By Ian S Palmer
Britain’s Scott Quigg will be putting his version of the WBA World Super Bantamweight Title on the line against Yoandris Salinas of Cuba at the O2 Arena in London, England on Saturday October 5. The 24-year-old Quigg hails from Lancashire and is undefeated so far in his pro career with an impressive 26-0-1 record along with 19 Kos. The 28-year-old Salinas is also undefeated at 20-0-1 with 13 Kos.
Quigg is a solid boxer with good power and defensive skills. His favourite punch is a left hook down to the body and he’s quite mature for his age. He won the British title back in 2010 when he stopped Jason Booth in the seventh round. He then added the WBA’s interim world crown in November of 2012 when he stopped Rendall Munroe in the sixth round. He had previously fought to a six-round technical draw against Munroe five months earlier.
Salinas is also good defensively and owns a pair of fast hands. Like many Cubans, he enjoyed an extensive amateur career with close to 300 matches. Salinas doesn’t possess the same work ethic that many of his fellow countrymen do though and this could get him in trouble against Quigg. The Cuban definitely needs to up his punch output if he wants to pull off an upset. He can’t afford to be lazy or Quigg will have an easy time of it.
Quigg should be the aggressor in this bout as he’ll try to dictate the pace. Salinas will likely depend on his counter punching skills to earn points. This is a good test for Quigg as he tries to make a name for himself in the sport. Salinas has all of the tools to be a good boxer, but he sometimes needs to be prodded to unleash them. However, if Quigg’s punching him in the face all night long Salinas is bound to answer back with his own shots.
The Briton has won his four of his last six bouts by stoppage and his knockout ratio stands at 70 per cent. Salinas also has some power and his knockout percentage is just a shade lower at 62 per cent. He’s won four of his last five contests by knockout and can’t be taken lightly. The only blemish on his record is an eight round draw with Nehomar Cermeno back in October of 2011.
While both guys have good power we’re likely to see a boxing match here rather than a slugfest. Quigg is naturally more aggressive and throws more punches than Salinas and that will probably be the difference here. Salinas won’t win the fight by sitting back all night long and needs to get off first whenever he can. Quigg’s fighting in his homeland though and should be motivated to outwork the challenger over 12 rounds. Look for Quigg to take a relatively comfortable unanimous decision.
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