beIN Sports Espanol Quick Pick

Rodriguez looks to rebound after a tough loss

Francisco Rodriguez vs. Moises Fuentes: Saturday night will be an incredibly busy one for boxing.  There will be fights on Showtime, Showtime Extreme, HBO Latino, and beIN Sports Espanol.  The fight that will air on beIN Sports Espanol will be a battle between two Mexican fighters in Francisco Rodriguez (17-3-1, 11 KO) and Moises Fuentes (22-2-1, 12 KO).  The fight will take place in the junior flyweight division and it is scheduled to go 12 rounds as a WBO title eliminator to see who will get a shot at champion Donnie Nietes.  That is a shot Rodriguez certainly wants consider his last time in the ring resulted in a unanimous decision loss to Nietes in July.  Both Rodriguez and Fuentes are former title holders and both have had high level fights with Rodriguez taking on the likes of Roman Gonzalez while Fuentes has faced fighters such as Ivan Calderon.  That is especially impressive for Rodriguez who is still only 22 years old.  Rodriguez is a pressure fighter who plies his trade out of the orthodox stance.  Something that allows Rodriguez to find success are his quick hands and he shows a good jab and also turns that jab over into a left hook very quickly.  One thing Rodriguez doesn't do exceptionally well is cut off the ring but most of his bouts are fought at close range, a range he likes to be in to make use of his strong overhand right.  Fuentes also has experience against Nietes fighting him twice, fights that ended in a draw and loss for Fuentes.  The older fighter also fights out of the orthodox stance and he too has a nice jab.  While the left hook of Fuentes isn't a huge weapon his right hand is and he lands it as a straight punch or as an uppercut in close.  This fight should be a good one because both men fight well on the inside and both should be hungry to get another shot at Nietes who has beaten them both.  If this fight turns out to be a war, which it very well could, it will be the younger legs of Rodriguez that play a pivotal role in helping him win the fight by the way of majority decision.