By Ian S Palmer
Jonathan Rice of Columbia, South Carolina will be taking on undefeated Guido Vianello of Italy in a 10-round heavyweight tilt this Saturday, January 14th. The fight from Verona, New York can be seen live in America on ESPN+ and ESPN while those in Canada can catch it on TSN2 and UK fans can view it on Sky Sports Arena. Rice last fought in January of last year when he beat Michael Coffie by 10-round unanimous decision in a rematch after stopping Coffie in the fifth round six months earlier. Vianelli beat Jay McFarlane by an eight-round unanimous decision in his last bout in October.
The 35-year-old Rice is a decent-sized heavyweight at 6-feet-5-inches tall and an 81-inch reach and enters the ring with a mark of 15-6-1 with 10 Ko’s. He’s boxed 100 rounds since making his pro debut in 2014 at the age of 27 after a brief amateur career when he drew Justin Davenport over four rounds. Rice has enough power in his fists do do some damage even though his current knockout ratio reads just 45.5 per cent as 10 of his 15 wins have been by knockout.
His losses came at the hands of Con Sheehan by four-round unanimous decision in 2016, Stephen Shaw by six-round unanimous decision in 2016, Tony Yoka by six-round unanimous decision in 2017, by seventh-round stoppage to Arslanbek Makhmudov in 2019, by 10th-round stoppage to Demsey McKean in March, 2020 and by 10-round unanimous decision to Efe Ajagba six months later. He’s fought some good opponents but lacks experience against legitimate contenders.
Rice’s loss to Makhmudov was for the vacant WBC Continental Americas Heavyweight Title and he managed to stop Christian Mariscal in the first round in August, 2019 for the vacant WBC Latino Heavyweight Championship. In addition, his defeat to McKean was for the vacant WBO Asia Pacific and IBF Inter-Continental Heavyweight Titles. Rice now fights out of Los Angeles, California and his upset wins over Coffie have revitalized his career somewhat.
The unbeaten Vianello boxes out of Las Vegas, Nevada and climbs into the ring with a near-perfect mark of 10-0-1 with 9 Ko’s. He’s boxed just 21 rounds since making his pro debut in 2019 following an extensive amateur career which saw him compete in the World Series of Boxing and reach the final of the 2014 EUBC EU Final, which he lost to Frazer Clarke. He also fought as a super heavyweight at the 2016 Olympics but was defeated in his first bout.
The 28-year-old Vianello’s also a good-sized heavyweight at 6-feet-6-inches tall with a 79-inch reach. He gives up two inches in reach to Rice but is an inch taller. As far as pro competition goes, Vianello’s lone draw came against Kingsley Ibeh over six rounds in 2020 and he’s taking a bit of a step up in class this weekend as his biggest wins have been against the likes of Don Haynesworth, Marlon Williams, Rafael Rios, Colby Madison and Cassius Anderson. So far, Vianello has been pretty successful as a pro due to his power as he carries around a current knockout ratio of 81.8 per cent.
Prediction…
Rice is a bit of a journeyman who is usually brought in as an opponent who isn’t expected to win but he does have the power to cause some damage if he connects and he upset the apple cart against Michael Coffie on a couple of occasions. He’s 35 years old, but didn’t turn pro until he was 27. His chin isn’t the greatest and that could cause a problem against Vianello, who’s eight years younger. Rice has a puncher’s chance and I’m a bit surprised he’s the betting favourite. However, I think Vianello should be able to pull out a win here.
