By Ian S Palmer
Josenilson Dos Santos of Brazil will be taking on undefeated Felix Verdejo of Puerto Rico this Friday, December 11th at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico for Verdejo’s WBO Latino Lightweight Championship. The 12-round bout will be broadcast live in North America on Tru TV. The 22-year-old Verdejo enters the contest with a perfect 18-0 record along with 13 Kos while the 30-year-old Josenilson is 27-3 with 17 Kos to his name. Verdejo is hoping to one day earn a world title shot, but will need to step up the class of opposition if he gets past Dos Santos.
Verdejo likes to stay active and this will be his third bout of the year. His last outing was back in June when he beat Ivan Najera by 10-round unanimous decision. Verdejo stands 5-feet-9-inches tall and has a 71.5-inch reach. He turned pro back in 2012 and has gone just 65 rounds since then. He has quite a bit of power and has a current knockout ratio of 75 per cent. The youngster has a lot of potential and is regarded by most experts to be Puerto Rico’s next big boxing star.
Verdejo’s power and skills have seen most of his fights end early and that’s basically the reason he hasn’t got many rounds under his belt up to now. He has a lot of speed and mobility with an excellent uppercut and is also adept defensively. Of course, he has a lot of potential, but he’ll need to take on the best in his division to become a legitimate star. He’s taking the right route by staying busy, but sooner or later he’s going to have to step up the level of competition. His best opponents so far have been Oscar Bravo, Sergio Reyes and Marco Antonio Lopez.
Dos Santos has been inconsistent lately with two wins and two losses in his last four outings. His most recent performance was a sixth-round KO loss at the hands of Paulus Moses in April of last year. He was also stopped by Miguel Angel Gonzalez in the eighth round in 2013 and dropped an eight-round unanimous decision to Diego Magdaleno in 2009. Dos Santos has been inactive for 18 months and that’s not going to help his cause against Verdejo and neither is his questionable chin.
As far as size goes, Dos Santos is quite tall for a lightweight at 5-foot-11, but his reach is just 68 inches, which gives him a disadvantage in that department. He turned pro in 2006 and has 144 rounds to his name since then. He’s also got decent power with a knockout ratio of 57 per cent. Dos Santos lacks the all-around skills, power and experience that Verdejo possesses and he’s definitely taking a step up in class.
Prediction
Everything seems to be stacked against Dos Santos. He’s fighting a younger champion in his own backyard and has been out of the ring since April of 2014. He has a reach disadvantage and lacks the speed, power and skills of Verdejo. The only edge the Brazilian has in this fight is his height. However, it’s not going to be nearly enough and fans should expect to see Verdejo stop him at any point in the fight.
