Saturday, January 19, 2013 on HBO
Madison Square Garden Theater, New York City
Orlando Salido vs. “Mikey” Garcia (Featherweights)- Salido is a very busy fighter that applies the type of pressure that annoys his opponent. Garcia, is quite the opposite. Mikey will stalk his prey like a silent killer, he usually fires out 1 to 2 shots at a time. But once he sees a tender area, he will then slowly go in for the kill. The over hand right will be the punch that Garcia must try his hardest to avoid, Salido tends to first rip the left towards your heart and then he looks to crush your skull with that piercing over hand right.
Because of this, Garcia must keep it in the center so that he will be able to take a step back and time that over hand right to then be able to shoot out his lethal straight right hand right down the middle. Garcia can also catch Salido clean with a looping left hook from that stance. This fight is going to be as exciting as Salido allows it to be. I know it sounds odd, but that is how I really feel about the excitement level of this fight. Salido will either eat the shots like m & m’s and will continue to work, or he will fold like a bad poker hand the second he feels Mikey’s thudding shots.
Many fight fans complain that Mikey is way too patient. I’ll tell you this much, Orlando Salido is the type of fighter that can force Garcia to open up. I’m picking Mikey Garcia to turn it on late and knock out Salido in the second half of the fight. Garcia by knock out between rounds 7-10.
Gennady Golovkin vs. Gabriel Rosado (Middleweights)– Salido/Garcia is going to be a very intriguing fight. Heck, even the Rocky Martinez-Juan Carlos Burgos fight is going to be a fight that you should not sleep on. But make no mistake about it, the steak and potatoes lays in Golovkin-Rosado. Triple G to me is a bigger version of Lucas Matthysse. Lucas is a bit more trigger happy, but both are brutal punchers. Golovkin is destructive in every sense of the word. I love his killing style but when I take a deep look at Golovkin, I see someone that is very much in love with his own power. The key is to know what you have, but never abuse it.
Rosado on the other hand, is going to have to realize that he doesn’t have to eat a box of crayons to spit out a skittle. You can respect his power, but you don’t have to accept it. Gabi is going to have to walk into a torture chamber and pull his opponent out, only to then push him into a furnace. If I’m Rosado, I would keep Golovkin in front of me and force him to fight me while going backwards. I could be wrong, but I don’t feel that Golovkin is as dangerous in retreat as he is when moving forward hunting his prey.
It’s very hard to pick against a puncher as dangerous as Triple G, but Rosado is on quite a hot streak right now, that it makes it almost impossible to pick against at this particular moment. I see Rosado using his size by moving out and in to then get into position to out fight Golovkin on the inside. Conditioning is going to be very key in this one. Gabi should study the way Julio Cesar Chavez highlighted Edwin Rosario’s biggest strength in camp, only to take it completely away the second the bell rang to begin the first round.
Alright now, I’m going to stop romancing it, here it is. Raw, in your face, and uncut.
He will have to go through fire, but I’m going with Gabi Rosado to out fight Golovkin and beat him in a 7 rounds to 5 type of clash. Don’t get me wrong, I can totally see Triple G landing something nasty and sticking Rosado in the trunk, but it must come very early if it’s to happen. If Rosado fights Golovkin the way I feel he should fight him, Rosado wins by taking the majority of the rounds.
