's card should be all about the power punching.  Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (12-0, 10 KO) a nice looking prospect out of Ukraine will be taking on Brazilian Fabiano Pena (11-0-1, 8 KO) in a 10 round bout in the light heavyweight division.  However this fight could end up being very one sided.  While Pena's record looks impressive at first glance, a closer look reveals a list of horrendous opponents.  Pena has only ever faced two fighters with winning records and those records were an unimpressive 4-2, and 1-0.  Also Pena has fought four opponents who had never won a fight and a fighter with a record of 2-61 who he fought a few fights later when his record was an even worse 2-63.  As for Shabranskyy he hasn't fought any elite opponents yet but he has been brought along at a nice pace against average opposition.  Shabranskyy is an orthodox fighter with a stiff jab and a devastating straight right hand.  Most fighters score knockouts with wild overhand rights but Shabranskyy's straight right is short, deadly, and a thing of beauty.  The Ukranian power puncher also has a nice left hook and a brutal uppercut although he will throw that punch from too far away at times which could get him in trouble.  Shabranskyy may also get in trouble going forward because he will retreat straight back on defense with his hands down at times but against his opponents so far all that has mattered is his power.  Pena is also an orthodox fighter and usually enters the ring with some water in the basement.  He is not a very skilled fighter and will walk straight ahead without throwing a jab, instead relying on mile wide left hooks and overhand rights.  These fighters are clearly on different levels and the question in this fight isn't who will win but how long will Pena last.  The answer is "not long" as Shabranskyy will easily win this fight via 2nd round knockout.