Fight Pick & Preview – Quigg vs. Cermeno:
On April 19th in Manchester, Scott Quigg will defend his WBA Super Bantamweight world title against his mandatory challenger Nehomar Cermeno. Quigg will be looking to maintain his impressive unbeaten record against the tough Venezuelan who brings a 22-5-1 record to the bout with him.
Scott Quigg, 27-0-2 (20 KOs), Bury, England
vs.
Nehomar Cermeno, 22-5-1 (13 KOs), Barcelona, Venezuela
- Date: April 19, 2014
- Site: Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
- Weight Class: WBA Super Bantamweight Title: 12 Rounds
Both fighters fought to a draw against Cuban Yoandris Sallinas and both have a plethora of great technical skill to bring into the ring with them. Cermeno beat Oscar Escandon with a split decision to win the ‘interim’ WBA Super Bantamweight title (I can’t quite work that one out either, but so be it) and has represented his country at Olympic level.
He comes into this with a solid amateur pedigree, as well as a relatively strong pro record. He did lose twice to the mercurial Anselmo Moreno to mark the first few defeats in his professional career. Moreno is a solid fighter, but to come out second best twice to him could be a highlight that Cermeno may be slightly below the required level to stop Quigg.
Technically well-rounded, Cermeno won’t be a stroll in the park for Quigg by any stretch of the imagination. Cermeno hasn’t had an awful lot of exposure to the UK TV screens, but he has been in the mix with some of the best fighters from 118-122 lbs and will be looking to cause a bit of an upset here on British soil. This will be Cermeno’s 6th fight in Europe (the other 5 taking place in Germany) and he is currently unbeaten in European-based fights, so the lack of home support shouldn’t be too detrimental towards his hopes.
I believe that Quigg can definitely go on to be a phenomenal representative of British boxing in the future. A fight against Carl Frampton would be quite a spectacular advert for British boxing globally, especially after the rematch between Carl Froch and George Groves, nd the emergence of talents like Anthony Joshua.
The Frampton bout looks unlikely to happen this year, unfortunately. That’s especially the case as Leo Santa Cruz has called out Frampton, his own mandatory challenger – and that fight in itself, is absolute porn for the boxing community — after impressively dispatching Cristian Mijares, who himself was twice beaten by Cermeno.
Quigg’s immense stamina levels and quality boxing skill will ultimately be what – I believe – wins him this fight. After this, I’d like to see Quigg fight outside of the UK more to make himself more marketable and increase his global stature in the world boxing community. If he manages to win all of his fights this year, I’d love to see him go on to fight Guillermo Rigondeaux in the future for a unification bout of huge proportions.
Quigg vs. Cermeno Prediction:
I see either a KO or TKO in Quigg’s favor circa round 8. Cermeno has a lot of talent and I think he will cause Quigg trouble early on. I’d expect him coming to try and knock Quigg out in the early rounds. If his camp have done their research, they will know that Quigg is capable of fighting the 12th round with the freshness most fighters have in the first.
Quigg will most likely look to wear down Cermeno with body shots before finishing the fight later on. Cermeno has never been properly KO’d and Quigg doesn’t usually stop opponents with sheer power, instead using his vast array of punches to break opponents down. Quigg is ahead – but not by miles – in terms of boxing ability, but I expect his physicality to be too much for Cermeno to handle consistently throughout the fight.
However this fight pans out, it will be a very intriguing battle between two excellent boxers and one that will appease admirers of more fluid fighters.
Prediction: Scott Quigg by stoppage in the 8th round.
