STEVEN LUEVANO vs BERNABE CONCEPCION

In a busy boxing weekend, the pick of the fights, for me, is the featherweight bout on Saturday’s “Pinoy Power” PPV show when Steven Luevano defends his WBO title against Filipino Bernabe Concepcion at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas.

Luevano has a big advantage experience, and he’s a savvy southpaw who is probably stronger than he looks. Concepcion is the puncher in the fight, though, and he has improved technically after tutelage from Freddie Roach at the Wild Card gym. (Roach will be in Brian Minto’s corner in Friday’s heavyweight fight in Pennsylvania but will fly into Las Vegas the next morning to be with Concepcion for the Filipino’s biggest fight.)

At first glance it is difficult to go against Luevano in this fight. The 28-year-old from La Puente, CA, will be having his sixth consecutive title fight. He went to London to knock out Nicky Cook to become WBO champion two years ago and I thought he looked very good in his first two defences when he outclassed veteran Antonio Davis and the durable Thai, Terdsak, each of whom he punished severely.

In his next two fights, however, Luevano struggled. He had to survive a knockdown to keep his title with a gruelling draw against Mario Santiago (although he scored a knockdown himself in that exciting fight) and then, last October, he was unimpressive in outpointing Billy Dib, although to be fair it would probably be difficult for anyone to look good against the unorthodox and awkward Australian boxer.

Concepcion is making a big jump in class here, and at only 21 one wonders if he is quite ready for someone of Luevano’s calibre.

Freddie Roach knows that this is a very tough fight for the Filipino, but he believes that Concepcion is ready. “I think we have a very good shot,” Roach said over the phone from the Wild Card earlier in the week. “Luevano’s a good boxer, my guy’s a great puncher, and I think we can get him out of there some time before it’s over.”

Concepcion will have to fight better than he has ever fought to win this fight, though. He has never fought anyone as talented or with the experience of Luevano. The Filipino is strong and heavy handed, but he tends to be deliberate and one-dimensional. He has scored some exciting stoppage wins, but he had desperate struggles with fighters such as Juan Ruiz and Giovanni Caro, who are some way below Luevano’s level.

In the fight with Caro, a Russian-looking Mexican fighter who had stopped his last three opponents, Concepcion’s left eye was pushed almost shut with swellings over and under, and he was behind on two of the judges’ scorecards, but he suddenly blasted “Ruso” out of the fight with a right hand from out of nowhere in the eighth round.

That fight showed the best and worst of Concepcion. He looked slow and easy to hit, but he was sturdy and game, kept looking for a chance to land the right hand and finally connected when the tide of the fight was flowing against him.

Luevano is the clear favourite, but he has been dropped in two of his last three fights — by Terdsak and Santiago. He could be outboxing Concepcion for round after round while being constantly at risk from the Filipino’s right hand.

Concepcion has been training for six weeks at the Wild Card, so he will be as ready as he can possibly be. Luevano’s seasoning and southpaw skills might be just too much for him, though.

Luevano made the mistake of going for the stoppage against Santiago in a bid to silence the critics who labelled him boring, and it almost cost him the fight. If he sticks to his sound, technical boxing he should be able to pile up points against Concepcion. The Filipino hasn’t lost in more than four years, though, and sometimes a young fighter with a winner’s mentality can overcome the odds with a career-best performance when the big opportunity comes along.

The logical selection is Luevano by decision, and this is the result that to me seems the most likely — but I do feel that Concepcion will be in with a chance until the very end.