23/08/2015
- Not much boxing this weekend apart from a few lines coming out of Russia but only one has really peaked any interest in me. The undefeated knockout artist Felix Valera (12-0, 12KOs) takes on the Ukranian Felix Kashtanov (33-1, 19KOs). Usually I stay away from undefeated so called knockout artists from obscure countries like the Dominican Felix Valera but he is fighting an average, domestic level fighter in Kashtanov who has also never really been tested.
- First and foremost Valera has power. All twelve of his victories have come by knockout and only 2 have gone past the first round. I watched a small clip of one of his bouts on YouTube and although much can't be read into it, one thing is certainly clear is that he he throws bomb after bomb after bomb. He also appears to be quite sharp with good accuracy and fast hands.
- In Valera's most recent bout he knocked out Emiliano Cayetano in four rounds, its interesting to note that Cayetano went 7 before being stopped by the hard hitting Yunieski Gonzalez. This goes some way to proving that Valera's power is legitimate.
- This fight will probably be Valera's one and only shot at having a good boxing career, I'm expecting him to come and give his absolute all in this bout and perhaps his opponent may over look him.
- Kashatnov has a good record himself with only one loss but his record doesn't fill me with confidence. He has only really fought Eastern Europeans who will generally have very similar upright styles that are almost robotic, in this bout he will coming up against a completely unknown style which may throw him off his game.
- I watched a few of Kastanov's fights and he does have a tendency to drop his hands when walking into range to throw punches but also when throws his right hook, this may give Valera good opportunities to land some heavy shots of his own.
- Many people have written of Valera because he is not a 'natural' light heavyweight. Valera has fought 6 of his twelve bouts at light heavyweight and all of them finished in one round, Kashtanov on the other hand has only fought 3 times at the 175 limit against very chinny opposition. Kashtanov also started his boxing career at middleweight so he himself is probably less of a natural light heavyweight than Valera.
- This is also for the WBA interim title, the WBA have ranked Valera #6 and Kashtanov #5 challengers which would suggest this might be a lot closer than the odds would suggest.
- Take this bet at your own risk, there is a lot of unknowns regarding Valera but his price looks far too big against another opponent who is also untested. This is also Valera's first bout out of The Dominican Republic, the hostile crowd may break him or he may thrive. Certainly worth a small stake in my opinion.