NICK CASAL vs MARVIN QUINTERO

A new face from Mexico is fighting in the main event on ShoBox this Friday and another appears in the chief supporting bout when Marvin Quintero, from Julio Cesar Chavez's home town of Culiacan, meets the battle-tested Nick Casal in a lightweight eight-rounder.

This is an amazingly tough U.S. TV debut for Quintero, who on the face of it is being thrown in at the deep end in a sink-or-swim type of fight.

Casal, originally from from Niagara Falls, NY but now based in Chicago, is the bigger man, having fought at junior welter whereas Quintero is coming up in weight from junior lightweight. I understand, though, that Quintero has excellent boxing skills and fast hands. However, his chin seems to be highly questionable. He was stopped in the first round in his only loss, and I understand that he had to survive a rocky opening round before winning in the second round against Puerto Rican Alberto Amaro in his U.S. debut at Santa Ynez, CA, in December.

It does look as if Quintero is particularly vulnerable early. If he can get out of the first few rounds, though, I think he has a chance to win. Casal is tough, game and heavy-handed, but he can be outboxed. The sportsbooks have Casal a fairly solid favourite, and I go along with that, but Quintero’s people must have confidence in him to put him in a dangerous fight such as this.

That one-round loss of Quintero’s is obviously a concern, but some very good fighters have been caught and stopped before they could get going. Quintero now lives and trains in Tijuana, where he gets top-quality sparring. I know that everything points to a win for Casal, but I just have a feeling that Quintero is going to spring a surprise.