By Ian S Palmer
The IBF Super Featherweight Championship will be on the line this Thursday, July 10 when belt holder Argenis Mendez of the Dominican Republic takes on Rances Barthelemy of Cuba at the Convention Center in Miami, Florida. The two combatants originally squared off in Minnesota back in January when Mendez was dropped twice in the second round and the referee stopped the contest. However, the boxing commission reversed the referee’s stoppage decision and changed it to a no decision after video replays showed Mendez was hit after the bell. All of the action can be caught live in the U.S. on ESPN 2 at 10 pm ET.
The 28-year-old Barthelemy is 5-feet 11 inches tall and possesses a 73-inch reach, making him quite big indeed for a super featherweight. The unbeaten boxer, who now fights out of Miami, is ranked number 12 in the world and will enter the ring with a perfect record of 19-0 with 12 Kos to his name. Before getting it on with Mendez in January, he beat Fahsai Sakkreerin by a second-round KO in June of 2013 in Minneapolis.
The 27-year old Mendez has a 71-inch reach and stands 5-feet-9 inches tall and now fights out of New York. He’s ranked number seven in the world and carries around a record of 21-2-1 with 11 Kos. Prior to meeting Barthelemy in January Mendez fought to a majority draw with Arash Usmanee last August in a title defence. Mendez had captured the IBF super featherweight title by stopping Juan Carlos Salgado in the fourth round in March of 2013.
On paper, neither of these boxers would be considered a one-punch knockout artist, but it may be hard to convince the champion of that. Mendez was being dominated by Barthelemy in their first meeting and was knocked out cold at the end of the second round. However, while replays showed the punch did indeed land after the bell, it wasn’t an intentional shot. It just seemed to catch him at the end of a flurry of punches.
Barthelemy was having no problem finding and landing on Mendez and will obviously be heading into this rematch full of confidence. There’s a good chance that he’ll try to replicate his performance by attacking Mendez with power shots right from the opening bell. Mendez will need to keep him at bay, but that’s going to be tough due to his height and reach disadvantages. And let’s not forget that Mendez also needs to be mentally tougher than Barthelemy, which will be hard considering how the first fight panned out.
Prediction
Mendez will need to make some adjustments in the ring this time around if he hopes for a different outcome. Out boxing his bigger opponent is going to be a tough task so he needs to make sure he lands a few power shots to keep Barthelemy at a distance. If he doesn’t have the power to keep the challenger at bay then he’s likely to get stopped again or come out on the wrong end of a unanimous decision.
