JUAN MANUEL LOPEZ vs CUAUHTEMOC VARGAS

Puerto Rico consistently produces exciting, talented fighters, and one of the island’s current favourites takes his biggest step on Friday when unbeaten 122-pounder Juan Manuel Lopez tops the bill on ShoBox in a 10-rounder against Mexico’s Cuauhtemoc Vargas.

Lopez, a 23-year-old southpaw, boxed in the Olympics, where he lost to a Belorussian in his first bout, and he was beaten by Abner Mares in the quarter finals of the Pan American Games, but his hard-hitting style was probably always more suited to the professionals. Lopez has stopped 12 opponents in his 14 consecutive wins but strangely did not seem to be an especially big puncher when he was seen on the Miguel Cotto-Paulie Malignaggi PPV undercard last June, a workmanlike points win over Mexican Sergio Mendez. Still, not every opponent is going to “go" and the fight with the spirited Mendez was good experience.

So far Lopez has been doing what has been expected of him by beating everyone put in front of him, and doing so in convincing and often overwhelming fashion (five first-round KOs in his first six fights).

Lopez has never been in any kind of difficulty. The seasoned Edel Ruiz was expected to pose some problems for Lopez but the Mexican journeyman was never in the fight and retired after six rounds.

There seems a strong possibility that Lopez will be tested by Vargas, who has won 15 and drawn one of his 17 fights. Vargas is a speedy, stylish boxer with excellent punch-variety but he was disappointing when being worn down and stopped in eight rounds by the swarming Tomas Villa, who hurt him to the body. Vargas was winning the fight on the judges’ cards but seemed to fade after hurting his right hand, and he was out of the ring for 11 months before returning with a knockout win last September.

Vargas’s loss to Villa was a surprise because the “Aztec Warrior" had seemed to be a fighter who was going places. When I saw him stop the previously unbeaten Erik Rodriguez on Friday Night Fights in June, 2004, I made the note “tremendous prospect". He hammered the game San Antonio boxer with a variety of sharp, classy punches and was rocking him with right uppercuts in the seventh when the referee waved the finish. But Vargas was held to a draw by the willing but limited Jaime Orrantia in his next fight (I thought Vargas won the Telefutura bout), and the star quality has dimmed. Yet Vargas is only 22, this is a big chance for him and he will be the first “live" opponent Lopez has faced.

Puerto Rican-Mexican matches always seem to bring out the best in the respective fighters and I think this will be a sparkling bout. Vargas might be the flashier boxer but Lopez is the puncher and he looks stronger and steadier. This is not so much a showcase for Lopez as a chance to show how good he is, which I think he will do. There are likely to be some sizzling exchanges — edge of the seat stuff — but I have a feeling that Lopez will slow Vargas down and either stop him late in the fight or outpoint him clearly, with a lean towards the stoppage.