This coming Saturday, 2012 Puerto Rican Olympian and rising prospect, Felix Verdejo makes his return to the squared circle after winning a significant unanimous decision against Oscar Bravo on August 16th.
Verdejo, who is (14-0, 10 KOs) has been steamrolling through his opponents, since making his pro debut is being dubbed as Puerto Rico’s next big star. Verdejo will be facing Mexico’s Sergio Villanueva. Villanueva, who has faced a great amount of prospects in his last few bouts, recently took a loss to Rey Bautista back in May of this year. Aside from Bautista, who has a good amount of fights under his belt. Bautista has been in this predicament before. Fighting a young, hungry fighter who is on the rise.
He was knocked out by Jose Pedraza, in June of last year, and holds wins over Fabian Rios & Martin Gallego. Overall he is 2-1 against up and coming guys.
Verdejo, on the other hand, has fought prospects, as well as his share of opponents with a good amount of experience. Oscar Bravo, who has 21 wins with 5 losses is one of them. Verdejo stepped up in competition and outclassed the much more experienced Bravo. Though Verdejo is expected to win, Villanueva should not be over looked, as Verdejo himself knows. Villanueva has been on this territory before, and knows what it takes to try and overcome the hungry lion within Verdejo. Can he pull it off though? Verdejo is a slick boxer with a good amount of power. He has been in some rough fights with guys before where he could not pull the trigger, but still has the tools set to beat any guy in front of him.
Villanueva himself is a good boxer, not as good as Verdejo but still good. He has the ability to land his shots as I’ve seen Verdejo get hit before plenty of times by guys of lesser opposition. Villanueva is known to take more punishment as the fight progresses. His 2 knockout losses come in the late stages of the fights, just a round or 2 before the final bell. Verdejo, always comes out strong and sharp. If he wants to avoid getting tangled in a boxing match with Villanueva he will need to wipe him out early if not, apply pressure in the later rounds. Villanueva needs to be smart and not let Felix tee off earlyand avoid getting hurt because Verdejo goes in for the kill after seeing his opponent is vulnerable. Overall the fight has the making of going to the scorecards as Villanueva is not a stepping stone. He is able to make the fight a boxing match and not give it away early to Verdejo.
