BERNABE CONCEPCION vs ADAM CARRERA

Exciting Filipino 122-pound prospect Bernabe Concepcion is featured on the Cotto-Margarito PPV undercard in a 10-rounder against Adam Carrera, from Cathedral City, CA, a crowd-pleaser who once looked promising but who has lost two of his last three fights.

On the face of it, this looks little more than a showcase for Concepcion, who was punching hard in his last fight when he blew out Torrance Daniels in two rounds. However, comparative form indicates that Carrera might be competitive, because he comfortably outpointed Juan Ruiz, who gave Concepcion a much tougher fight.

Concepcion is still developing as a fighter but he gave his best performance so far when blowing Daniels out of the fight.

Carrera has a busy-punching, pressure-fighting style but in his last fight he went down from a left hook to the body and was counted out in the third round against unbeaten Juan Carlos Burgos. To make matters worse, Carrera suffered a hamstring injury, and he has been out of the ring for 11 months.

Concepcion is usually aggressive but lately he has been showing good boxing ability. I think he might well use a counter-punching style against Carrera, who will almost certainly be bringing the fight to him. I do not wish to dismiss Carrera out of hand, because he does have some good wins on his record, but he seems to have reached his level whereas Concepcion seems to be improving nicely, and the Filipino has career-momentum going for him. I expect a fairly convincing win for Concepcion, perhaps on a stoppage in the later stages.