Andrew Tabiti vs. Keith Tapia: On Friday night Showtime will air another episode of their always fun ShoBox: The New Generation. That prospect heavy program will be headlined by Andrew Tabiti (12-0, 11 KO) and Keith Tapia (17-0, 11 KO). Their fight is scheduled to go 10 rounds in the cruiserweight division, which despite not getting much attention seems to be heating up. Both fighters are in their mid 20s and neither has faced any top opponents, but it is always nice to see two undefeated prospects going head to head. Tabiti will be the slighter smaller man on Friday, both in height and reach but he will be the bigger puncher. Tabiti is an orthodox fighter with a good jab and a patient style. Behind that jab Tabiti will bring a powerful straight right hand, and those two punches allow him to find success on the outside. Along with those weapons Tabiti also carries a powerful left hook that comes in quick and he bangs that punch to the body nicely. Tapia is also an orthodox fighter, although at times he can switch to southpaw despite not being as strong from that stance. He too has a good jab but he will often lean forward during fights which nullifies his height advantage. Behind the jab Tapia will bring a straight right hand but that punch doesn't land with much authority. What does is the uppercut he throws with his right hand. Tapia likes to slip to the side and throw that uppercut and has a lot of success doing so. What Tapia does do well is move in and out and he is at his best when he is letting his hands go. Tapia has an easier time with aggressive fighters but Tabiti is not the aggressive type. Because Tabiti is the more accurate puncher and carries more pop on his punches he will win this fight by the way of unanimous decision.
Michael Hunter vs. Isiah Thomas: The co-feature of Friday's ShoBox: The New Generation card will also pit two young, undefeated fighters against one another. Those fighters are Michael Hunter (11-0, 8 KO) and Isiah Thomas (15-0, 6 KO). That fight, like the main event, is also scheduled to go 10 rounds in the cruiserweight division. Hunter is an orthodox fighter with good power. He has a strong jab but he keeps his jab hand very low, leaving himself vulnerable to counter punches. Hunter will also throw a right hand but it can be very wild at times, also his footwork isn't the best and sometimes he finds himself off balance. The best punch from Hunter is probably his left hook but that too can come in wildly and stamina seems to be an issue for the young fighter. At 6-feet 4-inches tall Thomas will be the longer man come Friday. Thomas, who fights out of the southpaw stance, doesn't have the same type of power as Hunter but he has faced the better opposition. This won't be the first time Thomas has faced a fellow unbeaten prospect. In the summer of 2015 Thomas faced off against Jordan Shimmell and beat him by the way of unanimous decision. Thomas has a pretty good jab and his straight left hand is accurate and quick. He is also more responsible defensively than Hunter is and his footwork is much better. This fight will be the power of Hunter against the skills of Thomas. Since Hunter hasn't faced anyone of Thomas' caliber Thomas will win this fight via unanimous decision.
Ronald Gavril vs. Juan Camilo Novoa: The third 10-round fight on this card will take place in the super middleweight division and features Ronald Gavril (15-1, 11 KO) taking on Juan Camilo Novoa (26-6-1, 24 KO). Gavril suffered his first career loss early in 2015 but since then has gone 4-0 with two knockouts, while facing solid competition. Novoa has also gone 4-0 since his last loss and all four wins have been by the way of knockout. However, Novoa was facing some very bad opposition in those fights. This 10-round bout will be relatively new territory for both fighters. Gavril has only been scheduled to go 10 rounds once and he has never gone past 8 rounds and Novoa has been scheduled for both 10 and 12 rounds fights and while he has gone 10 rounds once in his career most of his fights end very early. Gavril is an orthodox fighter with some pretty good pop on his punches. He has a nice jab that he follows up with an even better straight right hand and he can also make good use of that right hand with other punches. The left hook from Gavril is a good weapon, especially on the inside when he is banging it to the body. Like many other Columbia fighter Novoa is more of a puncher than he is a boxer. In his 26 wins 24 have come via the knockout but in his six losses he has suffered five knockouts. Novoa loves to fight on the inside and he will usually just put on his earmuffs and wait for his turn to punch. His best punch is his left hook, which can end a fight in an instant. Gavril has never been down as a pro and even though most of Novoa's knockouts have come against lesser fighters, that doesn't mean he can't punch. Gavril needs to be careful but as long as he is responsible on defense he will get the unanimous decision win.
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