Fox Sports 1 Quick Picks

Murat Gassiev vs. Felix Cora Jr.: This Friday the upstart Roc Nation Sports will put on another fight card.  The card will be on Fox Sports 1 and is set to be headlined by the undefeated Murat Gassiev (20-0, 14 KO).  Gassiev will be facing Felix Cora Jr. (25-6-2, 14 KO) in a 10 round bout in the cruiserweight division.  Gassiev is a young, orthodox fighter with solid power and a good jab.  He shows good patience for a young fighter and doesn't mind waiting for his opponent to come to him so he can then land his powerful right hand.  Gassiev also throws a nice left hook and likes to bang it to the body.  His opponent, Cora Jr., is a southpaw who likes to work his jab and right hand.  The problem for Cora Jr. is that he doesn't move very well in the ring and is there to be hit which just highlights the fact that he has a weak chin.  Often Cora Jr. will be too stationary and not left his hands go but when he does put combinations together he can find success and he has a nice right hook to the body.  Cora Jr., a 15-year veteran, should provide a good test for the young Gassiev, but a good test is all he will bring.  Gassiev is going to win this fight with a 6th round stoppage. 


Ray Robinson vs. Sherzodbek Alimjanov: The co-feature of Friday's Fox Sports 1 card will be a 10 round, welterweight bout between Ray Robinson (19-2, 9 KO) and Sherzodbek Alimjanov (22-2, 13 KO).  Ray Robinson goes by the nickname "The New Ray Robinson" and he is a tall, lanky, southpaw.  Robinson's jab isn't great but he does follow it up with a decent straight left hand.  Robinson doesn't have much of a right hook and even though he jabs to the body fairly well, he often leans forward and down while doing so which exposes his chin.  Another problem for Robinson is that he tends to get wild with his punches.  As for experience Robinson doesn't have a wealth of it but he has gone the distance against Shawn Porter and beat veteran Ray Narh.  Alimjanov on the other hand has never fought in the U.S. and doesn't have many fights outside of his native Uzbekistan.  Alimjanov is an orthodox fighter who has a good jab and who does a good job of throwing compact punches.  The Uzbekistan native has a solid left hook but his straight right hand is his best weapon, although he needs to be careful not to drop his left hand too much when he throws it or Robinson will counter him.  This looks like it will be a fight between two solid prizefighters who will never be top dogs in their division.  Even so, it should be a close fight that is evenly matched and could go either way.  Alimjanov may be the greater unknown but his shorter, crisper punches will help him get the unanimous decision win.