By Ian S Palmer
Lee Selby of Wales will be defending his IBF World Featherweight Championship for the first time this Wednesday, October 14th when he takes on veteran Fernando Montiel of Mexico in Glendale, Arizona. The 12-round bout is a part of a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) card and can be seen live in the U.S. on. Fans in the UK can catch all the action on Sky Sports. Selby won the crown by beating Evgeny Gradovich by a technical decision in the eighth round in May. He then ended up signing with Al Haymon and this is his U.S. debut.
The 28-year-old Selby enters the ring with a record of 21-1 with 8 Kos while the 36-year-old Montiel is 54-4-2 with 39 Kos. Montiel may be best known for his outing against Nonito Donaire back in 2011. Donaire stopped him with a tremendous left hook in the round in that fight. However, Montiel has bounced back quite well and has racked up a record of 10-1 since then with most of the bouts taking place in Mexico. Selby, on the other hand, has a 17-bout winning streak on the line.
Selby should be confident heading into this fight after winning the title, but can’t afford to take Montiel lightly. There’s no hiding the fact that Selby doesn’t offer much in the way of power with just eight stoppages to his name for a Ko rating of 36 per cent. Montiel is definitely the harder puncher with a Ko percentage of 65. Selby has the height advantage though as he measures just over 5-feet-8-inches tall while Montiel stands 5-foot-4. Also, Selby’s reach of 69.5 inches gives him a three-inch edge over the challenger.
Where Montiel does have a big edge is in the experience department. He’s fought 367 rounds since turning pro in 1996 while Selby has gone 150 rounds since 2008. Montiel’s taken on some top opponents such as Donaire, Cristobal Cruz, Luis Maldonado, Martin Castillo, Jhonny Gonzalez and Mark Johnson. His four defeats have been at the hands of Donaire, Johnson, Gonzalez, and Viktor Terrazas. Montiel has been stopped just once though, and that was by Donaire. However, most of his defeats have come when he stepped up in class.
Selby’s lone loss came against Samir Mouneimne via a four-round decision back in 2009. Other than Gradovich and Rendall Munroe, Selby hasn’t really fought anyone of note though. He won the title when Gradovich couldn’t continue because of a cut over his eye which was caused by an accidental clash of heads. The bout went to the scorecards and Selby was ahead by a wide margin on the cards of all three judges. If Montiel was in his prime he’d be the favourite heading into this bout, but at the age of 36 he may have a tough time keeping up with Selby.
Prediction
Montiel has plenty of experience and a solid chin whereas Selby is regarded as one of the division’s lightest hitters. If Montiel has anything left in the tank he should be quite competitive in this fight and a win wouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s a tough bout to call since we know what Selby brings to the contest while it’s unclear how the years have taken their toll on Montiel. Selby has the edge if the fight goes the distance while Montiel has the edge if it turns into a brawl. Let’s give the challenger the benefit of the doubt here and go out on a limb with Montiel to take the title.
