By Dan Ambrose: Hard hitting slugger Bryan Vera (18-5, 11 KO’s) looked sensational in defeating former WBC junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora (22-2-2, 6 KO’s) last Friday night by a 10 round split decision on ESPN. Vera’s right hand power was excellent and his crowd-pleasing come forward style of fighting reminded me of a bigger version of Marcos Maidana. It was a great performance for Vera, who badly needed the win because of a string of losses he has suffered in the past three years.

The win for Vera put him in the position where he could be a potential opponent for former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik for his next fight. This would be the perfect fight for Pavlik, because he’s moving up to super middleweight (168 lbs) and needs an opponent for his first fight at that weight. However, I seriously doubt Pavlik’s promoter Bob Arum will want to risk putting Pavlik in with a big slugger like Vera given how much time that Pavlik has been out of the ring and also because of the beating he suffered in his last fight against Sergio Martinez.

Vera hits as hard as Martinez, if not harder, and doesn’t need to load up like Martinez does in order to hit with power. Vera is naturally heavy-handed and could be a step too far for Pavlik at this juncture of his career. Pavlik may need to take tiny baby steps while he gets his fighting legs under him. Vera has killer power and it would be an immediate war for Pavlik. I doubt he wants that kind of fight this early back from his recent problems.