WILFREDO VAZQUEZ Jr. vs GENARO GARCIA

Exciting prospect Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. takes a definite step up in class when he meets tough Mexican veteran Genaro Garcia for the WBO Latino junior featherweight title in a bout that will be televised on Telemundo on Friday.

I have thought for some time now that Vazquez is the most talented of all the sons of former champions currently boxing — he is certainly far more impressive than Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., although that probably isn’t saying much.

Vazquez, 25, can be a bit flashy and cocksure, but he can box and punch and he got the job done far sooner than I had expected when he knocked out Cecilio Santos in two rounds in his last fight, although the Mexican veteran seemed to lose heart after suffering a severe cut under the eye and went out rather meekly.

Garcia, 32, has long been regarded as a tough fighter but one who falls short of true world class. Three of his last four fights have been for world titles and he lost each time, but he went the full 12 rounds with Hozumi Hasegawa, and fought well, and in his last fight he stood up to heavy punches before finally being halted in the last round by Toshiaki Nishioka, a result that doesn’t look too bad after the way that Nishioka bombed out Jhonny Gonzalez in Mexico four months later.

There is a calculated risk in this fight for Vazquez — he is the younger, naturally bigger fighter, but Garcia has fought at a high level for a long time and even holds a KO win over the formidable Rafael Marquez, who seemed to misjudge the count but nevertheless got dropped by a heavy right hand.

I see this as one of those “trains going in different directions” fights. Vazquez has a certain star quality about him, while Garcia is taking on the look of an old warhorse.

Garcia has his pride, though, and he won’t give up. I am expecting him to bring pressure and throw punches in his usual aggressive manner, but Vazquez should be speedy and smart enough to keep out of the way and land counters after making the veteran miss. Vazquez could have considerable success with his left jab and it wouldn’t surprise me to see Garcia looking a bit battered facially by the later rounds.

This won’t be another two-round win for Vazquez — Garcia won’t fold up the way that Cecilio Santos did — but I can envisage Vazquez wearing him down and stopping the older man around the 10th round.