Boxing Preview: 8th of October
Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images
Well, that happened. The main event of the week -Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn - was already a silly fight, but it descended into farce and then cancellation when Benn popped for an illegal substance. So we’re left light, but we still get a decent American card headlined by Sebastian Fundora, who’s always fun. Let’s dive into the three main fights on that card.
Sebastian Fundora vs Carlos Ocampo
Junior-middleweight
Ocampo has made one previous appearance at world level- at 147lbs, when Errol Spence smashed him out in one round in 2018. It’s tough to say he’s spent the intervening time preparing well for a return- he moved up to 154 and has won 12 in a row since then but for the most part they’ve been local shows in Mexico with no great progression. He did, however, make the most of a short-notice callup to fight Mikael Zewski back in March, battering and stopping the Canadian in his hometown.
That was impressive, but it isn’t an indication that he’s really likely to be ready for Fundora. He beat Zewski mostly because the Canadian wanted to play ‘my-go-your-go’ and rather folded under the pressure of Ocampo punching with him- but Fundora lives in that world, he loves a close-in scrap, and he should be significantly more skilled at fouling up Ocampo’s work than the other way around. Combine that with the Mexican’s main defence being hopping to distance- against a six-foot-five super-welter - and we’re likely to see Fundora win inside the distance. But it should be a decent scrap while it lasts.
Carlos Adames vs Juan Macias Montiel
Middleweight
This one is for an interim WBC title, ordered after Jermall Charlo, holder of the full belt, pulled out of his July fight with injury. But he still has that belt, so what this really is is a final eliminator. Montiel lost to Charlo for that very title last June; Adames last fought for an (interim) world title three years ago at a weight lower, but he comes into this off the back of a 10-round decision over Sergiy Derevyanchenko in December.
Adames is a slick, stance-switching backfoot fighter, but one quite willing to truck in and throw volume in the pocket when necessary, so hopefully we’ll get a fun style matchup here with Montiel, who’s a bit crude and sometimes makes weird decisions about when to engage, but is willing and able to push forward and throw down himself. He tends to leave his chin in the air, which you’d think will give the advantage to the much more defensively responsible Adames, but the Dominican did tire towards the end of his fight with Derevyanchenko, so if he can keep the pressure relentless he may find a chance towards the end.
Fernando Martinez vs Jerwin Ancajas
super-flyweight
The last fight to note here is a rematch of one of the year’s big upsets. Back in February, the unbeaten but till-then-unproven Martinez was expected to be a relatively easy touch- as most of his defences have been- for Ancajas in defending his IBF Superfly title. Instead, the Argentine made the most of his opportunity, beating Ancajas up on the way to a clear decision victory. The former champion has opted to use his rematch clause, which is a slight surprise considering he blamed his performance last time in part on a tough weight cut. Here we are though, and he’ll be looking to be a reigning champion when he eventually does move up.
Not sure that’ll happen though. It’s possible he just overlooked his opponent last time and will come in sharper, but if the weight was a problem then, it’s not likely to be less now, and frankly he didn’t lose because of looking sluggish or occasional poor decisions, he lost because once Martinez was able to take his intercepting punches, he had no tools whatsoever to compete with Martinez on the inside or adapt to the smart little level changes he was throwing to create new angles, showed very little defence at all, and took Martinez’s punches far harder than Martinez took his. That’s a fixable problem, but in one fight camp? That’s tough. So the likelihood should be, short of a knockout which is never impossible with someone as aggressive as Martinez, that the Argentine repeats and holds on to the title.
The rest of the card is light, the main fight of note being what is probably a last-chance-saloon fight at 147lbs, with Egidijus Kavaliauskas and Mykal Fox both on the recovery trail after multiple losses against top-level opponents. Also on the card is Gabriela Fundora, Sebastian’s sister, who’s too early in her career to tell if she’s really good but who as a 5 foot 9 fighter in a division filled with 5 foot 2 women has clearly taken a leaf from her brother’s book in her height advantage.