In this week’s three punch combo we will take a look back at the very different performances of undefeated fighters Mercito Gesta and Jesse Magdaleno this past Friday. Then, we preview Chris Avalos’ return to the ring this Friday against Yenifel Vicente.
Mercito Gesta
Mercito Gesta scored a ninth round TKO victory over Ty Barnett on the Friday Night Fights headliner this past week. Though the finish was spectacular, the overall performance by Gesta left a lot to be desired. The southpaw Gesta showed decent skills but also many vulnerabilities.
Gesta’s hand speed seemed ordinary at best in this fight. In the early rounds, he was routinely getting hit by right hand leads to the head and body by Barnett. As a matter of fact, entering the fifth round an argument could have been made that Barnett, a heavy underdog who had been knocked out in two of his last six bouts, was ahead on the scorecards.
In the fifth round, the fight changed as Barnett’s activity began to fade. He also appeared to lose steam on his punches. Gesta was able to take advantage of the situation and successfully walk down and outwork his tiring foe. In the ninth round Barnett, who had never been past eight rounds, was clearly exhausted. With his opponent struggling to keep his hands up Gesta landed a barrage of punches late in the ninth and drop Barnett. Barnett was able to get up but Gesta forced Barnett’s corner to intervene after scoring a second knockdown.
Gesta really didn’t show much in this fight. The knockout win came against an opponent who has been KO’d by weaker opposition, much earlier, in the past. In addition, Gesta showed to be easy to hit in the early rounds and these defensive liabilities will only be exposed more as he increases his level of competition. It’s hard for me to see Gesta really ever beating a top ten fighter and to me he seems more likely destined to be a career fringe contender than the next coming of Manny Pacquiao.
Jesse Magdaleno
Jesse Magdaleno scored yet another impressive early knockout victory on the Gesta-Barnett undercard on Friday night. The rising 20-year-old junior featherweight prospect showed blazing hand speed and tremendous punching power on route to scoring a 2nd round TKO victory over Aldimar Silva Santos.
As Magdaleno has stepped up the level of opposition in his past few fights, his performances keep getting better and better. He is showing real growth for a prospect and he’s only going to continue to improve. In this bout he showed tremendous patience using good body punching early to eventually set up the knockout. With his hand speed already being among the sport’s elit,e and his power developing, I look for big things from Magdaleno down the line and can’t wait to watch his continued growth in the ring.
Chris Avalos-Yenifel Vicente
One time prospect Chris Avalos faces Yenifel Vicente on this week’s Friday Night Fights co-featured bout. This bout is a must win for Avalos if he ever has any hopes of getting into contention in the Super Bantamweight division.
Avalos is coming into this fight with a record of 19-2 with 15 knockouts and is coming off a loss in his last fight to Jhonatan Romero. Vicente has had most of his fights in his native Dominican Republic and is coming in with a glossy record 23-0-2 with 15 knockouts though much of that record has been built on weak opposition.
Avalos should win the fight however it may not be as easy as he or his management team may expect. First, Vicente is naturally bigger having fought as high as 130 pounds and just recently having come down in weight to the Super Bantamweight division. Secondly, though most of his opponents have losing record,s Vicente did defeat Francisco Lorenzo in 2009. Lorenzo holds a win over a prime Cristobal Cruz. In 2010, Lorenzo lost a close majority decision to Jorge Linares and later that year lost a close unanimous decision to Erik Morales.
Avalos appears to be the more talented fighter and has definitely faced the better opposition. The opponent he is facing though is no pushover and could give Avalos problems if he is not fully prepared. With all this being said, I do look for Avalos to win a close unanimous decision in an entertaining and competitive bout.
