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By: William Holmes
On Saturday Premier Boxing Champions series will present a two televised events on two different networks at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas. On Saturday afternoon CBS will televised an IBF Junior Featherweight Title between Carl Frampton and Alejandro Gonzalez as well as a heavyweight bout between Chris Arreola and Fred Kassi. Several hours later at the same venue Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will face Marcos Reyes in a super middleweight bout, McJoe Arroyo will face Arthur Villanueva for the vacant IBF Junior Bantamweight Title, and highly touted prospect Amir Imam will face Fernando Angulo in the junior welterweight division.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will be featured in the main event of the night as he looks to bounce back from a tough loss to Andrzej Fonfara in April of this year and hopes to stay relevant in the super middleweight division.
The following is a preview of the three bouts that will be featured on Showtime.
Amir Imam (17-0) vs. Fernando Angulo (29-9); Junior Welterweights
Amir Imam will be fighting for third time in 2015 and is considered to be a highly rated prospect with a vast amount of potential.
He is only twenty four years old, but he already has fourteen stoppage victories to his resume and has stopped three of his past five opponents. He had a successful amateur career but lost twice to Errol Spence in the 2012 US Olympic Boxing trials.
His opponent, Fernando Angulo, has stopped sixteen of his opponents but only has one stoppage victory in his past five fights. He is currently riding a five fight win streak but has nine losses on his record and some of those losses have come against non-descript opponents such as a thirteen loss Silverio Ortiz and a nine loss Ammeth Diaz.
Imam will have about a five inch height advantage and close to a six inch reach advantage. He also has a significant edge in power, speed, and boxing acumen.
Imam’s list of notable victories include Walter Castillo, Fidel Maldonado, Yordenis Ugas, and Jared Robinson. Angulo does not have any notable victories over a well known opponent.
This fight should be a squash and an easy night for Amir Imam.
McJoe Arroyo (16-0) vs. Arthur Villanueva (27-0); IBF Junior Bantamweight Title
Of the three fights to be televised on Saturday night this appears to be the best fight on paper.
Arroyo is a Puerto Rican boxer who is in the middle of his athletic prime. He won the bronze medal in the 2007 World Amateur Championships in the bantamweight division.
Villanueva is a Filipino boxer and is three years younger than Arroyo at the age of twenty six. He will also have about an inch height advantage and a three inch reach advantage over Arroyo. He didn’t achieve any notable international accolades as a boxer.
They have similar knockout percentages. Arroyo has stopped half of his opponents while Villanueva has stopped fourteen of his opponents.
This will be Arroyo’s first fight in the United States. He has spent a large majority of his career fighting in Puerto Rico. His notable victories include Mark Geraldo and Hernan Marquez. This will also be Villanueva first fight in the United States. He has spent his entire career fighting in the Philippines except for one fight in Japan and one fight in Dubai. His notable victories include Henry Maldonado for the vacant IBF International Super Flyweight Title, Julio Cesar Miranda, and Marco Demecillo.
This is a tough fight to call, but Villanueva appears to have the edge in experience as a professional but Arroyo appears to be the better pure boxer.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (48-2-1) vs. Marcos Reyes (33-2); Super Middleweights
Depending on who you talk to, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is either blessed or cursed with one of the most recognizable names in boxing.
He is coming off a ninth round stoppage loss to Andrzej Fonfara at the Stub Hub Center in Carson, California in April of this year and is coming back into the ring only three months later.
However, Chavez Jr. has only fought four times in the past three years and has gone 2-2 in those contests, and one of those victories was a questionable win over Brian Vera in a catch weight bout.
Despite coming from one of the most famous boxing families that Mexico has ever known, Chavez Jr. did not have a notable amateur career, but neither did his opponent Marcos Reyes.
They are about the same size, and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is two years older than Reyes. Chavez has stopped thirty two of his opponents while Reyes has stopped twenty four. Chavez however has not had a stoppage victory since June of 2012 against Andy Lee. Reyes has had two stoppage victories in his past five fights.
Chavez has the considerable edge in notable victories. He has defeated the likes of Brian Vera, Andy Lee, Marco Antonio Rubio, Peter Manfredo Jr., Sebastin Zbik, and John Duddy. Reyes most notable victory was against Rogelio Medina. His two losses were to Abraham Han in October of 2014 and to the relatively unknown Amilcar Edgardo Funez Melian in 2010.
There is no way that Chavez Jr.’s handlers would have put him in the ring against a tough opponent so soon after being stopped by Fonfara. This should be an easy win for Chavez Jr. and he hasn’t been out of the ring long enough to be in poor shape. A tougher than expected victory or a shocking loss could spell the end of Chavez Jr.’s time on television.
