Machado vs. Mensah Fight Preview

LAS VEGAS -- There will be not one, but two title fights on HBO on July 21.  The main event will be a bout between junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia and challenger Liam Smith.  The co-feature of that card will be a clash between Alberto Machado (19-0, 16 KOs) and Rafael Mensah (31-0, 23 KOs).  On the line will be Machado's WBA junior lightweight title. 

Machado admiring his work after dropping an opponent

Machado is an incredibly tall junior lightweight.  He fights out of the southpaw stance and stands at 5-feet, 10-inches tall with a reach of 72-inches.  Machado has quick hands and a good jab and likes to be the aggressor.  Behind his jab he likes to throw a straight left hand and will also throw the left crooked to the body.  Along with those weapons Machado also has a powerful right hook and a good chin.  One knock against Machado is that he doesn't always use his height properly which forces him to work harder than he needs to.

The powerful puncher from Puerto Rico hasn't taken on the top of the junior lightweight division yet.  The best opponent he's faced to date was Jezreel Corrales, who he knocked out in the eighth round.  Machado got his current title after that win against Corrales and after Corrales couldn't make weight.  Throughout his career Machado has only gone 10 rounds once and eight rounds once, with most of his fights ending very early by the way of knockout.  Should he score another impressive victory there are plenty of big fights to be made in the division.

Mensah is also an orthodox fighter and he will be at a size disadvantage against Machado.  He has a busy jab and its a solid one and he will often follow it with a left.  However, Mensah has a bad habit of dropping his right hand when he throws the left, leaving himself open for return fire.  The Ghanaian fighter also throws plenty of right hooks, often doubling them up, but he will sometimes slap with those punches instead of turning them over properly.  Defensively Mensah doesn't look great and could find himself in some trouble with the heavier handed Machado.

Mensah with promoter Don King

July 21 will mark Mensah's first fight in the United States and his first fight outside of his native Ghana.  He is currently ranked as the number one contender by the WBA despite a resume filled with journeymen type fighters.  In fact, six of his 31 career opponents entered their fight with zero career wins and of this 31 opponents 13 of them had losing records.  It has also been 11 months since Mensah's last fight so he might show some ring rust early.  If Mensah can upset Machado it would be a career changing win for him.

This is going to be a tough fight for Mensah to win.  He is not only smaller than Machado but he also doesn't hit as hard and has the slower hands.  Since Machado has shown a good chin, Mensah's best chance at a victory might be to really let his punches fly and simply outwork Machado.  That won't be easy though against the superior puncher Machado.  Look for Machado to impose his size advantage while he walks Mensah down, looking for the knockout.

PREDICTION: This fight is going to be all Alberto Machado.  Rafael Mensah is a good fighter but he isn't as good as Machado and that should be clear from the start.  This fight will go longer than many of Machado's previous fights but it won't go the distance as Machado stops Mensah in the sixth round.