FIGHT WEEK
PROSPECTS JOSE VALENZUELA AND MALIEK MONTGOMERY ARE THE FEATURED FIGHTERS IN BACK-TO-BACK FIGHT CARDS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY ON FOX SPORTS 1.
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JOSE VALENZUELA (9-0, 6 KOs) VS. DEINER BERRIO (22-3-1, 13 KOs)
- When: Saturday, Sept. 18
- Where: Mechanics Bank Arena, Bakersfield, Calif.
- TV/Stream: Fox Sports 1
- Division: Lightweight
- At stake: No titles
- Pound-for-pound ranking: None
- Odds: NA
- Also on the card: Rajon Chance vs. Elon de Jesus, featherweights
- Prediction: Valenzuela UD 10
- Background: Valenzuela is a 22-year-old native of Mexico who trains alongside David Benavidez in Seattle. The boxer-puncher has been more of a puncher lately, having stopped his last five opponents in four rounds or less. He last fought on Aug. 21, when he stopped Donte Strayhorn in the fourth round of a scheduled eight-rounder. The fight on Saturday will be his first scheduled 10-rounder. Berrio, 30, is no pushover. the Los Angeles-based Colombian has experience fighting prospects, having lost decisions to then-unbeaten Pavel Malikov, Zaur Abdullaev and Juan Pablo Romero (on April 22). That accounts for all of Berrio’s losses, meaning he has never been stopped. Will Valenzuela be the first to knock him out?
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MALIEK MONTGOMERY (10-0, 10 KOs)
VS. ALEEM JUMAKHONOV (9-3-2, 5 KOs)
- When: Sunday, Sept. 19
- Where: Mechanics Bank Arena, Bakersfield, Calif.
- TV/Stream: Fox Sports 1
- Division: Junior lightweights
- At stake: No titles
- Pound-for-pound ranking: None
- Odds: NA
- Also on the card: Omar Juarez vs. Jairo Lopez, junior welterweights
- Prediction: Montgomery UD 10
- Background: Montgomery honed his boxing skills during an impressive amateur career but has made a splash as a puncher in the pro ranks, as he has stopped all 10 of his opponents. And none have gotten out of the fourth round. His most recent victim was Weusi Johnson, who was stopped in Round 4 on April 3. Montgomery, 25, defeated Edgar Berlanga, Keeshawn Williams and Joseph Adorno, among others, as an amateur but lost to Teofimo Lopez in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials. He is trained by Kenny Porter, Shawn Porter’s father. The product of Macon, Georgia, will be making his 10-round debut. Jumakhonov is from Tajikistan but fights out of Los Angeles. He’s coming off a third-round knockout of Jorge Ramos in September of last year. He also has never taken part in a scheduled 10-rounder. Also on the card, Omar Juarez (11-1, 5 KOs) will be trying to bounce back from his majority-decision loss to All Rivera on June 27. He will face Jairo Lopez (27-13, 17 KOs) in a scheduled eight round junior welterweight matchup.
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Also fighting this weekend: Jesse Hart (26-3, 21 KOs) will face Mike Guy (12-6-1, 5 KOs) in a super middleweight fight Friday in Philadelphia (BXNGTV); and Ali Akhmedov (16-1, 12 KOs) will face David Zegarra (34-5, 21 KOs) in a super middleweight bout Thursday in Montebello, Calif. (UFC Fight Pass).