Luís Miguel Concepción Montiel vs. Rober Antonio Barrera Estrada RBR

Barrera starting to summon hidden depths of energy and countering in brief, speedy bunches. Concepción is clipped several times from both the southpaw and orthodox stances as Barrera comfortably & confidently switches at medium-long range and ropes out three-pieces behind either jab, often punctuated with hooks that spin Concepción's head around. Hard shots trickling in for the Panamanian ex-world champ as well, but far less in number and he's starting to run on fumes.

 

Concepción answers the bell for round 10 with a fury and drills Barrera into the ropes. HUGE SERIES OF ACCURATE ONE-TWOS UP TOP! Barrera hurt, and is now skewered with some body shots as Concepción flutters a jab in his face to keep him from escaping. Barrera quickly slithers out when Concepción slows his attack, then begins switch-hitting again, changing to southpaw after taking a few lateral steps and dropping some jabs into the belt line, then repeating in the other direction before stopping on a dime for the next change. Barrera starting to soundly outbox Concepción now in the second minute, after having been in trouble for most of the first. Up for grabs in the last one. Barrera starts well, luring Concepción into some overhand rights, partially hung up on Concepción's outstretched left jabbing arm, but then Concepción nails him with more 1-2s and backs him into the ropes again. Barrera is circling in the pocket, legs a bit too leaden to create more distance, and countering but not keeping his guard up as Concepción bashes at him.

Super close, I lean Nica.

 

Really wishing I'd caught the first seven. I remembered these cards in Panama typically running fairly late in the past, and thought Concepción would be at or near the very top of the bill as the biggest name on it.

 

Eleventh is just as maddeningly close as its predecessor - case in point, Barrera will orbit Concepción and land an unanswered quadruple jab on different planes of his skull, and then Concepción will abruptly draw his right glove up his side and shoot it out into Barrera's chin with a confident lead as Barrera is moving backward admiring his work. Concepción hurts Barrera several times in this manner. He keeps stalking, waiting for his moment - and BARRERA IS KTFO WITH A MINUTE LEFT! Face-plants into the ropes, bounces awkwardly off them, and somehow beats the count but is then battered until the ref steps in.

Backflip off the corner turnbuckle in classic El Nica fashion.

 

Oof, that was an ugly landing. Barrera's neck hitting the bottom rope probably is a higher CTE risk than all the punches he took.

 

Alright then, we're looking at Concepción vs. Dalakian sometime in 2020, unless Josber Pérez can pull off something crazy tomorrow. I can't find a betting line but guessing he's a prohibitive underdog.

 

I'm not sure how to handicap that one, actually. Meaning the unification down the road, not tomorrow's slaughter.

Concepción is such a damn enigma when it comes to picking for or again him; sort of like Jorge Linares. It keeps seeming like he's shot to hell or that his chin is reduced to smithereens, but then he'll rally back and soak up a bunch of clean punches in his next fight before grinding down & blasting out his opponent.

Dalakian is prime and decidedly a thousandfold fresher despite being two years chronologically younger. Way less wear and tear in the ring, however. Big puncher himself, but have we seen his chin tested versus El Nica type power?

 

See my post just before yours. Pretty much same thoughts.

 

Next up is a 14-5-3 guys versus a 16-6-1 guy. Non-title bout. Granted at 105lb nobody has a pretty record, but this just seems like a massive slap in the face to Concepción and Barrera to have them "opening" for crap like this. It'd have been one thing if they were subordinate to just Daniel Matellón Ramos vs. Erik Omar López García in the co-featured slot, or even below that one and the women's super bantamweight world title match.

...but this?

If these jerks had just swapped the order around, with this match first, I could have seen Concepción vs. Barrera from the beginning.