Quigg’s chance to come of age

By Boxing News - 10/05/2013 - Comments

quigg43By Rachel Aylett: Eddie Hearn promotes a terrific bill of boxing tonight at the 02 Arena in London, which showcases a selection of current and future stars of British boxing. Almost every fight on the card is of real interest in some way or another.

The main event features undefeated super-bantamweight Scott Quigg, 26-0-1 (19), who was recently upgraded from interim to full WBA champion, making his first defence of that title against also-unbeaten Cuban Yoandris Salinas, 20-0-1 (13).

Quigg is on the crest of a wave at the moment, although he says he will not consider himself world champion until he successfully defends that title in the ring tonight. His career has been on an upswing since it began in 2007. He was given a solid grounding in the pro game, due to his lack of experience as an amateur and faced a series of journeymen and sub-standard opposition for the first two and a half years or so. He was then gradually stepped up in class, culminating in his first major test in October 2011 when he faced veteran Jason Booth for the British title. Although Scott was a hot favourite there were some who thought Booth’s experience would prove too much for him. Quigg was a revelation on the night though, pounding Booth to a corner retirement after seven rounds.

Since then Quigg has continued to improve and looked awesome in his best victory to date, when he floored and stopped former world title challenger and fellow Brit Rendall Munroe in six rounds. Quigg definitely looked world class in that fight.

Salinas is a former amateur star, winning the national title at flyweight in 2006 and 2007. However, he was never one of the elite level fighters and whenever he came up against Guillermo Rigondeaux or Yuriorkis Gamboa, he was soundly beaten. He also suffered upset losses on several occasions in the early rounds of the nationals. As a professional then, he is clearly not of the ilk of countrymen Rigondeaux, Gamboa, Erislandy Lara or Yoan Pablo Hernandez. He is more comparable to the likes of Yudel Jhonson, Yordanis Despaigne and Luis Franco. This is reflected in the fact that in his professional career he has not been signed by one of the major promoters, e.g., Golden Boy or Top Rank, but rather is signed to the unfashionable stable of Dream Team Boxing. That organisation recently allied itself to Golden Boy which is perhaps the reason Salinas is getting this shot.

Salinas is a very well-schooled fighter, of course he would be coming from the Cuban amateur system. He does everything well, keeps a nice high guard and throws the full array of well-educated punches to both head and body. Interestingly though, a look at his record will show just one familiar name, being Nehomar Cermeno, whom Salinas drew with in October 2011. Aside from this he has faced a series of no-hopers and journeymen. His knockout percentage therefore has to be questioned. It is telling that he was able to floor journeyman Robert DaLuz twice in the first two rounds but was unable to finish the job, going to points in the end. Salinas is taking a massive step up in class of opposition against Quigg.

If Quigg is not as good as we think he is, he will face a serious threat to his unbeaten record tonight. However, I don’t think Salinas will ever have been put under pressure the way he will be against Quigg, facing that daunting body attack that is Scott’s speciality. To me, Quigg has the look of destiny surrounding him, from the point where he and his mother both asked for him to be expelled from school so that he could concentrate on his boxing. He has shown an unshakeable belief in himself and this has been displayed in the constant improvements he has made throughout his career.

I believe that Quigg will be altogether too much for Salinas. I expect him to go up another level in this, his biggest fight, and he may even be able to get a late stoppage over the Cuban. It is possible that he will have to come off the floor to do so, as Salinas is a sharp puncher. Following this victory, Quigg will have finally stolen a march on his great domestic rival Carl Frampton, whose upcoming fight is an uninteresting European title defence against Jeremy Parodi. Quigg will finally be justified in claiming to be the best super-bantamweight in Britain – for the time being anyway. Realistically though, he cannot claim to be the world champion in this division whilst the likes of Rigondeaux and Nonito Donaire are active or until he defeats them.

Also on the card tonight are fairly straightforward outings for lightweight Kevin Mitchell and featherweight Lee Selby. Both should score inside the distance victories over Marco Lopez and Ryan Walsh respectively. Mitchell is trying to re-establish himself as a world force, following his crushing defeat at the hands of WBO champion Ricky Burns. There are serious doubts about him now though, following stoppage losses to Burns and Michael Katsidis, neither of whom are murderous punchers. Mitchell has a confidence-builder against Mexican Lopez, who has been stopped twice, and he should win inside the distance. The world-rated Selby is coming off a relatively disappointing performance against Viorel Simion when, for the first time, he showed uncertainty in himself. He should also score a stoppage win in defence of his British and Commonwealth featherweight titles against the undefeated Walsh.

The bill also features the long-awaited debut of Olympic super-heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua along with the pro debut of his cousin, British heavyweight amateur champion in 2011, Ben Ileyemi. Another fight to look forward to is the second pro outing of Joshua’s fellow Olympic champion Luke Campbell, who looked terrific in his debut.

Finally, great trade fights take place between Wadi Camacho and Tony Conquest at cruiserweight and Danny Connor and Tony Owen at light-welterweight.

Unfortunately, another potential cracker between unbeaten welters Glenn Foot and Larry Ekundayo has been pulled at the last minute, as Ekundayo had to withdraw. A terrific show is on the cards, perhaps the best domestic night of boxing of the year.

@RachelAylett1



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