Showtime Fight Preview

Leo Santa Cruz vs. Carl Frampton

On Saturday night from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn featherweight title holder Leo Santa Cruz will face off against one of the United Kingdom's most popular fighters in Carl Frampton on Showtime.  Frampton will be moving up from junior featherweight for this bout and he will have a seriously tough test in Santa Cruz.  The fight is scheduled to go 12 in the featherweight division where Frampton will be trying to take Santa Cruz's WBA title back home across the pond.

Santa Cruz has been very impressive as of late

Santa Cruz fights out of the orthodox stance and he is one of the busiest punchers in all of boxing.  Aside from being a very busy puncher he is also skilled in his attack.  Santa Cruz works behind a good jab that he will follow with a strong and accurate straight right hand.  The 27-year-old will also throw an overhand right that can be dangerous as well.  Where the young fighter could still improve is with his left hook although it isn't a bad punch.  Defensively Santa Cruz can be touched up but he seems to fight better when he faces other top fighters.  Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Santa Cruz's game is his stamina.  From the opening bell to the final round he never seems to slow down or fade and while he isn't a huge puncher he can break opponents down throughout the course of the fight.

Following a string of impressive wins Santa Cruz was widely criticized for taking on lesser opponents than most believed he should.  That all changed though when Santa Cruz took on Abner Mares in 2015.  Mares was viewed as a dangerous opponent but Santa Cruz was able to beat him and look good doing so.  After that win he went on to knockout Kiko Martinez to run his record to a still unbeaten 32-0-1 with 18 knockouts.  On Saturday Santa Cruz will not only look to keep his unbeaten record intact but he will also look to keep impressing fans with his relentless style.

Frampton will have a tough test in Santa Cruz

Frampton is also an aggressive orthodox fighter.  He has quick hands and that quickness allows him to easily get off with his jab.  Behind that jab Frampton has a strong straight right hand, although at times he reaches with that punch and leaves himself vulnerable.  Although when he is throwing the right hand from the proper distance it can do serious damage.  Frampton's best punch is his left hook and he loves to bang that punch to the body.  Defensively Frampton does have his flaws and he has been dropped before, usually because he gets too aggressive and leaves himself open for return fire.

Frampton and Santa Cruz do have a similar opponent in Martinez.  While Santa Cruz stopped him in the fifth round Frampton fought him twice stopping him in the ninth round of their first fight and winning a unanimous decision in their next.  For his career Frampton has a perfect record of 22-0 with 14 knockouts and he will be the more explosive puncher on Saturday night.  Frampton is also coming off the biggest win of his career against Scott Quigg and a win over Santa Cruz would really make a statement.

This fight could end up being a candidate for fight of the year because both men are such aggressive, busy punchers.  However, Santa Cruz will have a big size advantage which is evident by Santa Cruz's seven inch reach advantage.  Frampton is the more explosive puncher and has the faster hands but Santa Cruz is busier and he has shown that his chin is better than the smaller Frampton's.  If both fighters show up and perform as they usually do this should be an excellent fight.

PREDICTION: If this fight was taking place at Carl Frampton's usual junior featherweight division the outcome might be much different.  In the smaller division Frampton's power would show more.  However, in this fight Frampton will be the smaller man and that will make the punches of Leo Santa Cruz more punishing.  It will be a fast paced and action packed fight but in the end it will be Santa Cruz who comes away with the unanimous decision win.  

Mikey Garcia vs. Elio Rojas

January 1, 2014 was the last time anyone saw the ultra talented Mikey Garcia in a boxing ring in a professional fight.  On that night he easily handled Juan Carlos Burgos on his way to a dominate unanimous decision.  This Saturday Garcia will finally return to the ring after a long legal battle with his former promoter.  He will be challenged by Elio Rojas and their fight is scheduled to go 10 rounds in the junior welterweight division.  That division is a new one for Garcia but luckily for him Rojas is also a smaller fighter moving up to a new division.

It has been over 2 years since Garcia last fought

Much like Terence Crawford, Garcia is a slow starter who uses the first few rounds to study his opponents habits in order to dissect them later.  Garcia works behind a very good jab and he also moves very well around the ring out of the orthodox stance.  Not only does Garcia have a strong jab but he will usually follow it up with a dangerous straight right hand.  While that straight right hand is Garcia's best punch he also has a strong left hook that can do damage.  The only knocks against Garcia are that he starts slow and he has been dropped in the past and also hurt by clean punches.  

How this fight plays out for Garcia really depends on his rusty he is.  Before taking his leave of absence Garcia was ranked by Big Time Boxing as a top 10 pound-for-pound fighter but that was over two years ago.  There is no telling how Garcia will look now and if he starts slowly like he usually does and gives too many rounds away early he may have a difficult time making them up.  Still Garcia remains a perfect fighter with a record of 34-0 a very strong 28 knockouts.  In the past Rojas would have been an opponent that Garcia would have easily handled but two plus years out of the ring can change a fighter.

Rojas will look to pull off the upset

Rojas is also an orthodox fighter who likes a good scrap.  Rojas doesn't come in behind a jab that much and when he does use it it is usually just as a measuring stick.  Often Rojas will keep his lead hand low and he carries a pretty good left hook although he tends to get wild.  Rojas will also throw a straight right hand that isn't that quick but it is strong.  Clearly Garcia is the fighter with sharper skills but Rojas can bang on the inside and he will probably look to try and make this a slugfest.

The resume of Rojas isn't a great one, especially when you take a closer look at it.  While his professional record is 24-2 with a respectable 14 knockouts, he has never fared well against top competition.  The two biggest names Rojas has faced were Jhonny Gonzalez and Gamaliel Diaz and he lost both of those fights.  That doesn't bode well for Rojas since Garcia is better than both of those fighters, or at least he was two years ago.

This fight really comes down to how good Garcia looks.  After such a long layoff there is no telling how sharp Garcia will still be.  If he shows any ring rust and starts as slowly as he usually does he could find himself in a deep hole as the fight moves to the late rounds.  Rojas isn't very skilled so in order for him to win this fight he will need to stay in the pocket and rough Garcia up.

PREDICTION: As expected after so much time away from the sport Mikey Garcia will show some ring rust in this fight.  He will start slow and this won't be his prettiest performance.  However, he is still slick enough and powerful enough to take care of business against Elio Rojas.  It may not be the performance he had hoped for but Garcia will win this fight by the way of unanimous decision. 

Sergey Rabchenko vs. Tony Harrison 

The opening bout of Showtime's tripleheader will be a battle of one-loss power punchers.  Sergey Rabchenko will take on Tony Harrison in a fight scheduled to go 12 rounds.  The fight will be an IBF junior middleweight title eliminator and both men could use a strong performance to erase the memory of recent losses from the minds of fans.

Rabchenko has never fought in the U.S. before

Rabchenko is an orthodox fighter who hails from Belarus.  He carries a stiff jab that he can really touch an opponent up with but he doesn't have much of a right hand.  When Rabchenko throws his straight right it isn't that pretty although he can do some damage with his crooked right hand to the body.  His best punch though, without a doubt is his left hook.  Rabchenko can counter with his left hook upstairs and catch opponents off guard and he can also dig it to the body and when that punch lands to the liver it can end a fight in an instant.

In the U.S. Rabchenko is still a bit of a mystery.  He has never fought in the U.S. before and he also hasn't faced many top names.  The biggest fight of his career came against Anthony Mundine in Mundine's home turf of Australia and he lost that fight by a close split decision.  His career record is 27-1 with an impressive 20 knockouts but he may have his hands full against the longer, leaner Harrison.

Harrison needs to use his reach in this fight

Harrison is also an orthodox fighter and he will be the taller and longer fighter come Saturday night.  Harrison has a nice jab that he uses to measure the distance and keep his opponent at bay.  Along with that jab Harrison also has a nice straight right hand and it may be his best punch.  That right hand can do some serious damage as can Harrison's left hook, a punch he should use more often.  The problem for Harrison is on the defensive side of things.  He tends to drop his hands as he gains confidence and control and that can leave him open for return fire.  He has been dropped in fights and was even knocked out in a fight that he was clearly winning.

During his career Harrison has actually faced a slightly higher level of competition than Rabchenko has.  His record is 23-1 with a very strong 19 knockouts but he has also been knocked out himself.  In that fight he was ahead on the cards but got caught with a punch and finished shortly thereafter.  Against the power-punching Rabchenko he will need to be very careful on defense and stay on the outside.

This should be an interesting fight for a few reasons.  The first is that both Rabchenko and Harrison can really crack so the fight could end at any moment.  The other is that Harrison has a real height and reach advantage and it will be interesting to see how or of he uses those advantages as well as he should.  If Harrison is smart he will stay on the outside where he can use his jab to keep Rabchenko at a safe distance and play it safe.  While that wouldn't make for the most exciting fight it would be good for Harrison and his future.  As for Rabchenko he will need to stay on the inside where he can bang the body of Harrison and catch him with short counter left hooks upstairs.

PREDICTION: If Tony Harrison plays it safe he could outbox Sergey Rabchenko.  However, in the past Harrrison has been ahead on the cards only to get stopped late.  Rabchenko has a serious left hook and although Harrison will control most of the rounds in this fight Rabchenko will catch him late and stop him in the 10th round.