By Ian S Palmer
Yoan Pablo Hernandez of Cuba will be defending his IBF Cruiserweight Championship against Firat Arslan in the challenger’s home nation of Germany on Saturday, August 16. The 12-round bout will be shown on BoxNation in Britain. This could be seen as a home fight for both boxers since Hernandez also fights out of Germany now. There’s also both southpaws.
Hernandez defended the title against Alexander Alekseev the last time out when he stopped the challenger in the 10th round on November 23 of last year. He’s on a hot streak at the moment as he hasn’t been beaten since Wayne Braithwaite stopped him back in 2008. As for the aging Arslan, he’s a former cruiserweight belt holder who always serves up a tough challenge to everybody he meets. He last fought in June and beat Tamas Bajzath by an eight-round unanimous decision.
The 29-year-old Hernandez has an impressive 28-1 record with 14 Kos while the 43-year-old Arslan is 34-7-2 and has 21 Kos to his credit. Hernandez has a huge age advantage and at 6-feet-4-inches tall he also possesses a 4.5-inch edge in height. They both enter the fight with 77 inch reaches though. Arslan predictably has quite a bit more professional experience since he’s gone 263 rounds as a pro while Hernandez has boxed 159.
Hernandez is a good boxer, but not tat well known. Let’s face it, the cruiserweight division really just isn’t that popular with the average boxing fan even though it produces some fine fighters. Hernandez is perhaps taking a bit of a step backwards here by fighting a 43-year-old who’s in the twilight of his career. He enters the fight with 14 consecutive wins under his belt, and they’ve all been in Germany. He’s faced some of the division’s best in Troy Ross and Steve Cunningham, who he beat twice.
Arslan has lost twice in his last four outings, but he has a fan-friendly style and that’s why he’s quite popular in his homeland of Germany. His two most recent defeats came at the hand of fellow countryman Marco Huck, who’s arguably the best cruiserweight in the world at the moment. Huck knocked him out earlier in 2014 and beat him by a relatively close decision back in 2012. This should be Arslan’s last title shot and he’s hoping to cash in on it.
He’s going to be facing a physically-big champion though who has some good boxing skills. Hernandez throws fluid combinations and doesn’t waste a lot of energy in the ring. He’s got decent, but not overwhelming power to go along with a so-so chin. On the other hand, Arslan likes to attack on the inside and put the pressure on. He tries to protect himself well, but his chin isn’t as dependable as the champion’s . if he can work his way inside the taller Hernandez he has enough power to cause some problems.
Prediction
This matchup is basically a boxer (Hernandez) against a puncher (Arslan). Since Arslan’s quite a bit older he needs to try to take the champion out early in the bout if possible. It’s not going to be easy to get to the inside of Hernandez though. If he does manage it he needs to take advantage of it as much as possible. If Arslan can’t end the fight early it doesn’t look good for him. Arslan has to more or less smother Hernandez during the fight, but it’s not likely to happen consistently over 12 rounds. Look for Hernandez to keep the title by unanimous decision or a late stoppage.
