There are no major boxing matches to handicap this weekend, but that doesn’t mean we should push the card to the side. Friday Night Fights on ESPN will get the ball rolling as up-and-coming welterweight Antwone Smith attempts to send Richard Gutierrez packing.
Saturday will be dedicated to the lighter fighters when junior featherweight title holder, Toshiaki Nishioka will take on mandatory challenger, Jhonny Gonzalez in a scheduled 12-round meeting in Monterrey, Mexico.
Richard Gutierrez vs. Antwone Smith, 10 rounds, welterweights in Miami – ESPN2
Richard Gutierrez (24-2-1, 14 KOs) has been a main stay on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights but that doesn’t guarantee him a win against a much younger opponent. Antwone Smith (15-1-1, 8 KOs) isn’t a knockout artist by any stretch of the imagination, but if speed kills then so does Smith. An eight round, unanimous decision win over talented, Norberto Gonzalez (16-1-0, 12 KOs) on Feb. 27 was exactly what Smith needed to step up to the next level.
That next level is Gutierrez. The 30-year old power puncher may have lost to names like Joshua Clottey and Alfredo Angulo in the last two years but that doesn’t detract from his abilities in the ring. What Gutierrez does lack is a convincing defense, sometimes overshadowed by missing toe-to-toe firepower. Yes, his power is dangerous but in the loss against Angulo, heavy exchanges ended up costing “La Lamina” in the end. We’ve seen what a lack of ‘D’ has done and we’ve witnessed where frenetic exchanges have landed Gutierrez.
Antwone Smith is just beginning his career in the pro arena. At 22, the orthodox puncher appears to have a bright future ahead. But that youth also handicaps the Miami native in several categories. His jabs lack any pop, defense can be overwhelming in the long run (he likes to shell up way too long) and, from a personal perspective, he could go to the body more. But let’s be easier on the kid because he’s still got plenty to prove.
Smith is coming off an impressive win over Norberto Gonzalez. His 146 landed head shots created a deep cut over Gonzalez’s left eyelid and, even better, had the then undefeated Mexican fighter on the floor in Round 2. What we took away from this match was Smith coming of age at this point in his career. The question is can he sustain this pace of maturity?
Expect an entertaining fight on your tube come Friday. The positives and negatives of both fighters match up real well. If we’re going to make predictions then Gutierrez is the more experienced fighter with the power. The score cards will be close if this battle goes the distance, but the check mark must go to Gutierrez in this quick look.
Undercard Matches
Guillermo Rigondiaux vs. Juan Noriega - junior featherweights
Erislandy Lara vs. Edwin Vazquez - junior middleweights
Ed Parades vs. Gilbert Venegas - welterweights
Jonathon Cepeda vs. Louis Hodge - middleweights
Yordanis Despaigne vs. Robert Campbell - light heavyweights
Yudel Johnson vs. Greg Weathers, 4 rounds - junior middleweights
Toshiaki Nishioka vs. Jhonny Gonzalez, WBC junior featherweight title
If you’re a gambler and fan that enjoys the real lightweight guys then this match has your name on it. Jhonny Gonzalez (40-6-0, 34 KOs) and WBC super bantamweight titlist, Toshiaki Nishioka (33-4-3, 20 KOs) will get down to business in Monterrey, Mexico.
Gonzalez has been a machine since turning pro in 1999. He’s mixed it up in a total of 46 fights, has held titles from the WBC and WBO sanctioning bodies and is coming off five straight victories all by way of KO and or TKO. For a man in the weight class, Jhonny has superior power as 34 KOs in 40 bouts stands testament to. The problem that Gonzalez must watch out for is his opponent’s southpaw stance. In his last KO win over Reynaldo Lopez, Gonzalez was quoted as saying, “I felt a little tight because he’s a southpaw. He gave me some problems after I dropped him. He connected with a good shot. He moved me. But that helped me.” Honestly though, in a four round KO we’re going to take the high road and say that Gonzalez might have been projecting a humble image.
In the other corner is Japan’s own, Toshiaki Nishioka. The natural born lefty has had a rocky professional career given the fact that it took five attempts to finally grab a world title. Nishioka went an astonishing, 0-2-2 against Thailand’s top contender, Veeraphol Sahaprom in search of that WBC bantamweight belt but finally found relief in a unanimous decision victory versus Napapol Kiatisakchokchai (say that once let alone twice or three times in a row!). The biggest break, yet unproven in many minds, was when Israel Vazquez was stripped of his title in January because of the aftermath in the brutal trilogy against Rafael Marquez (eye injury), causing him almost a year of inactivity. The result was Nishioka getting full championship credit.
It should be known that Jhonny Gonzalez lost to Vazquez back in September of 2006 by TKO in the 10th.
And so Saturday will pit these two warriors against each other in Gonzalez’s own home town. The massive support for the Mexican fighter will no doubt up the ante for Nishioka and backers for that matter. If you want to catch end to end action that only featherweights can provide be sure to get in on the wagering action.
On a side note, the same Rafael Marquez involved in the epic fights against Israel Vazquez will be fighting on Saturday’s undercard versus hard hitting Jose Mendoza. Be sure not to miss that action in what should shape up to be an exciting night in boxing. Marquez is coming off one-year and two months of inactivity.
Check back when odds have been posted for both fights.
Joshua Jacobs can be reached at jacobs@vegasinsider.com.
