JESUS JIMENEZ vs SANTIAGO ACOSTA

With the terribly disappointing decision by the Telefutura people to drop out of boxing, Telemundo has, for me anyway, become the top Spanish-language network for U.S. fight fans.

Telemundo has been offering a fight a month on a regular basis. Not all the Tuto Zabala-promoted shows are winners (that would be expecting too much) but I have found the main events to be consistently entertaining. Last month’s main event held the interest even though Diosbelys Hurtado defeated Manuel Garnica by one-sided scores, because Hurtado has the look of a fighter who could get stopped at any time, and Garnica was throwing some dangerous-looking punches (although they were usually ill-directed).

This Friday Telemundo revisits Ciudad Neza, Mexico, for a world-class 12-round flyweight bout between Mexico's WBC Latin champion Jesus Jimenez and the Argentinean and South American champion, Santiago Ivan Acosta.

The southpaw Jimenez has won his last 12 fights, while Acosta fought well in his last contest, in Panama, when he went the distance with local banger Luis Concepcion, who had knocked out eight of his last nine opponents but couldn’t get the sturdy Argentinean out of the fight.

Jimenez is in fine form, with a string of stoppage wins, the most impressive being his sixth-round hammering of Colombian Jonathan Perez (seen on Telemundo) last June. The Mexican fighter is poised, classy and aggressive and he has been living up to his “Destroyer” nickname.

Acosta does not possess Jimenez’s brand of punching power (just one stoppage win in his last nine bouts) but he is an experienced fighter who has been the 12-round distance three times — the fight with Concepcion was one of those fairly new 11-rounders.

I had a look at Acosta in his Argentinean title defence against previously unbeaten Carlos Bulacio last December, and he seemed to be a solid technician who keeps a tight defence and puts his punches together briskly and accurately. Bulacio was competitive, winging with the hooks and right hands, and he had a few strong rounds, but Acosta mostly stayed in control of the contest, coming back with combinations and hooks to the body whenever his opponent seemed to be gaining an advantage, and he was able to back up Bulacio onto the ropes in several rounds.

On Friday, though, Acosta is meeting a high-level fighter on his opponent’s home territory. I am expecting Acosta to acquit himself well, but there’s a big difference between meeting a 10-fight professional such as Bulacio and going in with someone of Jimenez’s quality.

Jimenez looks like being too powerful and too good for Acosta, and I fully expect him to win, but I am not sure if he will be able to keep his run of stoppages going. Acosta looks the type who, if he knows he cannot win, will find a way to survive — as he did against the heavy-hitting Panamanian Concepcion. If Jimenez does manage to break down Acosta’s defences and stop him I think it will most likely be late in the fight