Boxing Preview: Juan Urango – Naoufel Ben Rabah

ByJim Marra

Tonight in Hollywood, Florida, two junior welterweights will fight for the IBF title which was vacated by Ricky Hatton. As we all know the Jr welterweight division just a few short years ago was was loaded with talent, from Koysta Tszyu, Arturo Gatti, Floyd Mayweather, Miguel C! otto, and Ricky Hatton. Today Tszyu has one foot in retirement and the rest of the former 140 lbs stars have moved up to welterweight. But do not be fooled, the current class at junior welterweight is still thriving with talent.

For one, you still some of the old guard of junior welters who did not make the move up to 147, they are; the top contender Junior Witter, big punching Vivian Harris, as well as two solid veterans in DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corely and Carlos Maussa. Also, the dangerous Mexican fighter Jose Luis Castillo has moved up to junior welter. But there are also some great prospects out there as well, such as Mike Arnauotis, Demetrius Hopkins, and the smooth talking, fast punching Paulie Malignaggi.

Also in this mix is Juan Urango, 16-0-1 (13). You could tell from his record that Urango is a big puncher, who also compares to a young Mike Tyson stylistically the way Urango will come forward and slip punches from side to side. Urango’s best showings came against Andre Eason, where Urango displayed that he had stamina problems but eventually got the TKO in the 7th. His next best fight was against a very good prospect in the previously mentioned Mike Arnauotis. Arnaoutis showed that he had a good chin and took many of Urango’s hard punches, while also using his speed and landing 3 and 4 punch combinations. The fight ended in a draw but it proved to be another chink in Urango’s armor.

Naoufel Ben Rabah, 24-1 (13), is Urango’s tough opponent tonight and Rabah might have the speed and boxing skills to kill Urango’s pressuring attack. Rabah’s best fight came against Arturo Morua, who had previously decisioned Emanuel Augustus and Carlos Maussa. Rabah will definitely be looking for the Carlos Quintana-sized upset tonight.

This fight is the classic boxer-puncher match up which showcases two young and tough opponents fighting for a piece of the world title. The fight is featured on ESPN and should be watched and praise should be given to the network for a good showcase fight, but I figured ESPN had to make up for the Dominick Guinn – Toney Thompson fight this past Wednesday.

I believe Rabah doesn’t quite have the experience to keep Urango off and if Urango doesn’t have any stamina problems, he should get a stoppage a win. But, we have seen some impressive upsets the past couple of weeks and I wouldn’t be totally surprised it Rabah could pull one off, because in the biggest fights of Juan Urango’s short career so far, he has at times shown inconsistency.