PBC on Fox Sports 1 Quick Pick

Austin Trout vs. Joey Hernandez: It isn't often that two southpaws square up against one another but that will happen tonight on Fox Sports 1.  The two southpaws doing battle will be Austin Trout (29-2, 16 KO) and Joey Hernandez (24-3-1, 14 KO).  The fight is scheduled to go 10 rounds in the junior middleweight division, where Trout hopes to climb back to the top of after back-to-back defeats by Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Erislandy Lara.  Since losing to Lara in 2013, Trout has taken fights against solid opponents, but certainly none that would confused with top title contenders.  Trout has had a few speed bumps, like being dropped twice in one round against Daniel Dawson, however, he has rebounded nicely and is 3-0 with 2 knockouts since that loss to Lara.  Trout is a southpaw with a nice stiff jab, and that is a punch he likes to use often.  With that jab Trout also likes to work his left hand, especially to the body and he finds success with both punches.  Another one of Trout's weapons is a right hook and while he doesn't have top end power he can certainly hurt an opponent.  On defense Trout is still solid although he has been dropped in recent fights.  Yet even when he is dropped Trout is usually able to recover quickly and he has never been knocked out as a pro.  One big advantage for Trout in this fight will be experience.  Trout has faced some of the best including a win over Miguel Cotto and losses to Alvarez and Lara.  Meanwhile Hernandez's toughest opponents were Cornelius "K9" Bundrage and prospect Julian Williams and Hernandez lost both of those fights by wide unanimous decision margins.  Simply put, Hernandez is not at the same level as far as skill set is concerned as Trout.  Hernandez is a stockier southpaw who doesn't have a great jab and he seems to prefer fighting on the inside where he can rough things up.  Hernandez's best punch is his straight left hand and he should look to feint his right to set Trout up for that punch.  In this fight Trout should be able to control the distance as the bigger fighter and keep Hernandez on the end of his punches.  Hernandez may give a solid account of himself but this fight will still be a Trout win by the way of unanimous decision.