JIHOON KIM vs AMETH DIAZ

There should be explosive action on Friday Night Fights when Korea’s slugging Jihoon Kim goes up against Panama’s Ameth Diaz in an IBF lightweight title eliminator.

Kim, 23, is on an impressive winning run that includes 10 consecutive stoppage wins. He is a hit-or-be-hit fighter who relies on toughness, pressure, conditioning and workrate. Kim outlasted the more polished Zolani Marali in South Africa last September, while in his most recent bout he weathered an early bombardment to overwhelm another boxer of greater skill, Tyrone Harris, in the fifth round.

Diaz can box and punch, but he isn’t the most durable of fighters, with six stoppage losses on his record. The 26-year-old Panamanian has won his last two fights, though, including a unanimous decision win over former world title challenger Fernando Angulo, although his best performance was his thrilling fourth-round stoppage of Raymundo Beltran, a Mexican prospect who had stopped his last six opponents.

Kim has the sort of style that does not lend itself to a long career but, my goodness, he is fun to watch. His fight with Koba Gogoladze was one of the most exciting one-round bouts you could hope to see, with Kim getting drilled by left hands from Gogoladze’s southpaw stance before turning things around with a huge left hook as his opponent rushed into him.

Diaz is the more accomplished boxer in Friday’s bout, and he is a very good puncher, but Kim is clearly the more robust, physically stronger man.

I thought that Diaz was far too careless in a fight of his that I saw, against Takehiro Shimada in Japan. He went in looking to land heavy punches and he got caught himself. As his last two bouts were points victories I am wondering if Diaz might be trying to box a little more carefully.

Diaz knows he is meeting an all-out banger on Friday so he might use a boxing, moving style and try to catch Kim coming to him. I believe that Diaz can time and hurt Kim, but whether he can do enough damage to keep the Korean fighter at bay is another matter.

I see this as a dangerous fight for Kim. He could get nailed before he can get his attack rolling. Yet if Kim can get through the first three or four rounds without getting badly stunned I think that his relentless pressure should see him through.

The fight is highly unlikely to last the scheduled 12 rounds. How long it goes depends on whether Diaz tries to be smart or whether he takes on Kim in a shootout.

My guess is that Diaz will seek to use his legs and his boxing ability. I would not be surprised to see Diaz getting in some good shots and rocking Kim, but this gritty Korean boxer just keeps on coming and I do think that he has the fortitude and mental and physical hardness to weather punishment and grind out another attrition-type of victory, especially as Diaz clearly does not absorb a heavy blow at all well. I will go for Kim by stoppage in seven or eight rousing rounds.