Rigondeaux-Andrade tonight; Sylvester-Lorenzo, Frenkel-Nagy on Saturday

By Boxing News - 09/18/2009 - Comments

By Erik Schmidt: Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux (2-0, 2 KO’s) will be fighting for the third time in his short pro career on tonight against GIovanni Andrade (60-11, 49 KO’s) in a 10 round bout at the Fountainbleau Hotel, at Miami Beach, Florida. Rigondeaux, 28, a super bantamweight, has looked decent since turning pro in 2009, stopping both of his over-matched opponents.

However, Rigondeaux doesn’t look nearly as good as what people saying he is. I’ve noticed that Rigondeaux, a southpaw, tends to use mostly his left hand and almost entirely ignores his right. He also doesn’t appear to have much power to speak of and his hand speed isn’t as quick as what I thought it would be when I started hearing a lot of things about him.

I rate him much lower than champion Celestino Caballero, and I think Juan Manuel Lopez and Rafael Marquez are also better fighters than him as well. I think Rigondeaux may find a place somewhere because there are so many belts but I’m not all impressed with him as a fighter.

Sebastian Sylvester vs. Giovanni Lorenzo on Saturday Night

Arthur Abraham’s vacant International Boxing Federation middleweight title will be on the line this Saturday night in a bout between top contenders Sebastian Sylvester and Giovanni Lorenzo at the Jahnsportforum, Neubrandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in Germany.

It should be a mildly interesting fight while it lasts. Sylvester, 29, is getting a second bite off the apple after having been soundly beaten by WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm last year. Sylvester will have to fight much better than he did against Sturm if he expects to beat Lorenzo on Saturday.

Sylvester disappeared for long stretches against Sturm and didn’t put together enough power punches to pull out the decision. Sylvester looks good against other top middleweight contenders but looked really bad against Sturm and Amin Asikainen in 2006.

Lorenzo, 28, has been shielded from tough opposition during most of his seven year pro career. He was given a jump up in competition when they put him in with Raul Marquez last year. Lorenzo failed miserably in that bout and seemed to have problems with working hard for the full 12 rounds.

Marquez ended up doing the better work, despite not having nearly the same offensive tools that Lorenzo possesses. After that fight, Lorenzo was once again put back in with his normal soft opponents, and defeated Dionisio Miranda by a 2nd round stoppage in February.

This is going to be an interesting bout because Lorenzo probably has the much better skills of the two fighters. However, unless he’s able to stay focused mentally and handle the jabs and right hands from Sylvester, I can see Lorenzo getting beaten again.

Sylvester has an excellent jab and good right hand. If Lorenzo doesn’t pressure him, Sylvester will jab him silly all night long and pile up the rounds. The only way to beat Sylvester is to go after him with combinations the way that Sturm did. I don’t know that Lorenzo can do this but we’ll see.


Frenkel vs. Nagy

Unbeaten Alexander Frenkel (19-0, 15 KO’s) will be facing Hungarian Joszef Nagy (21-4, 14 KO’s) in a scheduled 10-round bout in cruiserweight action. Frenkel, 24, is ranked #13 in the World Boxing Council, and has been brought up really slow by his German since turning pro in 2006. Nagy, 34, is a slight bump in competition but not much of one. Nagy has lost two out of his last three fights coming into Saturday night’s fight against Frenkel. This should be an easy knockout win for Frenkel.

Frenkel stopped Laszlo Hubert in the 3rd round on September 12th. Although Frenkel looked overpowering in destroying Hubert, he showed the same problems that have been plaguing him since he turned pro. Frenkel doesn’t put his punches together in any real way, focusing more on throwing big single shots.

Frenkel’s power is good, but not that good for him to get away with being a fighter that throws only one punch at a time. In comparison to Marco Huck, another German based cruiserweight, Frenkel is much less developed. Huck has been able to throw combinations from the start of his career and has better power than Frenkel.