Marco Verde
Mexico's Olympic Silver
Bio
Marco Verde is the young Mexican Olympic silver medallist who is being brought along at exactly the right pace, and he fights on the San Diego card against Canada's unbeaten Guillermo Hernandez.
Six professional fights, three knockouts, and an opponent who is also 7-0. That is not a padded record and it is not a soft touch — unbeaten against unbeaten at this stage is a promoter backing his fighter rather than protecting him.
Verde weighed 157.6 lbs, with Hernandez coming in heavier at 160.6. That is a notable gap between two young middleweights and it is the sort of detail that decides a six or eight rounder.
The Olympic pedigree brings a crowd with it in Mexico, and Verde carries a genuine weight of expectation as one of the country's most promising amateurs to turn over in recent years. Mexican boxing does not do patience especially well.
Right then — this is a proper learning fight on a big stage, and beating another unbeaten man at this stage is worth far more than another stoppage over somebody brought in to lose.