Showtime Quick Picks

Fonfara forced Chavez Jr. to quit on his stool

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Marcos Reyes: On Saturday night Showtime will bring fans a three fight card headlined by one of the most polarizing figures in boxing Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (48-2-1, 32 KO).  Chavez will be in the ring against Marcos Reyes (33-2, 24 KO) who usually fights at middleweight but will be moving up to super middleweight for this 10-round bout.  This will be Chavez's first fight back after being forced to quit on his stool by Andrzej Fonfara who was able to easily handle Chavez in a light heavyweight bout.  Clearly Chavez realized that he was yet ready to campaign as a light heavyweight and made the smart decision not only to move down to super middleweight but also to start working with Robert Garcia.  Reyes last fought in early 2015 and while he was able to get the win he has never been in the ring with any true top talent.  Although Chavez can't be considered elite at the moment, he will be the best fighter that Reyes has faced.  Chavez is an orthodox fighter who hasn't had a very disciplined career.  However, when Chavez looks right he is damn hard to beat.  Chavez is an orthodox fighter who likes to stand in close.  The thing he does best is probably bang to the body and outside of his fight against the much bigger Fonfara, he was able to show one of the best chins in all of boxing.  That chin should be back to its concrete self now that he isn't fighting light heavyweights.  Defensively Chavez is not great which is why his chin has been so important to his career because it has allowed him to absorb punishment without being hurt.  Chavez has a stiff jab but its a punch he doesn't use often enough.  What he will use is his left hook downstairs and overhand right, and both punches can do damage.  The career of Chavez still remains unclear, it is unclear which division he will settle in and it is also unclear how his chin and power will handle super middleweight fights.  While Chavez does have good power he has never been a one punch knockout fighter, instead relying on his ability to break opponents down over the course of a fight to score his knockouts.  Reyes is also an orthodox fighter and like Chavez he is a fighter moving up in weight after spending the majority of his career as a middleweight.  Reyes likes to control the distance in his fights and he uses his jab very often.  Along with that jab Reyes also flashes a decent looking straight right hand and he likes to use his one-two combination a lot.  However, Reyes also has a glaring flaw, the fact that he will consistently pull straight back on defense.  If Chavez or his team notice this flaw that can put combinations together that will catch Reyes as he tries to pull out.  Many people are overlooking this bout because Reyes isn't a high level fighter.  Despite that Reyes does have decent power and he has never been stopped as a pro so the fight could end up being better than expected.  This is a huge fight for the career of Chavez.  He is coming off of a lose and turned many fans off by the way conducts himself outside of the ring during training.  Yet Chavez still shows flashes of greatness and with Garcia in his corner he could be finally taking his career seriously.  Chavez is going to win this fight and he will do so with a 9th round stoppage.  

On Saturday night someones "0" most go

McJoe Arroyo vs. Arthur Villanueva: The co-feature of Saturday's Showtime card should be a tense one.  The reason for that being the fact that both McJoe Arroyo (16-0, 8 KO) and Arthur Villanueva (27-0, 14 KO) bring perfect records into the squared circle for this 12-round bout for the vacant IBF junior bantamweight title.  Arroyo hails from Puerto Rico and his biggest win came back in 2014 over the always exciting Hernan "Tyson" Marquez.  Meanwhile most of Villanueva's fight have come in his native Philippines where he has taken on mostly average fighters.  Arroyo is a southpaw who likes to use his jab.  With that jab Arroyo throws a nice straight left hand and he has a strong left hook despite not being a massive puncher.  Arroyo has quick hands that allow him to land a lot of clean one-two combinations and he also moves fairly well in the ring.  Villanueva is also an orthodox fighter and he too has fast hands.  His jab is a good punch but he tends to get wild with his crooked punches.  Villanueva puts a lot behind his left hook but it comes in wide as does his right hand.  Also, because of his wild punching Villanueva can sometimes find himself out of position which Arroyo may be able to take advantage of with his quick hands.  This fight should be a pretty even one that could end up going either way.  However, Arroyo has faced the higher level of opposition and that, along with his more accurate punching will lead him to a unanimous decision win.

Imam may be one of boxing's next stars

Amir Imam vs. Fernando Angulo: The fight that will kick Saturday's card off shouldn't be much more than a showcase fight, at least that is what Amir Imam (17-0, 14 KO) and his team are hoping.  At 24 years old Imam looks like he could eventually become one of boxing's next stars.  Before that happens though Imam will need to continue to climb that ladder and eventually take on some top fighters.  He isn't at that level yet and Saturday's opponent proves that.  Imam will be taking on journeyman Fernando Angulo (29-9, 16 KO) in a 10-round bout set for the junior welterweight division.  The days of Angulo fighting the likes of Juan Diaz for a world title are long gone and his recent five fight winning streak has come against sub par fighters including one with a record of 28-42-7.  However, in his nine losses Angulo has only been stopped once, back in 2002, so he may be able to give Imam some much needed rounds.  Imam is an orthodox fighter with very good pop on his punches.  Imam has quick hands and is able to jab well which helps to set up his big right hand.  The young fighter is able to throw that right hand straight or for more power over the top and he can hurt an opponent at any time with that or his big time left hook.  Angulo is also an orthodox fighter and he will be giving up 5-inches to the 5-foot 10-inch Imam.  That height difference could be a deciding factor because it will allow Imam to use his jab and stay on the outside while waiting to land the straight right hand.  Angulo has somewhat of an awkward style and will lean to his right and lunge forward with the jab.  However, he can also switch up and fight as a southpaw, although not very well.  Angulo likes to throw his overhand right but all of his punches are pretty wild and as long as Imam doesn't get caught with something he doesn't see coming he should be able to handle Angulo.  Imam will fight from the outside in this bout and he will look good doing so but he won't get the knockout, instead he will get the wide unanimous decision victory.