VICENTE ESCOBEDO vs DOMINIC SALCIDO

A rare meeting of up-and-coming California rivals takes place on Telefutura from the Moronogo casino on Friday when Olympic representative Vicente Escobedo meets Dominic Salcido in a lightweight 10-rounder.

This is a throwback sort of fight of the type that took place at venues like the Olympic Auditorium and Hollywood Legion Stadium many years ago.

Escobedo has the higher profile and he is the favourite, but Salcido is fast, flashy and ambitious.

While Escobedo is now trained by Mexican master Nacho Beristain, Salcido is under the wing of ex-fighter Joel Diaz, who has done a first-rate job in moulding Timothy Bradley into a 140-pound champion. Escobedo is the house fighter on the Golden Boy show, while Salcido boxes for Thompson Boxing, which has Bradley under contract and obviously hopes it has an emerging star in Salcido.

This seems a slightly ambitious match for the 24-year-old Salcido, but he has won all his 16 bouts and overcame his stiffest test fairly easily in his last fight when he outboxed the seasoned Luis Arceo, winning seven of the eight rounds on two judges’ cards. He feels he is ready, and in fact he’s been looking forward to meeting Escobedo for some time.

“We trained with each other when we were in camp with Marco Antonio Barrera but we never sparred with each other,” Salcido said in a phone conversation last week. “He was cool, a quiet guy, but there was kind of an awkward feeling because we knew we’d fight each other one day.

“I’m very confident. I’ve been wanting to fight him since we were kids in the amateurs.

“I see it going the distance although you never know what will happen in a fight. I feel like I’m capable of winning. Sparring with Marco Antonio was great experience and made me feel that I've got what it takes because I was doing OK. I feel that I have the speed, counter punching and boxing skills — I’ve got pretty good footwork. My game plan is to give him a lot of movement and beat him to the punch.”

Escobedo has the Olympic and national championship background but Salcido has been boxing since he was 10 years old and had about 70 amateur bouts. Salcido appears to have a lot of natural ability and I think he might have been in a big fight sooner had not a hand injury caused a year’s layoff. He agrees that he is a flamboyant type — a clip I saw of him showed that he once had his hair dyed a flaming red — and he certainly doesn’t lack for confidence.

While Salcido isn’t considered a particularly hard hitter, he does have three one-round KO wins and he says that one of his biggest assets is that he can throw punches that take the other man by surprise. “I come out of nowhere,” he said.

Escobedo is more of a steady, methodical fighter, a couple of years older than Salcido and more experienced. He has won nine in a row after losing a close decision to Daniel Jimenez in an upset, and Escobedo has been the 10-round distance four times whereas Salcido has never been past eight rounds.

Escobedo's recent fights have been comfortable wins over journeyman fighters, and I think he will be challenged much more by Salcido than he was in these bouts. He has a good jab and sound fundamental ability and has been progressing nicely under Beristain's coaching, but Salcido seems to be a bit unpredictable in his style and something of a speedster, which could trouble the more mechanical Escobedo.

On paper, Escobedo looks the likely winner but Salcido is unbeaten and believes in himself. I haven’t seen nearly enough of Salcido to go for an upset but I do think he will make his presence felt and that win or lose he will come out of the fight with his reputation enhanced.