By Ian S Palmer
The Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange, New Jersey will be the site of some light heavyweight action this weekend when Elvir Muriqi of Kosovo takes on Australian prospect Blake Caparello. The 10-round bout can be seen live across America on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights on January 31 and later that night on a tape-delay basis in Canada on TSN. The 27-year-old Caparello is undefeated so far in his career with a record of 18-0-1 with six Kos. The 34-year-old Muriqi enters the ring with a mark of 40-5 and has 24 Kos to his name.
Caparello’s last bout came in his homeland back in October when he beat former world champions Allan Green of the U.S. by a unanimous decision. Caparello’s a southpaw with some better-than-average boxing skills. He’s also good defensively and has good foot movement along with a nice, stiff jab. What he does lack though is power. With just six stoppages in his 19 fights his knockout ratio stands at just 32 per cent. However, he does own a good tight hook and doesn’t mind digging it into his opponents’ bodies.
In the other corner, the veteran Muriqi is naturally more aggressive and has decent power with a knockout ratio of 53.3 per cent. He likes to attack the body and usually takes the initiative in his bouts. His idea will be to slow the younger Caparello down with a body attack and keep moving forward with his fists flying. Muriqi turned pro back in 1998 and has faced boxers such as James Crawford, Tony Menefee, Danny Santiago, Marlon Hayes, Daniel Judah, Clinton Woods, and Antonio Tarver.
His best performance was a close majority decision loss to Tarver back in 2007 in an IBO world title fight. He also lost to Woods by unanimous decision two years later and his other defeats were by six-round split decision to Oleksandr Garashchenko in 2005 and a six round disqualification to Dan Sheehan in 2000. He’s been stopped just once, which was a fourth-round TKO at the hands of Santiago in 2004. He hasn’t lost since 2009, but has fought just three times in the last four years.
Caparello turned pro back in 2009 and has never fought outside of his native Australia as of yet. Other than Green, the most recognizable opponents he’s faced have been Dante Craig and Aaron Pryor Jr. He’ll be stepping up slightly in class here and will have his hands full with ‘The Kosovo Kid.’
Muriqi has the edge in experience, but at this stage of their careers Caparello has the better boxing skills. He’s more mobile and has faster hands and also has a slight advantage in the reach and height departments. He needs to get in and out and strike quickly. Muriqi is more powerful and has a good chin. It’s doubtful Caparello has the power to stop him even with the ring rust he needs to fight off. This could go either way if Muriqi’s motivated and keeps busy, but he’s likely to get outboxed by the younger Caparello and drop a decision.
