By Dr. Peter Edwards
The bantamweight division is about to heat up, as two of the best bantamweights in the world are ready to collide for supremacy.
In front of a wild crowd in the Home Depot Center in Carson City, CA, WBO bantamweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (32-4, 28KOs) will defend his title against the WBO junior bantamweight champion, Fernando Montiel (32-1-1, 24KOs).
The bout is not only interesting from a fight perspective, but also from a promotional point of view. Golden Boy Promotions, the company that promotes both of the Mexican fighters involved, has matched two of their best up and coming fighters in a battle that the company hopes is going to make one of them the next Mexican mega-star in the lower weight classes.
This is not a fight that Golden Boy had to make, there are plenty of other opponents that could have been matched for both fighters. The fight stands a good chance of being a fight of the year candidate, something Golden Boy hopes will transpire in order to make one of the men a household name.
The fight is just as important to the young promotional company started by Oscar De La Hoya as it is to the fighters. The star little man of Golden Boy Promotions is WBC super featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera, who may possibly retire by next year. When taking the near retirement of Barrera into account, it puts a lot of pressure on Golden Boy to have another breakout Mexican star to take his place. They don't have a lot of time, but if they keep matching fighters on the skill level of Montiel and Gonzalez, they are bound to eventually hit gold.
Gonzalez, has been a career bantamweight, while Montiel fought a better part of his career at the flyweight level, before moving up three pounds to junior bantamweight. Despite what many others predict, the size difference between both men is not going to make a difference in the fight. When sizing up both fighters on paper, Gonzalez has a considerable advantage in size, strength and reach.
The reach of Gonzalez is big for a bantamweight, a 71-inch reach is longer than most of the upper-tier bantamweights. Gonzalez tends to rehydrate well after the weigh-ins and arrives to the ring much bigger and physically stronger than his opponents. Montiel has the advantage in speed, is more active in the ring and also possesses some power of his own. Neither guy has a bad beard, so expect a tough exciting fight from start to finish.
Most experts are breaking this fight down on the basis of their performances against their common opponent, Mark Johnson. Montiel lost a close majority-decision to Johnson in 2003, while Gonzalez stopped Johnson in eighth rounds in 2006. The Johnson who fought Montiel was a much better fighter than the Johnson who fought Gonzalez. Gonzalez’s win over Johnson is not as big as it seems, Johnson was coming off a knockout loss to Ivan “Choco” Hernandez, and had not fought in 17 months. Johnson performed like a shot fighter against Gonzalez, a long cry from the performance he put up against Montiel.
Think about this for a minute, Montiel redeemed the loss to Johnson by stopping the man who knocked Johnson out in 2004. In April of 2005, Montiel dominated undefeated Ivan Hernandez on route to a seven-round stoppage. To follow up on the Hernandez win, Montiel handed undefeated Thai fighter Pramuansak Posuwan the first loss of his career by way of a unanimous decision. Once all the facts are laid out on the table, the fight becomes closer in terms of picking a winner.
There is nothing disputing the fact that both men are on a roll at the moment, but it will still come down to whether or not Montiel is able to fight his fight against the larger man in Gonzalez. Keep this in mind when sizing the fighters up on the basis of their physical makeup, Ivan Hernadez who Montiel stopped with little trouble, was 1-inch shorter than Gonzalez and also possessed a big 71-inch reach advantage.
This fight may not come down to size, better skill or stamina. The real difference in this fight could come down to which fighter has the bigger heart and who wants it more. The guy who wants it more will without question take the prize. The real winners this weekend are the boxing fans because two young, hungry fighters who love to mix it up are going to take no steps back and put on an exciting show.