Ji Hoon Kim Vs Ameth Diaz Fight Preview How Hard Does Kim Hit
Is Ji Hoon Kim the real deal? That’s the question that many fight experts are wondering ahead of his IBF lightweight title eliminator on Friday night against Ameth Diaz (27-9, 19 KOs) in Laredo, Texas. After all, boxers who lose three of their first five fights typically either retire or are relegated to becoming victims on other fighters’ paths to stardom. But recent performances suggest that Kim (20-5, 17 KOs) might be the exception to the rule.
It’s hard to put a lot of stock into Kim’s early performance - he turned pro in Korea when he was just 17 and without the benefit of amateur training. More important are the 12 consecutive wins that he has strung together since October 2006, including an impressive fifth-round TKO of Tyrone Harris on February 12 that turned heads and elevated him to the ranks of serious title prospect. Kim has become known as one of the most active and hard-hitting fighters in the business, and his fight against Harris was no exception: he was more than willing to take a punch to throw one in return, which eventually paid off when he decked Harris in the fifth before the fight was stopped soon after.
On Friday night, he’ll be squaring off with a fighter with a more extensive pedigree than Harris. Diaz is nicknamed “Chloroformo” for his tendency to put fighters “to sleep,” speaking to his ability to create a knockout. Diaz has been in several world title eliminators in the past, most recently when he lost a unanimous decision to Joan Guzman in December 2008. He’s known as a tough and savvy veteran who should be prepared to trade punches with Kim.
However, six of his nine career losses have come via knockout, creating the possibility that this fight could end with fireworks. Kim certainly has flaws as a fighter - including a lack of interest in defense - but Diaz tends to win fights by wearing down his opponent rather than putting them away with one big punch. Kim certainly has a chin, and it’s hard to imagine that Diaz would be able to hurt him before he gets badly hurt himself. This bout has all the makings of a Kim knockout as he moves one step closer to a world title shot.
While Kim vs. Diaz could be an explosive main event, the undercard also has promise, headlined by Ruslan Provodnikov. The 26-year-old Provodnikov (15-0, 10 KOs) is a rising star in the junior welterweight division and is coming off of the most impressive performance of his career. On February 12 he put together a dominant performance against former world champion Javier Jauregui. Backed by a steady jab and hard body shots, Provodnikov was able to wear Jauregui down before stopping him with a barrage of punches in the eighth round that left his opponent defenseless.
But who will Provodnikov be fighting on Friday night? The answer to that question is currently unclear. He was scheduled to go up against longtime contender Frankie “El Gato” Figueroa in a 10-round bout. However, Figueroa announced last week that a rib injury suffered while serving as a sparring partner for Nate Campbell in preparation for Campbell’s fight against Victor Ortiz had left him unable to make the fight. Provodnikov’s promoters have yet to announce the replacement for Figueroa, but the injury certainly means that the fill-in fighter won’t provide the stern test that the fast, elusive Figueroa would have provided.
Another featured bout on the undercard is Demetrius Andrade taking on Francisco Ruben Osorio in an eight-round junior middleweight contest. The unbeaten Andrade (10-0, 7 KOs) is a former World Amateur Boxing Championships gold medalist who represented the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics. It’s unlikely that he’ll get much competition from Osorio (12-7, 10 KOs), who has lost five consecutive fights. His bout against Michael Oliveira in December 2009 ended in strange fashion - it was scheduled to go six rounds but a seventh round was inadvertently started (under the belief that it was an eight-round fight). Losing badly, Osorio quit after the seventh round, deciding that one bonus round of punishment was more than enough.
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