By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten IBF Super Featherweight king Rances Barthelemy of Cuba will be defending his title against Fernando Saucedo of Argentina at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut this Saturday, October 4. The 12-round bout can be caught live across the USA on the Showtime Network while Super Channel will be airing all of the action in Canada.
The 28-year-old Barthelemy, who now fights out of Miami, Florida, enters the ring with a perfect record of 20-0 along with 12 Kos. The 32-year-old veteran Saucedo is 52-5-3 and incredibly has just 8 Kos to his name in his 60 pro bouts. Barthelemy has a distinct five-inch height advantage as he stands 5-foot-11 compared to Saucedo’s 5-foot-6. Saucedo has a huge advantage in pro experience as he’s fought 373 rounds to Barthelemy’s 87. However, Barthelemy had an excellent and extensive amateur career.
Because of his height, Barthelemy likes to box from the outside while the challenger will be trying to work his inside to take the fight to him. But since Saucedo basically has no power at all in his fists, his only realistic chance to win this fight is to outbox the champion. Barthelemy won the title in January when he stopped Argenis Mendez in the second round. However, he hit Mendez after the bell had rung to end the round and a rematch was ordered by the IBF as the bout was declared a no contest.
They fought the rematch in July and Barthelemy took the title by a unanimous decision. Saucedo has faced some top boxers previously in his 13-year career such as Acelino Freitas and Chris John, but he lost both bouts by wide unanimous decisions. He has also lost to Nedal Hussein by disqualification, Claudio Rosendo Tapia by unanimous decision, and to Fabian Valentin Martinez by a four-round majority decision way back in 2002. Saucedo’s fought a real mixed bag of opponents and has never been stopped.
Barthelemy has excellent boxing skills to go along with decent power and he’s got quite a reach at 73 inches. Saucedo is a good counterpuncher who goes to the body as well as the head and likes to throw quick combinations. Barthelemy could be in trouble if Saucedo can work his way inside and push him around, but again, once he gets inside he doesn’t have any power on his shots.
Prediction
Barthelemy should be able to have his own way against Saucedo, but he can’t be too cocky as the challenger could hurt him if he lands the perfect shot. Saucedo needs to throw punches in bunches, but he actually prefers to fight from a distance, which just won’t work against the tall and lanky champion. Barthelemy seems to have a hand-picked opponent here in Saucedo, but he can’t take him too lightly. Look for him to box his way to a relatively comfortable decision to retain the title with a slim chance of ending things on a late stoppage.
