Three Punch Combo: Estrada-Orucuta, Ugas-Barrionuevo and More

THREE PUNCH COMBO — HBO Boxing returns this week with SuperFly 3, a card that features a tripleheader of action in the 115-pound weight division. Juan Francisco Estrada (36-3, 25 KO’s), who has fought on the first two SuperFly shows, headlines this card facing Mexican countryman Felipe Orucuta (36-4, 30 KO’s) in a non-title fight. Can the relatively unknown Orucuta spring an upset?

Orucuta’s resume doesn’t include many recognizable names. He has basically feasted on inferior opposition throughout his career in building a gaudy record along with an impressive knockout percentage.

The biggest name on his ledger is that of Omar Narvaez. Orucuta twice challenged Narvaez for Narvaez’s 115-pound title belt. In 2013, Orucuta dropped a controversial twelve round split decision to Narvaez in Narvaez’s home country of Argentina. Many who watched the fight believed Orucuta had out-worked the champion. The rematch took place a little more than a year later, again in Argentina, and this time Narvaez would win a twelve round majority decision. Unlike the first fight, Narvaez seemed to clearly win the rematch.

Since losing to Narvaez for a second time in 2014, Orucuta has compiled a record of 7-1 with 6 knockouts. The one loss came in December of 2015 to Jose Cayetano in a fight that was stopped after six rounds because of a cut. This is the only time Orucuta has been stopped in his career and was a fight in which he faced a man who was naturally a much bigger opponent as Cayetano had come down from the featherweight division after losing a decision to Leo Santa Cruz.

Orucuta is tall for his weight class, standing 5’7”, and will have a three-inch height advantage. Orucuta, who fights from the orthodox stance, likes to use his height and his legs in working behind the left jab at a distance. He can be a high volume puncher, but his hand speed is average at best. Though the record shows 30 knockouts in 36 wins, he is more of a heavy handed type puncher with many of those stoppage wins coming against inferior foes.

Defensively, Orucuta makes a lot of mistakes and is there to be hit. He often throws wide wild shots that are easy to see and counter. He has a penchant for launching right uppercuts from a distance that can be timed and often holds his left around his hip.

In my opinion, I don’t think Orucuta is capable of springing an upset. I see Estrada easily making Orucuta pay for his many defensive mistakes. That said, given the fact Orucuta does have a decent left jab and can throw a high volume of punches, I think we could get some exciting exchanges early in this fight. But Estrada is much more skilled as well as more athletic and should at some point take control with his crisper punches on route to a probable stoppage victory.

Under The Radar Fight

A bigger event this Saturday will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn where Showtime will televise the much anticipated welterweight title bout between Danny Garcia (34-1, 20 KO’s) and Shawn Porter (28-2-1, 17 KO’s). As part of the televised undercard, there is a pivotal crossroads welterweight bout between Yordenis Ugas (22-3, 11 KO’s) of Cuba and Cesar Miguel Barrionuevo (34-3-2, 24 KO’s) of Argentina. This bout may be flying under the radar but is a very interesting contest in what is a stacked welterweight division.

Ugas has been on a roll since losing back-to-back contests by decision in 2014 to Emmanuel Robles and Amir Imam. Ugas took more than two years off after those defeats but since coming back has rolled off seven straight wins, most coming against formidable opposition including Jamal James and Bryant Perrella, both of whom were then undefeated.

Ugas comes from the Cuban school of fighting and has extensive amateur experience including an appearance at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He is a skilled as well as slick boxer-puncher. He knows how to use his feet and maneuver the ring to create angles to land precision punches and will often work behind a solid well-timed left jab. Ugas is also an excellent counterpuncher and uses his solid defense to make opponents miss and then make them pay.

Barrionuevo is a relative unknown who will be venturing out of his native Argentina for just the second time in his career. But make no mistake about it, he can fight.

A boxer-puncher who fights from the southpaw stance, Barrionuevo is elusive and not easy to hit. He also possesses lightning fast hands. He will look to jump in and out on Ugas, unleashing quick combinations. Finally, Barrionuevo does have punching power, particularly in his left hand. He has scored some impressive one punch knockouts with the straight left down the pipe.

Ugas is the name with plenty of seasoned skill but Barrionuevo is the quicker, more athletic fighter with some big time punching power. This is a good, well matched fight with plenty of intrigue that should be hotly contested.

Acknowledging Two of August’s Stand-Out Performances

The month of August was not one of the busiest of months in boxing and unfortunately the biggest headline occurred when a fighter walked out of the ring just after the opening bell rang. But there were some noteworthy performances that flew quite a bit under the radar.

On August 19^th, 130-pound prospect Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov moved to 13-0 with 10 knockouts when he destroyed former world title challenger Robinson Castellanos in two rounds. On paper, Castellanos represented a giant leap in competition for Rakhimov and many thought he’d at the very least test Rakhimov. But it was no competition from the opening bell.

In the first round, Rakhimov knocked Castellanos down with a powerful right jab. After putting Castellanos down twice more in the second, Rakhimov abruptly closed the show with a perfectly placed left to the solar plexus. It was an eye- opening power punching display by Rakhimov who firmly put himself on the map in the 130-pound weight division.

On August 24^th, welterweight prospect Eimantas Stanionis moved to 7-0 with an impressive eight round unanimous decision over Levan Ghvamichava. Similar to Rakhimov-Castellanos, this was a fight in which the young pro prospect was supposed to be tested by the veteran opponent. But Stanionis came out quickly and established his superiority in the opening minutes of the contest. Stanionis pumped out a powerful precision left jab that was snapping the head back of Ghvamichava and following that up with brutal heavy handed combinations that landed with pinpoint accuracy. Ghvamichava went into a defensive posture early, hesitant to let his hands go for fear of what could be coming back at him.

It was quite an impressive performance by Stanionis in dominating a very capable pro in front of a nationally televised audience.

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The following day, Edgar Cantu dropped to 7-5-2 losing a wide eight round unanimous decision to 2106 Olympic gold medalist Robson Conceicao in a 130-pound contest. Why am I highlighting Cantu here? Well, on a weekend where a fighter walking out of the ring grabbed all the headlines, a fighter who should have garnered at least a little press for himself was Cantu. Though limited and outgunned, Cantu fought his heart out, winging haymakers and trying to do all he could to change the course of the bout. He fought to win until the final bell despite the insurmountable odds in front of him.

Boxing needs fighters like Cantu and he deserves credit for his all-out effort against Conceicao.

Photo credit: Tom Hogan / Hogan Photos

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