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The headline for tonight’s fight on HBO “Boxing After Dark” Series reads; “A Mexican Storm is Rising.” This headline could become a reality when WBO Bantamweight champ Jhonny Gonzalez takes on Fernando Montiel in what could turn out to be quite an exciting match up at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, CA. Gonzalez is coming off two impressive wins, beating Thai champ Sor Vorapin for his WBO strap that will be on the line this weekend and in his most recent fight, he stopped the faded future Hall of Famer Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson.
Gonzalez also had a solid amateur career where he went 164-14 and captured three national championships in his native Mexico. The 24 year old has won his last 18 fights, 16 of them by knockout. He is looking for a future bantamweight showdown against IBF Champion Rafael Marquez to decide who is the king at 118 pounds. Unfortunately a very slick boxer named Fenando “Cochulito” Montiel stands in his way.
Montiel, 32-1-1 (24), has won his last six fights, four of them by way of knockout. His last loss ironically came against Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson, who Gonzalez recently KO’d in 8 rounds. This was the case when Montiel made the jump up in weight from junior bantamweight to bantamweight, which he again will be attempting to do this Saturday night. In the Johnson fight, Montiel went down in the 5th round and had trouble trying to neutralize Johnson’s power throughout the fight and ended up losing a majority decision.
The fight this weekend should play out with both fighters starting slow. Gonzalez is a notoriously slow starting fighter while Montiel will take a couple rounds to try and figure out how to get past Gonzalez’s six inch reach advantage. Montiel is a quicker puncher and should find his spots over the slower but lethal punches of Gonzalez and the action should pick up in the middle rounds. But I believe the heavy right hand of Gonzalez will find Montiel and break him down. Expect a late round TKO in favor of Jhonny Gonzalez who will hopefully gain future fight against Rafael Marquez.
