Telemundo Quick Pick

Montes de Oca looks to avoid losing 3 in a row

Carlos Ruiz vs. Joel Montes de Oca: This Friday on Telemundo two fighters who can't afford another loss will square off against each other, Carlos Ruiz (14-2, 5 KO) and Joel Montes de Oca (18-5, 10 KO).  The two prizefighters are scheduled to go 10 rounds in the junior lightweight division and both are coming off losses.  Between the two of them only Montes de Oca has fought a top level fighter when he faced off against and lost to Yuriorkis Gamboa in 2014.  Ruiz is an orthodox fighter with a pretty good jab and a quick straight right hand he doesn't use often enough.  The 22-year-old Ruiz also likes to rip hist left hook and although it is a good looking punch he doesn't land with it all that often.  Despite two career losses Ruiz has never been knocked out and he is solid defensively.  The biggest issue with Ruiz is his lack of power.  Montes de Oca is also an orthodox fighter and he took suffers from a lack of top end power.  Montes de Oca will often keeps his hands moderately low and because of that his punches come in from odd angles.  His jab isn't quick but it's solid and hand speed is definitely an issue for him.  Another issue is that he isn't the busiest puncher and usually looks to land one power punch at a time and often eats a lot of punches between them.  Defense is an issue for Montes de Oca who has been knocked out twice in his five career losses.  Although Ruiz doesn't have the power to knock Montes de Oca out he does have the hand speed to outbox him on his way to a unanimous decision win.