February 16 at Reno, Nevada on ESPN
Raymundo Beltran(34-7-1) vs. Paulus Moses(40-3)- For the vacant WBO Lightweight Title- I feel that Moses’s length and awkward stance could trouble Beltran in the early going. However, I feel Beltan’s body punches and tenacious inside game will be too much for Moses to handle.
Moses will be there to trade with Beltran and will look to counter with a left cross, it is then that Beltran will answer with a heavy right hook to the body or a right cross over the top.
I see this fight being a good tussle while it lasts, but I feel Beltran being the more accurate fighter, will put his punches together to overwhelm and beat Moses by unanimous decision.
February 17 at Las Vegas on Showtime
Danny Garcia(33-1) vs. Brandon Rios(34-3-1)- A few years back this clash would have been very exciting, but at the present time I feel that Garcia is the better preserved fighter.
I also feel that you need to give Garcia angles for your best shot at beating him, Rios however doesn’t give you angles, Rios comes at you in a straight line. Rios must get Garcia’s respect early and often by imposing his fighting will and must also employ a consistent jab.
Garcia himself has a good jab when he decides to use it, one thing that Garcia is great at is punching with his opponent(closed eyes and all). Rios will have some good moments but I feel That Garcia will land the harder impact shots to win it unanimously.
David Benavidez(19-0) vs. Ronald Gavril(18-2) –Rematch clash for David’s WBC Super Middleweight Title- Sitting ringside for their first battle, I felt that David won it in a 8 rounds to 4 rather handedly fashion.
So for the rematch I don’t see how Gavril can do any better than he did so in their first fight. As for David, even though I felt he fought a very good fight last time out, I still see room for improvement.
For starters, David needs to stick to shooting that long hard jab and must let his hands go when Gavril attempts to step inside his space. The four rounds that I saw Gavril win, Gavril won those rounds by simply outworking David on the inside so Gavril must seek to apply heavy pressure and keep on firing.
I see David stabbing Gavril with his killer jab consistently and will pick his spots to batter his foe to the body to set up a booming right uppercut followed by a left hook fight ending shot. Give me David Benavidez to win it by TKO in the 10th round.