The Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn plays host to two major fights set to air on Spike TV as part of the “Premier Boxing Champion” series. The main event sees former world champions Chris Algieri and Amir Khan meet, and the co-main event features Super Featherweights Bryan Vasquez and Javier Fortuna fight for the vacant WBA World Super Featherweight title. The live card features 10 fights overall, but only the two features have lines as of now, and there is no over/under posted for this one. In the main event, Amir Khan is a huge (-1700) favorite over Algieri, who is returning (+1100). For Algieri, this is a potential make or break fight. Algieri is (20-1) overall and is coming off the first defeat of his career, against Manny Pacquiao. Algieiri is a former kickboxer who created a fairy tale type of story around himself when he beat Ruslan Provodnikov by split decision to grab the WBO World Super Lightweight title. Pacquiao turned him into a pumpkin however, knocking him down six times on his way to any easy win over Algieri. Heading into this fight, Algieri will be looking to prove that the Pacquiao loss was a fluke, but he is taking on a fighter in Khan whose elite speed puts him on another level to Algieri. The knock on Khan throughout his career has been his glass head, as his losses have all seen him not recover well from taking a shot. Unfortunately for Algieiri. Even if he is able to hit Khan, he is not known for having starching power in his fists, and he considers himself more of a technician and a master boxer than a KO puncher. Unfortunately for Algieri, bringing technique as your main weapon to a boxing match against Amir Khan is a tall order. The WBA Super Featherweight title fight sees both Bryan Vasquez and Javier Fortuna paying back at (-110) making this close to a pick ‘em fight. Vasquez is 27 years old and (34-1), with his lone loss coming in December of 2012 when he fought for the WBA belt against all-world Takashi Uchiyama in Tokyo. He captured an interim version of the belt in October of 2013, and he has gone (3-0) since grabbing the belt. Unfortunately for Vasquez, he came in heavy for his last defense against Sergio Thompson and he left the belt at the scales despite a win. The weigh-ins are Thursday and it will be interesting to see if Vasquez makes the weight, and if he does, is it a rough cut? As for Fortuna, he is undefeated (27-0-1) and he has won five straight since his draw with veteran Luis Franco. Most observers felt Fortuna won that fight, and he has been on a tear ever since, knocking out 4 of 5 opponents. Vasquez has 18 stoppage wins in 34 fights to Fortuna’s 20 stops in 27 and though the numbers hint that Fortuna has more power, he is also far more aggressive than Vasquez. Vasquez is characterized by his good defense and technique. Vasquez tired in his lone loss to Uchiyama, and with his trouble making weight, conditioning may be a question for him, while Fortuna will be looking to land a big punch throughout the fight, his best chances may come late.
