By Ian S Palmer
This Friday night June 28 we’ll see middleweight Grzegorz Proksa of Poland taking on American Sergio Mora in ESPN’s ‘Friday Night Fights’ from Jacksonville, Florida. Proksa will enter the ring with a decent 29-2 record along with 21 Kos while the lighter hitting Mora will climb through the ropes with a mark of 23-3-2 with 7 Kos. This bout is scheduled for 10 rounds.
The 28-year-old Proksa was handed a fifth-round knockout last September by WBA Middleweight king Gennady Golovkin and that could be the main reason he’s taking on the light-hitting veteran Mora. Proksa is a pretty slick southpaw with quick hands and a decent defense. His chin is questionable since Golovkin stopped him, but the champion has knocked out 23 of his 26 opponents so it’s hard to tell just how good Proksa’s chin is.
Proksa is a pretty aggressive fighter rather than a fancy-Dan boxer. He became known in the boxing world back in 2011 when he stopped Sebastian Sylvester in the third round. He also put up a good fight against Kerry Hope of Britain for the European title in 2012 even though he lost by a majority decision. He’s won three out of four bouts since then with the only loss being to Golovkin last year.
The 32-year-old Mora lost to Brian Vera last summer via a close decision and it was his third defeat in the past six outings. He really needs a win here if he hopes to prolong his boxing career at a semi-elite level. Mora’s also got good hand speed and is better than average when it comes to defence. He’s quite effective when he’s slipping, sliding and providing angles and can be quite a handful at times.
His best outings have been wins over Vernon Forrest and Peter Manfredo Jr. He also has a draw against former world champion Shane Mosley. Mora usually starts his fights quickly, but often runs out of gas as they wear on. It will help him here as this is just a 10 rounder. He needs to be in excellent condition to beat Proksa and will need to work hard each and every round since he doesn’t really have the power to stop him.
This is a pretty good matchup. It’s going to be interesting to see if Proksa’s gun shy after his beating at the hands of Golovkin. He’s younger than Mora, has more power and is more aggressive. However, Mora does have the boxing skills to upset anybody if he’s on the top of his game. Mora’s conditioning and determination will be the key here. If he’s serious about extending his career and has trained hard for this fight he could pull off a mild upset and win it on points.
