David Lemieux vs. Glen Tapia: On Saturday night from Las Vegas, HBO will bring fans a pay-per-view card headlined by Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Amir Khan. The co-feature of the card will be a fight between slugger David Lemieux (34-3, 31 KO) and Glen Tapia (23-2, 15 KO). That fight is scheduled to go 10 rounds in the middleweight division, a new division for Tapia who is moving up from junior middleweight. Tapia may want to reassess who is managing his career. After being dropped by Top Rank Tapia signed on with Golden Boy Promotions, his first fight with them after being brutally knocked out in his last fight is against one of the heaviest hitters in the sport. It seems that Golden Boy Promotions may be using Tapia as a sacrificial lamb to Lemieux since he still has some name recognition. As for Lemieux he is looking to rebound from a knockout loss to Gennady Golovkin. Lemieux is an orthodox fighter with pretty fast hands and he likes to throw a ton of punches. He has a stiff jab that sets up his power punches but he doesn't use that jab as much as he should. Instead Lemieux usually relies solely on his power. Lemieux's best punch is his left hook which is deadly but he also has a very stiff straight right hand that he likes to stick to the belly. Along with those punches Lemieux also has a wild overhand right that can do damage if it lands. Defensively though Lemieux is vulnerable and he has been knocked out twice in three career losses. As for Tapia, who is also an orthodox fighter, he has been brutally knocked out twice in his last five fights. The first knockout came against James Kirkland and the second against Michel Soro. That fight against Soro came in May of 2015 and Tapia hasn't fought since. Tapia is a boxer-puncher whose jab is decent and he will use it to set up a strong right hand. Along with the right hand Tapia also has a nice left hook and he can land uppercuts well on the inside. Tapia claims that he feels better than ever as a middleweight now that he doesn't have to cut weight and maybe some of those knockouts were from draining himself too much to make weight. However, Tapia has shown, for whatever reason, that he doesn't take punches very well and Lemieux is one of the biggest punchers in the sport. Tapia will make it to the eighth round but he won't see the ninth as Lemieux will win this fight by the way of eighth round stoppage.
Mauricio Herrera vs. Frankie Gomez: The most intriguing fight on this card is probably the one between Mauricio Herrera (22-5, 7 KO) and Frankie Gomez (20-0, 13 KO). That fight is scheduled to go 10 rounds in the welterweight division and for Gomez it will be a big fight. Herrera has been the king of bad decision recently. Most people think he beat undefeated Danny Garcia back in 2014 but the official judges gave Garcia the majority decision. Then against top prospect Jose Benavidez it appeared that Herrera won again only to have the official judges score the fight for Benavidez by way of unanimous decision. While Herrera, an orthodox fighter, lacks power he certainly has a ton of heart. Herrera is a good defensive fighter and he has a nice, accurate jab. While Herrera doesn't use his right hand much he does have a solid straight right and he always does good work on the inside where he loves to bang to the body. One reason judges don't usually favor Herrera may be because he lacks any real power and his best work is always to the body, an area some judges often ignore. Gomez is also an orthodox fighter and Herrera will be his best opponent to date. Gomez hasn't faced many top opponents while Herrera has been in the ring with Garcia, Hank Lundy, Mike Alvarado, and Ruslan Provodnikov. Gomez has also had some outside the ring issues and issues making weight so this could be his last big chance. A win for Gomez in a high profile card could get people buzzing about him like they were after his 2014 beat down of Vernon Paris. Gomez likes to go on the attack and he carries a heavy right hand along with a strong left hook. Against Herrera look for Gomez to really go on the attack because Herrera doesn't have strong return fire. This will be the most competitive fight of the night and it will also be the night Gomez shows he belongs in the ring with top fighters. Herrera will look better early but Gomez will start to break him down late and he will get the majority decision victory.
Patrick Teixeria vs. Curtis Stevens: The fight that will kick things off will be between prospect Patrick Teixeira (26-0, 22 KO) and contender Curtis Stevens (27-5, 20 KO). The fight is scheduled to go 10 rounds in the middleweight division but both men are big time punchers so chances are it ends early. Teixeira is a tall middleweight who fights out of the southpaw stance and Stevens will be his best opponent to date. Teixeira's long arms make his hands appear to be slow and it doesn't help that he is a wide puncher. When he uses his jab though things come together nicely for him and he also has a strong straight left hand. The prospect will also bang his punches to the body nicely and he has a powerful right hook. As for Stevens he will be the shorter man in the ring and he is a full 4-inches shorter than Teixeira. Stevens fights out of the orthodox stance and he likes to put on the earmuffs and trade heavy leather from the inside. His best punch is definitely his left hook and if it lands clean in can end a fight in an instant. Recently Stevens went through a change of nicknames, going from "Showtime" to the "Cerebral Assassin." If Stevens fights like his new nickname suggest he may get picked apart by the longer Teixeira. For Stevens to win this fight he needs to stay on the inside and swing for the fences because he always has a puncher's chance. That punch won't come though and Teixeira will win this fight with a ninth round stoppage.
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