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Veteran Blake Caparello will take on the up and coming Reagan Dessaix for the WBA Oceania light heavyweight championship on February 22, 2019 at the Melbourne Pavilion in Melbourne, Australia.
The bout will not have much on the line when it comes to world rankings but for sure, it will decide who the best light heavyweight in Australia is. Caparello is the old bull who has been there and done that while Dessaix is the young stud who is on his way up.
Blake “Il Capo” Caparello (27-3-1 with 11 knockouts)
Born in Essendon, Victoria, Australia, the 32 year old Caparello is 6-1 ½ and has a reach of 74 inches. He has fought a total of 31 bouts and has a record of 27-3-1 with 11 knockouts. In 2013, Caparello defeated Alan Green to win the vacant IBO light heavyweight championship. The following year, the Aussie earned the right to challenge Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight title. He lost the fight via 2nd round TKO.
Since the loss to Kovalev, Caparello has fought just once in the United States, losing to Andre Dirrell by decision in 2016. He’s fought exclusively in his native country, virtually disappearing from the world scene and preferring to fight in the regional scene. Caparello is 5-1 during that period and he is coming off a first round knockout win over Trent Broadhurst last June 01, 2018.
Blake Caparello vs Reagan Dessaix Odds
Caparello
-350
Dessaix
+250
Odds from bet365 as of 2/19/19
Reagan “The President” Dessaix ( 16-1 with 11 Knockouts)
Reagan Dessaix’s father was a fan of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. That’s why he named him after the late American leader. But this Reagan is an Australian who hails from Sydney. And after an 80 fight amateur career where he represented Australia in various international tournaments, he turned pro and has earned the reputation as one of the up and coming boxing stars from the Land Down Under. Standing 6-3, the orthodox Dessaix has a record of 16-1 with 11 knockouts. In his most recent bout last November 10, 2018, Dessaix scored a second round stoppage of Steve Lovett.
Dessaix captured the vacant WBA Oceania light heavyweight title by becoming the first fighter to stop Peter Ato Ricketts inside the distance. The President needed less than two rounds to claim the regional belt and become champion at age 21. The win was also his 8th straight victory after suffering the lone loss of his professional boxing career to Mose Auimatagi Jnr three years ago.
Experience vs Youth
Caparello has the much better fight resume between the two and he has tons of experience which his young gun opponent cannot match.He is also a difficult fight for anybody because he follows his plan to a tee and can adjust his game plan according to the style in front of him.
The old dog is a sharp and solid boxer. He has a very fine jab and boasts of good movement. He throws a lot of punches and usually outworks his opponents rather than knock them out. Caparello has a modest 11 knockouts in 27 wins. His opponent has the same number of knockouts but in 14 less total fights amd and he usually has problems when his opponents can walk into his punches. That remains to be seen though against his next foe.
Dessaix is no superman here. In fact, his lone loss is a first round knockout defeat suffered at the hands of Mose Auimatagi Jnr in 2016. Dessaix claims that he was hurt by a punch to the back of the head and he also said that he had difficulty making the 168 pound limit at that time. Regardless, Dessaix was put down in a minute and finished rather easily. But that is the only blot in the young man’s resume so far.
Since that loss, Dessaix has won eight fights in a row half of them by knockout. He isn’t really a knockout artist but has 11 stoppages in 16 wins. The President is only 22 years old but his knockout win over Steve Lockett showed that his uppercut is one of the most feared punches in Australia right now.
Who Wins?
One of Caparello’s known weaknesses is that he has a tendency to lung forward when he attacks. If he falls to that bad old habit on Friday night, Blake might get introduced to the Reagan Dessaix uppercut first hand. Caparello is a durable warrior though as he’s been stopped in only one of his three losses and the only man to knock him out is Sergey Kovalev. That said, I see Dessaix landing his big shots in the exchanges but I fancy Caparello to take them well.
I think this fight goes the distance with Caparello using his experience to avoid getting tagged by the young bull. Dessaix is going to come after Caparello here but I think the veteran has good movement and better boxing. He is going to box his way out of trouble and pull off the victory here.
Make no mistake, Dessaix isn’t just a puncher with a big uppercut. He was a good amateur with four Australian Golden Gloves, two Australian titles, six Queensland state titles and even fought in the 2014 World Youth Championships in Bulgaria. But at 22, I think he still has a lot to learn and Caparello is a huge step up for him terms of quality of opposition. It’s going to be an entertaining domestic fight but I see the veteran using all the tricks to beat the young stallion.
I’m picking Blake Caparello to beat Reagan Dessaix by decision.
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