by James Slater – Fight fans have been awaiting Colombian puncher Breidis Prescott’s next fight ever since his one-round destruction of former Olympian Amir Khan back in September of last year. The unbeaten, but untested lightweight made a name for himself by smashing the previously unbeaten golden boy of British boxing in less than a single minute, yet surprisingly Prescott has not boxed since while the vanquished Khan has..
Well, according to BoxRec, fight fans will get another chance to see the 25-year-old banger in action this coming February 20th, when he will take on 24-3-1(13) Mexican Ivan Hernadez, the 26-year-old former WBO super-flyweight champion from Baja, California, Mexico. The fight will be on the same Florida bill as the Jesus Gonzalez-Richard Gutierrez light-middleweight bout, and will go out on ESPN 2. So, some five-and-a-bit months on from his destruction of Khan, Prescott will attempt to make another impact.
Hernandez has been in with some excellent fighters, the only problem is he is a natural super-bantamweight-come featherweight. The fighter known as “Choco,” who turned pro at flyweight back in April of 2000, has fought good men like Mark Johnson (beating him by KO in 8, to win his world belt in September of 2004), Fernando Montiel (losing his belt via 7th round KO), and the great Israel Vazquez, losing to the WBC super-bantamweight king after being made to retire after just 4 rounds. Since the June 2006 loss to Vazquez, Hernandez has fought just twice – picking up a points loss to Jose Angel Beranza that same year and then out-pointing Anyetei Laryea in May of last year (in Hernandez’ only fight at featherweight). So while the Mexican is a fighter who has operated at world level a number of times, inactivity and weight will be against him when he meets Prescott.
In all likelihood, this fight will end quickly – with the Colombian being the man who lands the bombs. The jury is still out on the Barranquilla native, and the Khan fight aside he has met no-one of real note (although unbeaten Richard Abril was a decent enough young fighter). We know Prescott can whack, we know he has an impressive reach, and we know he is hungry. But he has a long way to go yet until he reaches the dizzy heights one publication suggested he might reach soon after he’d blown away Khan – the publication calling Prescott a possible “New Tommy Hearns.”
Prescott is exciting, he has potential and one day he may well become a world champion. But we still know nothing about his own ability to take a good shot, and we aren’t likely to get to know this in fights against smaller men such as Hernandez. With a big-money return with Khan being talked about for the future, it may be that Prescott and his team are in no mood to take any risky fights in the meantime.
It will be good to see him back in action next month, but against such a smaller man (Hernandez stands 5’6″ to Prescott’s 5’11”) Prescott’s appearance may again be fleeting.