Vasquez will get no favours, no doubting that. A Quintero performance won't cut it, I think he'll be in all sorts of difficulty with the ref and judges. I'm surprised they're travelling, must be good money because I think they'll know they need to adapt in this one to leave victorious so far as producing a convincing display without the negativity surrounding a few of his fights. As for the people that think this is tougher than Broner, total madness. Vasquez is a tricky problem to solve, but more like a tough crossword or Rubiks cube compared to beating Kasparov at chess.
That's true, inside might not be the place to go. Especially where Burns is plenty comfortable leaning in and leveraging off uppercuts...and probably has the size and strength to bulldog Vasquez to the ropes and muscle him out of clinches long enough to bang in a few. Vasquez, though, doesn't need to rely on mugging and spoiling. He can make it an archery contest. Now, Burns can jab and circle with the rest of 'em - but not with the best of 'em. It'll simply be a case of Vasquez dictating the tenor of the match and doing something Burns actually does quite well - but done better.
Trickier. Different. Broner is a hard look because of his raw athleticism, which is off the charts. Vasquez will tie your brain in knots because of his applied skill and knowledge of how to effectively 'hit and not get hit' regardless of how crowd-pleasing it is. (be it a track meet, a hug-fest...whatever it takes. He's got that Ward/Hopkins mentality...)
I'm not sure it will play out that way IB, because Vasquez has pretty fast feet. I don't think Burns is going to be sitting on the outside getting arm punched into oblivion all night. The kids smart enough to realise that he's going to need to press this fight. Even if it takes him a few rounds to figure that out, its inevitable. Vasquez will fight like he always does and we'll see a slightly different Burns. There is no place for him to fight like he holds the advantages he usually does so I wouldn't expect to see what we usually do.
Oh no doubt Burns is a deal better, smarter, and more adaptable than the likes of Prescott/Kim/Zappa/Diaz/Attah/Quintero/Gesta, so it won't be the precise same complexion - but the same general idea, IMO. That's what Vasquez will be trying for. Is Burns quick enough to head him off and force a physical engagement on him? :think If they remain segregated all night, and it's down to Vasquez's jab against Burns' jab, as nice as Burns' jab is that's a mismatch.
Indeed, but any which way you wish to analyse Broner and Burns...when you put those two names together it just isn't great. You can match up whatever game plan for both of them you want and its still hard to find a compelling case for Ricky. A lot of talk about that fight for Ricky to do well is what I'd call "hopeful" logic. DeMarco was this, Broner's comp is that. No substantive reasoning for what Burns is going to do to bother him. End of the day Vasquez is not always that convincing, he throws a lot of arm punches that aren't going to be amazing the judges at ringside. It's hard to see Burns fighting his usual methodical pace, connecting the dots as he does and coming out a comfortable winner tactically, but its not that hard to see how he can employ a patient-aggressive style and land the more substantial blows in the fight, especially in the judges eyes.
Oh, Broner's a horrible match-up for Burns. Absolutely. So is Vasquez, IMO. Against one he's liable to get KTFO. (hard ******* though he is) Against the other he's liable to get tutored on aspects of his own game and widely outpointed, assuming no shenanigans. (fine boxer though he is)
I really don't think it will be a battle of the jabs. It's a strength for both, but I think Vasquez's style is the more unusual, the more "dominant" factor in forcing nearly all his opponents to find an answer to the questions he presents. There are not many guys that are going to be able to outmove Vasquez. Unless Burns can start timing Vasquez's ambushes with his own jab, or timing him as he comes in with his long right hand, Burns must be aggressive. I think he will be. Its then a question of how effective he can be when forced to press a fight. He has the accuracy, smartness, ring presence, size to impose himself on a fight and given the confidence he's built up I do expect him to do it well. The thing is about Vasquez's opponents, I think an earlier poster made a good point, as much as Burns hasn't fought a Vasquez (how many Vasquez's are there?!) I don't think Miguel has fought (or at least beat) many good boxers to be honest. The type of guys that can make adjustments on their feet and time him too. He's fought a lot of guys that are a little crude, not that technical, and he's taken a few to school quite obviously. He specialises in that, but this is a little different. Much as I like Kim the guy can not box, same for Zappavinga. Prescott...well. Gesta had feet like Arthur Abraham, worst world title challengers effort since Lockett went out on his shield!!
I would imagine as its a unification that there will be a nuetral ref and a nuetral set of judges assigned by the WBO & IBF.
Again I come back to how Burns changes the script. How? He's got better and more rapid footwork than most, but not Vasquez. I expect him to do much better than the face-blockers Vasquez has dealt with in the past, win more rounds etc., but ultimately over twelve I just don't see him being able to keep up. It's quick feet vs. quicker feet. Nice jab vs. nicer jab. I expect an honest, well-balanced, intelligent, hard losing effort from Ricky.
I can see Burns jab giving Vazquez real problems in this one, the last time Vaquez fought a guy with that kind of jab he got dropped by it, and had real trouble with it at times (probably the only thing Prescott had to trouble him) Burns jab is way better than Prescotts
Better, more educated, yes - but the issue with Prescott's was simply mechanical. It was a question of how much ground it covered (a lot). Vasquez needs to be able to pop his jab from outside and let his opponents' fall short. Against someone with the same reach or less, he can do this. Prescott's just got those ****ing wacky noodles, and he's a bit taller than Vasquez so he's able to fix a bead on him from above. (it's more difficult to cope with a long jab dropping onto you than coming up from below)
Vasquez got hit a lot more often and clean vs Quintero than I was expecting. Round 8 maybe, head snapped back a couple of times. One thing not mentioned compared to previous Vasquez opponents is defence. Ricky high guard may seem simplistic but it's worked well, those arm punches won't land as often as against other opponents. A couple of clean shots a round may be all Rocky needs to win the round, and I agree with BlackBrenny, Ricky's jab will pose problems for Vasquez. Intruiging fight!
Ricky does have excellent defense. The likes of Moses, however, was able to penetrate with his jab (and his telegraphed log-splitter right) Vasquez is more precise than Moses.
But Mitchell didn't penetrate much in 4 rounds and katsidis had limited success in 12. I think Ricky has continually improved in this area, I think Vasquez will have a tougher time getting through than you may think. Hey, you make a great case for Vasquez and he's a tricky operator but I think Ricky has a more diverse game to pull him through. I can't wait.