By Ian S Palmer
Romulo Koasicha of Mexico meets Welshman Lee Selby in Cardiff, Wales this Saturday, May 17 in a WBC world featherweight title eliminator. The 12-rounder is also for the WBC International Featherweight Championship and will be taking place at the Motorpoint Arena. Fans in the U.S. will have a chance to catch it live Saturday afternoon on the AWE network while it will be shown on Sky Sports in Britain. Koasicha will enter the ring with a record of 21-3 with 12 Kos while Selby of has a mark 18-1 with 7 Kos and is the reigning European and British Champion.
Koasicha may be just 23 years old but he turned pro back in 2008 when he was 17. He had an extensive amateur career with close to 100 fights and won the WBC United States Featherweight Title in 2012. He defended the crown twice before dropping a majority decision to Jesus Galicia. However, he regained it in his next outing after the belt had been declared vacant with a sixth-round KO over Alexander Monterrosa. His last bout took place in February when he beat fellow Mexican Marcos Cardenas by 12-round unanimous decision.
Koasicha hasn’t really fought anybody of note so far in his career as most of his bouts have taken place in his homeland. In fact, this will be his first fight outside of Mexico. He said he’s been studying tapes of the 27-year-old Selby and knows he’s a fine boxer with good technique and power. But he feels he has the right game plan in place to pull off an upset. He believes Selby leaves his guard down too often and he can take advantage of this and he’s also confident he can adapt to any style Selby might bring.
Selby does have a rather awkward style and he likes to throw shots from all angles. The Mexican is trained by his father and so far things have worked out well for the university student. He knows some father-son relationships turn out for the worse when it comes to boxing, but says if it isn’t broken there’s no need to fix it.
Selby won his last fight in February with a sixth-round TKO over Rendall Munroe. However, neither he nor Koasicha are known as knockout artists. They have decent power, but usually stop opponents by wearing them down with a volume of punches.
Prediction
Since Koasicha has never fought outside of Mexico, nobody really knows how good he may be, including Selby. The Welshman will have the home crowd behind him and if he can take his opponent’s power shots he should be able to box his way to a decision here. Koasicha needs to be aware of a hometown decision so he has to make sure he is ready to go right from the opening bell. If he can take the initiative and throw punches in volume he may impress the judges. But let’s stick with Selby by decision.
