HBO: Salido-Garcia, Golovkin-Rosado, and Martinez-Burgos: Preview and Prediction!

Juan Carlos Burgos

Roman Martinez

First off, let's talk about the opening bout. you have two super featherweights battling for the WBO title. Roman Martinez and Juan Carlos Burgos should be able to produce some fireworks because, in my opinion, both men are determined. They both have only 1 defeat on each of their records, and to me that motivates them to try to win this fight. I've honestly seen just a little bit of footage of these guys' fights, but judging Martinez's performance against Miguel Beltran Jr. and Burgos' performance against Cesar Vazquez, I think Burgos takes this one by decision, although Martinez might have his moments. Because of Martinez's lack of defense, I think that presents a good opportunity to land some hard shots for Burgos, but Martinez can go to war and I think the outcome could change dramatically.

PREDICTION: BURGOS BY DECISION

                                               

Gennady Golovkin

Gabriel Rosado

The next fight of the card will be for the WBA Middleweight Championship. The two men fighting for it will be defending champion, and fearsome power-puncher, Gennady Golovkin and tough Philadelphia contender Gabriel Rosado. I was impressed by Golovkin in his last fight, a five-round destruction of Polish native Grzegorz Proksa. Rosado has some good wins over decent opposition, guys like Sechew Powell, Kassim Ouma, and Jesus Soto-Karass. A win over Golovkin would be huge, but I expect Golovkin to beat down Rosado en route to a KO/TKO in less than 9 rounds. I hope Rosado at least makes this fight competitive because I think Golovkin should be truly tested.

PREDICTION: GOLOVKIN BY KO/TKO IN 9 ROUNDS OR LESS

Orlando Salido

Mikey Garcia

And now let's turn our attention to the main event. This should be a fight of the year candidate. Orlando Salido will defend his WBO Featherweight Title against unbeaten contender Mikey Garcia. This is a very hard fight to predict because both men are very tough! First, you have Salido, a guy who knocked out Juan Manuel Lopez in a huge upset. He was never expected to win, but not only did he win, he won in front of Lopez's fans in his native Puerto Rico. He did it again in the rematch only this time it went two rounds longer. And then you have Garcia, a brilliant and focused fighter, who blitzed Jonathan Barros in 8 rounds in his last fight. He's very good at picking his shots and when he wants to throw them. Like I said, this is a very hard fight to predict. I'm leaning towards Garcia by decision, but it won't be easy.

PREDICTION: GARCIA BY DECISION