By Ian S Palmer
Former 2012 American Olympian Jamel Herring of the U.S. Marine Corps takes on Russia’s Denis Shafikov in a 10-round lightweight bout between two southpaws at the Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania this Saturday, July 2nd. The bout can be seen live in the U.S. on ESPN and ESPN Deportes and is another Premier Boxing Champions production. The unbeaten Herring last fought on February 9th and beat Luis Eduardo Florez by a 10-round unanimous decision. Shafikov has fought for a world title twice and was last in the ring in December when he lost a title shot to Rances Barthelemy by unanimous decision.
The 30-year-old Herring of Coram, New York enters the ring with a perfect record of 15-0 along with 8 Kos. He stands 5-feet-10-inches tall and has a reach of 69 inches. Herring turned pro back in 2012 and has 68 rounds under his belt since then. He’s served a two tours of duty in Iraq and has decent power with a current knockout ratio of 53 per cent. However, four of his last five bouts have gone to the scorecards.
The 31-year-old Shafikov has a fine mark of 36-2-1 along with 19 Kos with both of his defeats coming in world title clashes. These were to Barthelemy last December for the vacant IBF title and at the hands of Miguel Vasquez in February of 2014 when he lost a 12-round unanimous decision in another clash for the IBF lightweight title. His draw came against Brunet Zamora in 2010 via a majority decision. He’s won three of his last four outings by stoppage and his current knockout ratio is 49 per cent.
Shafikov is just 5-foot-5, but with a 68.5-inch reach, which is only half-an-inch shorter than Herring’s. Shafikov, who is trained by Abel Sanchez, turned pro back in 2003 and has 244 rounds under his belt since then. He needs to get on the inside and put pressure on his opponents due to his short size. However, that’s going to be a lot easier said than done. The American should be looking to catch when he’s moving forward.
Shafikov’s best wins were a ninth-round stoppage over Rustam Nugaev in August of 2014, an eight-round unanimous decision against Miguel Angel Mendoza four months later and a third-round stoppage over Roy Mukhlis last July. Herring will try to make it difficult for Shafikov to get close to him. However, if he can get in range by evading the jab, the Russian will need to punish the American to the body and try to wear him down as much as possible.
Prediction……
Shafikov is a rugged customer and he has the edge in experience. Neither boxer is a one-punch knockout threat and the more-skilled fighter should have the edge here. This could lean slightly towards Herring and he also has a five-inch height advantage. This should be a competitive bout and a pretty close one with either boxer having a legitimate shot at winning. It’s hard to tell how good Herring is at this point in his career due to his limited opposition, so this fight will at least give us some kind of answer. Look for Herring to take a close decision.
