This week’s ESPN’s Friday Night Fights puts Juan Carlos Burgos (29-1 19KO’s) in the ring with fellow Mexican Cesar Vazquez (25-0 16KO’s) in a 10 round Jr. Lightweight bout. Both are fighters looking to come into their own. Burgos is coming off 4 straight wins including a unanimous decision over Cristobal Cruz in Feb. of this year, which was also on FNF. Vazquez takes his undefeated record, and 2 fight KO streak into the toughest challenge of his career.
Vazquez is making his first trip north of the border to fight against a more experienced, more tested fighter. Burgos is currently the WBC Silver title holder and has fought for the WBC featherweight back in 2010. He lost that title fight in a one sided 12 round unanimous decision to Hozumi Hasegawa. Juan Carlos is currently ranked 3rd by the WBC and 8th by The Ring and our very own TBV Rankings.
If Cesar Vazquez continues his winning ways this weekend, it can possibly land him a top 10 ranking and earn him bigger fights. In a division that is headed by rising superstar, Adrien Broner, the way to the top for either of these fighters is a rough one. Until Broner moves up in weight, it’s his division to own.
The main event should be a good one. Whenever you place hardnosed Mexican fighters in the ring with each other, its fan friendly TV. The undercard that I’m looking forward to seeing is Aaron Martinez (17-1-1 4KO’s) vs Prenice Brewer (16-2-1 6 KO’s) in an 8 round welterweight fight. Brewer is best known for his implosion in June after he lost what he considered to be a way closer fight then the judges scored. He had a few choice words about the 118-110 scores in favor of Ronald Cruz and even more harsh comments directed towards Freddie Roach, who was commentating that night.
Neither Martinez nor Brewer are exactly the knockout kings of the welterweight division as their combined 10 KO’s in 33 wins depicts. Martinez has won 9 straight since his lone loss in Nov. of 08′ to Abdon Lozano and will be looking to keep himself in the welterweight picture with another win. With Brewer losing 2 of his last 3 fights, he’s holding on by a thread and losing again will really halter his career. Both fighters will come into Friday night at the top of their game and with both being high volume punchers, it should be a nice treat before the main event.
ESPN, Thompson Boxing Promotions and Banner Promotions put together a nice Friday night of boxing before Saturdays Broner-Escobedo card (which I have Broner winning handily). My picks for the ESPN card are Martinez over Brewer in a decision win. In the main event I give the nod to Juan Carlos Burgos again by decision. Look for Burgos to get his WBC title shot if he continues his winning ways. The televised fights start at 9pm eastern on ESPN2.
