By Ian S Palmer
Mauricio Herrera of Riverside, California will be squaring off against (21-5, 7 KOs) Hank (Henry) Lundy of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena this Saturday, July 11. The 10-round but is for the vacant NABF Super Lightweight Championship and it can be seen live in the U.S. on HBO Latino. The 35-year-old Herrera will climb through the ring ropes with a record of 21-5 along with 7 Kos and the 31-year-old Lundy enters the fight at 25-4-1 with 12 stoppages. Herrera has the edge in location here as this is basically a hometown fight for him.
Herrera is still a top-ranked boxer by the WBA and the WBO as he’s proven over the years that he’s tough to beat due to his excellent skills. Even though he’s been beaten five times, all of the defeats were by decision and most of them were quite controversial. So far in his career he’s held the WBA World Super Lightweight title along with the IBF North American Super Lightweight and USNBC Super Lightweight and Welterweight crowns. His latest high-profile match came against WBC and WBA World Champion Danny Garcia of Philadelphia back in March of 2014 and he dropped a highly-controversial majority decision.
Many ringsiders gave Herrera the edge against Garcia, but he then took the interim WBA Super Lightweight crown by beating former champion Johan Perez by majority decision. He lost the interim title by unanimous decision to Jose Benavidez in Las Vegas in December. He’s been in with some of the best in the division and even though he doesn’t have much in the way of power, Herrera has decision wins over the likes of Mike Dallas and Ruslan Provodnikov.
Lundy is a former NABO and NABF Lightweight Champion who also fought in December when he came out on the wrong end of a split-decision to Thomas Dulorme for the NABF Super Lightweight Title as well as the vacant WBO NABO Super Lightweight Title. Lundy’s a top-ranked WBC boxer who’s faced some decent opponents over the years such as David Diaz, John Molina and Raymundo Beltran. However, he lost to Molina and Beltran, with Molina stopping him. Lundy is now back with his former trainer Charles Ramey and badly needs a win here if he’s ever going to earn himself a world title shot.
Herrera turned pro in 2007 and has 198 rounds under his belt since then. His KO percentage stands at just 27. Lundy has fought 179 rounds since turning pro in 2006 and doesn’t possess much power either as his KO ratio is 40 per cent.
Prediction
This fight should go the distance since neither boxer has much in the way of power. In addition, Herrera has an excellent chin and Lundy’s been stopped just once in his career. Herrera’s no spring chicken at the age of 25, but he’s the owner of a lot of boxing skills and an awkward guy to face. He’s also got a slight height advantage and a three-inch edge in reach. Since it’s a 10-rounder Lundy needs to start fast and keep up the work rate each and every round. It’s a close one to call, but if Herrera’s in peak form he should take it by a close decision.
