The newly formed boxing super series will have its second fight in its cruiserweight tournament as Miami based Cuban Yunier Dorticos 21 (20 KO’s)-0-0 takes on hard punching Dmitry Kudryashov 21 (21 KO’s)-1 (1 KO)-0 at the Alamodome in San Antonio this Saturday.
Dorticos comes from an extensive Cuban amateur background and has had 257 fights and stands tall for the weight at 6ft 3in. Although hailing from Cuba, Dorticos doesn’t fight in a true Cuban style and while he uses his jab he is not against exchanging with fighters and uses a long looping right hand around the guard and a jab right uppercut combination when coming to fight on the inside. This willingness to engage almost got him into trouble as he faced his only top opposition so far in Youri Kalenga in Paris last year, the lack of a firm jab didn’t give Kalenga much to respect and it was only after multiple exchanges and 10 hard fought rounds that Kalenga was eventually stopped, giving Dorticos the interim WBA title.
Although Dorticos hasn’t shown a bad chin he hasn’t been in with a puncher in the same league as Dmitry Kudryashov, with 21 wins all from knockout it seems like few people can take the power of the bearded Russian. He likes to operate giving steady pressure throwing pawing jabs to manoeuvre his opponents towards the ropes, then letting the power shots fly. He appears to love doubling and tripling up the left hand with his signature shot being the left hook upstairs that has floored many of his opponents, including Francisco Palacios and Olanrewaju Durodola. Though he carries huge power, his encounters with Durodola showed that the Russian can be hit and it appears that he is far more effective on the front foot than fighting in reverse.
The fight will most likely play out with Kudryashov plodding forward and attempting to close the range as Dorticos will try to find the centre of the ring. Since Dorticos has shown history in exchanging with pressure fighters I see him getting hit with left hooks to both the head and body and eventually getting stopped in the early to mid rounds. Although, if Dorticos is able to routinely throw the long right hands around the high guard and land the right uppercut between the gloves Kudryashov could be in trouble, especially if the fight goes the distance where Kudryashov has untested stamina.
Elsewhere on the card Keith Tapia fights Lateef Kayode also in the cruiserweight division, and Nonito Donaire is aiming to come back from his decision loss to Jessie Magdaleno against Ruben Garcia Hernandez for the vacant WBC Silver Featherweight title.
By
Joe Hicketts
FV360 Correspondent.