CARSON, Calif. -- When Cinco de Mayo weekend roles around so do a plethora of boxing matches. On May 4, the day before the celebration of Mexico's victory at the Battle of Puebla, prospect Ryan Garcia (14-0, 13 KOs) will take on veteran Jayson Velez (26-4-1, 18 KOs) on ESPN2. That fight is scheduled to go 10 rounds from the junior lightweight division.
At just 19 years old Garcia looks more like he's 16 and he is one of the brightest prospects in boxing. He's the type of fighter who some love and others love to hate, mostly due to his brash and exceedingly confident personality which he often showcases on his social media accounts. So far though Garcia has been able to back up his confidence with dominant performances inside the squared circle.
Garcia is a tall junior lightweight, standing at 5-feet, 10-inches tall. He fights out of the orthodox stance and works behind a stiff jab. He has quick hands and a beautiful short left hook but his best punch is his straight right hand. That is the punch he puts most of his opponents down with but Garcia isn't just an offensive fighter with good power. The young fighter also keeps his hands in responsible positions defensively and he seems poised beyond his years. At just 19 Garcia is still building his resume so he hasn't really had any notable wins and Velez should be a tough test for him.
Velez is now 30 years old and a former title contender in the featherweight division. He fought for the IBF featherweight title in 2014 against Evgeny Gradovich, a fight that ended in a draw. Soon after that title fight disaster struck for Velez's career when he lost four consecutive fights, with two of those loses coming against Ronny Rios and Joseph Diaz. Those four losses were the only losses Velez has suffered and since his last loss he has gone 3-0 with two knockouts.
Puerto Rico's Velez is an orthodox fighter who often pushes his jab out without much on it. At times Velez will do a nice job of banging his left hook to the body but his most damaging punch is his straight right hand. He's at his best when he's being the aggressor so look for him to bring the fight to the young Garcia. Defensively Velez is usually there to be hit but he has a good chin and has never been down as a professional.
This certainly won't be an easy fight for Garcia. Golden Boy Promotions is the promoter behind Garcia and they view him as the future and certainly don't want to throw him in the ring with any killers yet. Velez is a good opponent for Garcia because he doesn't have top end power and isn't elusive but if Garcia is going to beat him he's really going to have to work for it. Garcia's quick combination punching could give Velez some problems but look for Velez to clinch and rough things up on the inside when the two get close.
PREDICTION: Jayson Velez is a good opponent for Ryan Garcia but he is the opponent. Who Velez is as a fighter has already been established so fans won't see many, if any, new wrinkles in his game, but he isn't an opponent Garcia can walk through. Garcia is going to win this fight by the way of unanimous decision but it won't be an easy fight and he will have to survive some tough stretches.
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| Garcia having his hand raised in victory |
Garcia is a tall junior lightweight, standing at 5-feet, 10-inches tall. He fights out of the orthodox stance and works behind a stiff jab. He has quick hands and a beautiful short left hook but his best punch is his straight right hand. That is the punch he puts most of his opponents down with but Garcia isn't just an offensive fighter with good power. The young fighter also keeps his hands in responsible positions defensively and he seems poised beyond his years. At just 19 Garcia is still building his resume so he hasn't really had any notable wins and Velez should be a tough test for him.
Velez is now 30 years old and a former title contender in the featherweight division. He fought for the IBF featherweight title in 2014 against Evgeny Gradovich, a fight that ended in a draw. Soon after that title fight disaster struck for Velez's career when he lost four consecutive fights, with two of those loses coming against Ronny Rios and Joseph Diaz. Those four losses were the only losses Velez has suffered and since his last loss he has gone 3-0 with two knockouts.
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| Velez landing a clean straight right hand |
This certainly won't be an easy fight for Garcia. Golden Boy Promotions is the promoter behind Garcia and they view him as the future and certainly don't want to throw him in the ring with any killers yet. Velez is a good opponent for Garcia because he doesn't have top end power and isn't elusive but if Garcia is going to beat him he's really going to have to work for it. Garcia's quick combination punching could give Velez some problems but look for Velez to clinch and rough things up on the inside when the two get close.
PREDICTION: Jayson Velez is a good opponent for Ryan Garcia but he is the opponent. Who Velez is as a fighter has already been established so fans won't see many, if any, new wrinkles in his game, but he isn't an opponent Garcia can walk through. Garcia is going to win this fight by the way of unanimous decision but it won't be an easy fight and he will have to survive some tough stretches.
Ryan Garcia looks like a natural welterweight that can still drain himself down to 130 lbs because he's only 19, and it doesn't really hurt him to do so yet. His primary advantage appears to be a size advantage over his opponents so far.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I have yet seen, he isn't a superlative ring technician, like Lomachenko or Guillermo Rigondeaux, and he doesn't have hand speed on the level of someone like Jorge Linares or Gary Russell Jr.
It might turn out that he has a good combination of physical traits and boxing skills that makes him competitive against world class opposition at 130 lbs, but I doubt we'll see any matchups like that anytime soon.
His real tests will probably come at 135 or 140, and probably in a year or two, unless they rush things and throw him to the wolves for some odd reason.