Abril vs. Bogere this Saturday night on March 2nd at the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas

By Boxing News - 02/26/2013 - Comments

1284By Eric Thomas: Richard Abril (17-3, 8 KOs) was on the losing end of a highly controversial decision in his fight last year against Brandon Rios in April, 2012. The loss really bothered Abril because he felt he should won the fight easily, and a lot of boxing fans agree with him.

Abril can put that loss behind him this Saturday night in his fight against unbeaten Sharif Bogere (23-0, 15 KO’s) in their battle for the vacant WBA World lightweight title at the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas.

A win in this fight for the 30-year-old Abril could open up opportunities for him for a potential big payday later on in 2013 if WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner decides to stick it out at 135 and unify all the titles in the weight class.

That would set up a great fight between two fighters that have an identical shoulder roll defense, and it would be interesting.

Abril, 5’11”, has a tough opponent this Saturday with the 5’6” Bogere, who has blazing hand speed and excellent power. Abril isn’t going to be able to get the better of Bogere in throwing speedy shots, but instead he’s going to have to use his much longer reach to control the action from the outside.

Bogere, 24, hasn’t had a fight that made it past the third round since his 10 round decision win over Raymundo Beltran two years ago, and Bogere was tiring late in that fight from the pace that Beltran put. Bogere is one of those explosive fighters that gets his opponents out within three rounds.

If he’s not successful at scoring a quick knockout then he starts to fade and doesn’t look nearly as good. Bogere hasn’t faced anyone remotely as good as Abril. That doesn’t mean he can’t beat him, but it does mean that it’s going to be a big step up in competition and we may not see Bogere look nearly as impressive because of that.



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