Boxing Preview: HBO Doubleheader – Brock vs. Ibragimov And Julio vs. Quintana

This Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada, four fighters will put their unbeaten records on the line on the HBO series . Boxing After Dark. In the welterweight contest, much talked about prospect Joel Julio, 27-0 (24), will be matched against another prospect Carlos Quintana, 22-0 (18). What is intriguing about this match up is that both of these fighters have knockout power and both have relatively been in with weak opposition in their last fights. Julio’s last six opponents had a combined record of 123-53-6 while Quintana last six opponents have combined for the record of 170-52-8. The fight will not decide who is the best young prospect at welterweight, but which one is legit and could possibly be a contender.

“The Love Child” Julio seems to be the crowd favorite because he has gotten more exposure and he is currently contracted with Main Events, the promotion team who helped put these fights together. But do not count out Carlos Quintana; he is equally as devastating a puncher as Julio and a southpaw. This fight is really a pick ’em contest because both prospects have faced identical opposition and are equal in the power department. If they both decide to go head to head this fight could end at any minute, with either opponent being the victor.

The winner is slated to be the number one contender for the WBA, which would mean he’d be fighting Ricky Hatton. But to be honest, I don’t think I see any of these guys facing Hatton right now. Not even a Paul Williams and this would certainly be the case if Julio is victorious, because I am sure Main Events does not want to see a Francisco “Panchito” Bojado redux with Joel Julio.

This now brings us to the heavyweight match up of the evening, Calvin Brock, 28-0 (22) vs. Timor Ibragimov, 21-0-1 (13). This match looks quite scintillating, possibly even better than the welterweight showdown, until you see the glitch; Brock is fighting the wrong Ibragimov. A better matchup for Saturday night would have been Brock vs. Sultan Ibragimov, Timor’s brother, but us boxing fans will have to take what we can get.

It just seems so frustrating to watch Brock not capitalize off his impressive performance against Jameel McCline a little over a year ago. All momentum which Brock had after the McCline fight is now lost, so a good showing in Vegas on Saturday could be a start in regaining some of that momentum.

The last time we saw Brock was in February on the Mosley-Vargas undercard, he knocked out opponent Zuri Lawrence in sensational fashion. So the pressure is very much on Brock to gain a win, but he must do so convincingly. Add it to the fact that he is an American heavyweight contender , which is certainly a rare and valued commodity in today’s boxing world. So as David Bowie and Freddy Mercury would say, Calvin Brock is certainly “Under Pressure.”

Ibragimov comes into this fight completely untested in his level of opposition. His last opponent was Kenny Craven, who before fighting Ibragimov fought a trilogy against “Butterbean” and a fight against, you guessed it, Calvin Brock. But Ibragimov feels that this is the time to move up and prove he is a contender in the heavyweight division. So on Saturday, it might not be quite the best match up that boxing fans were looking for, but it is something we should definitely keep an eye on.