The Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona hosts the latest “Premier Boxing Champions” and the show is headlined by an international main event in the Featherweight division as England’s Lee Selby faces off against Mexico’s Fernando Montiel. The fight is for Selby’s IBF World Featherweight Title. The books have Selby a big-time (-3000) favorite over Montiel, who is returning at (+1500). The twelve round bout does not have an over/under posted. Though Selby is making the first defense of the title he captured last May and despite the fact that he is fighting outside of England for the first time in his career he is a huge favorite. At 28 years old and with a record of (21-1), Selby is just entering into his prime as a boxer. Though he is not a knock out artist, Selby is disciplined and he likes to work the jab. Montiel’s experience advantage is tempered by the fact that Selby has gone the distance in 10 and 12 round matches a half a dozen times in his career, so he has proven he can manage a long fight. He will also have considerable height and reach advantages over Montiel Montiel’s overall record stands at a sterling (54-4-2), and he has held world championships at Flyweight, Super Flyweight and Bantamweight. A win by knock out here would give Montiel 40 career KO’s and a world champion ship in a fourth weight class, putting him in near-elite territory. Since the start of 2013, Montiel has reeled off an eight fight winning streak. But none of this masks the fact that Montiel is now 36 years old, and most observers feel he has not been the same fighter since suffering a brutal KO at the hands of Nonito Donaire back in February of 2011. Montiel is a solid fighter who thrives in a brawl, but fighting like he is ten years younger may not be to his advantage here. Montiel does not have a lot of options, however, because matching skill and trying to outbox Selby is a tall order for the 5’4 fighter. The Welterweight co-main event sees former Super Lightweight World Champion Devon Alexander (26-3) return for a 10 round bout against Aaron Martinez (19-4-1). Martinez is a (+2000) underdog to the high skilled Alexander who is paying at (-4000). This is basically a comeback fight for Alexander, who has not fought yet in 2015 and has losses to highly rated Shawn Porter and Amir Khan in his last three outings, so he is expeceted to bounce back in this one.
