ESPN Friday Night Fights 13/1/12 - Prospect Watch

Ugas was an outstanding amateur

Real lack of action this weekend, and all of this week's prospects feature on the ESPN Friday Night Fights bill at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, a bill promoted by Bob Arum's Top Rank.


Headlining is an extremely intriguing super bantamweight 10 rounder between Teon Kennedy and Christopher Martin, two slick fighters who suffered their first pro defeats last time out. My eyes will be on the undercard though, where I have three guys to look out for.


The first fighter is in the co-feature, that being 25 year old former Cuban amateur star Yordenis Ugas, who's 10-0 (5 KO's) and was a bronze medalist at the 2008 Olympic Games. He had a busy 2011 fighting five times, with his best victory coming over then 11-3-1 New Yorker, Kenny Abril, in Philadelphia over six rounds. This is his first eight round fight and currently is scheduled to take place at light middleweight (rated as a welterweight) and it looks like a great learning fight for him.


In the opposite corner will be 10-4 (4 KO's) Texas man Esteban Almaraz, who's never been stopped, but has lost three of his last four. He's gone the distance with some really decent fighters like Henry Lundy and Ruslan Provodnikov, and the fight with Lundy was a very close one, although in both of those fights he was put down. He's a pretty decent boxer, but I doubt he has the skills to match the highly skilled Cuban.

Jesse is the only Magdaleno brother on the bill

As mentioned in last week's prospect watch on this bill will also be the younger Magdaleno brother, Jesse, 7-0 (5 KO's). I'm really excited about this guy, his brother Diego is unbeaten, but doesnt seem to hit as hard as the less experienced Jesse. He's won his last two fights in a round, and that includes a very impressive victory over 5-1 Gil Garcia last time out, which on paper looked like a tricky little fight. This southpaw featherweight is exceptionally talented, I think he's got a lot of quality, and the fact he's such a powerful makes him a real prospect to watch.


Opposing him will be fellow southpaw Shawn Nicol, 5-7 (5 KO's), stopped just once his career, but has been beaten in his last five, all by unbeaten fighters. The only fighter to have stopped him is the now 15-0 (9 KO's) super bantamweight Efrain Esquivias, in a fight that went into the final round of their contest scheduled for eight. This guy is a pure banger, and has got enough in his locker to really test opponents, with four of his five victories coming by pure knockout, so on paper this has the makings of a really exciting fight.


Finally the last prospect to keep your eyes on is 6-0 (5 KO's) Indio super bantamweight Gabino Saenz. Taken the distance for the first time last time out by tricky Mexican Sergio Cristobal, but he was well on top in that fight and won very single round. Comparing him to the other guys mentioned here so far, I think he's pretty raw and still has a lot of work to do, but he's got plenty of potential and as I always say with prospects, it's never a bad thing to go the distance.


Facing him will be the already mentioned Gil Garcia, who's resistance will be tested after that quick defeat to Magdaleno, we will find out a lot about his heart in this contest.


It's not a fantastic weekend of Boxing, but Ugas and Magdaleno are serious fighters to look out for, credit has to go to Bob Arum and Top Rank for the matchmaking, the main event has the makings of a good one as well.


Recap the three guys to watch are - Yordenis Ugas, Jesse Magdaleno and Gabino Saenz.