Mauricio Herrera vs. Jose Benavidez Jr.: Fight Time, Date, Live Stream, TV Info

Undefeated and highly regarded light welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. (21-0, 15 KO) will get the stiffest test of his young career on Saturday night at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas. The 22-year-old from Panorama City, California, will try to pry the interim WBA light welterweight title away from Mauricio "El Maestro" Herrera (21-4, 7 KO).

The 34-year-old from Lake Elsinore, California, is one of the toughest 140-pound fighters to solve in the world. He has given champions like Danny "Swift" Garcia all they could handle, and he captured the interim WBA strap by outpointing Johan Perez in July.

Still, because of a lack of punching power, Herrera gets little respect for his craft. He'll be looking for his propers if he beats the promising Benavidez Jr.

The bout takes place on the undercard of the Timothy Bradley vs. Diego Chaves scrap. Saturday is going to be huge for the 140-to-147-pound weight region. On the same night, but on a separate card, Amir Khan will take on Devon Alexander, and Keith Thurman will battle Leonard Bundu.

Here's how you can watch the Bradley-Chaves, Herrera-Benavidez Jr. show:

When: Saturday, Dec. 13, at 10 p.m. ET

Where: Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

TV: HBO

Live Stream: Box Nation (subscription required and region restricted)

Taking the Pre-Test

Up to this point, Benavidez Jr. has plowed through competition well beneath his skill level. Most recently, he took apart Henry Aurad in just one round. That bout took place in July, and it was Benavidez Jr.'s third fight of 2014.

Heading into the fight with Herrera, Benavidez Jr. has an opportunity to finish up the year at 4-0 with the biggest win of his career to punctuate the campaign. 

Without question, Benavidez Jr. has never faced an opponent with the experience and guile that El Maestro will bring to the ring on Saturday. While this is a big step up in competition, Benavidez Jr. insists his training experiences have properly prepared him.

Benavidez told Lem Satterfield of The Ring Magazine:

"

I’ve been around great fighters all of my life. So while training at Wild Card, I got into the ring to spar with Manny Pacquiao. That was a fantastic experience. Now it’s time to step up and take on Herrera. I was first offered a 10-round fight but I said no. I want to go the full 12 rounds and get that [interim] title belt from him.

"

In addition to sparring with Pacquiao, the young prodigy—who is the son of the legendary trainer of the same name—has also sparred with Timothy Bradley, Amir Khan and Shane Mosley.

Because he's so young, tall (5'11") and talented, there's a very good chance Benavidez Jr. will find himself as high as middleweight in his career. It seems almost a given he'll move to welterweight at some point.

After all, that's where the majority of the big-name stars are in boxing.

Fights like this one will serve as the preliminary test of his mettle. Can he handle the tasks of facing the best fighters in the world at 140 and 147 pounds? We're about to find out.

Altering His Approach

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Herrera is a fighter that is extremely skilled and defensively sound. Because of that, he's very difficult to look good against.

He also lacks punching power, which makes his fights somewhat difficult to score. Grouped with a lack of notoriety, this combination of skills and deficiencies leaves Herrera on the short end of the stick in close fights that go the distance.

Because of this, Herrera seems to feel compelled to win decisively on Saturday. At least that's what he's saying in the pre-fight hype. 

“I want to give my all and make sure that people remember my fight," Herrera told Satterfield.

"Both of our styles are hungry and aggressive. You’re going to get an action-packed fight…If I see an opening, I’m going to take it. I’m not looking to go the distance. I’ll be willing to take risks.”

By nature, Herrera is a defensive fighter who looks for counterpunching opportunities. It's a smart approach because he simply doesn't possess the power to be more aggressive. His ability to make his opponents miss and then counter with clean and accurate shots is at the root of his success.

Would he be making a tactical error against Benavidez Jr. to alter his approach for the sake of trying to be more exciting?

Prediction

If Herrera attempts to open up against Benavidez Jr., it could be a short night. The young man from Panorama City can thump. He has one-punch KO power, as evidenced by his annihilation of Aurad in his last fight.

Benavidez Jr. has a classic and tall power-puncher's stance, and he tends to load up the powerful right hand. He has a good, range-finding jab that controls distance and disturbs rhythm, but he'll have to vary his attacks against a veteran like Herrera.

Even if Herrera decides to be more aggressive, he'll do so with head movement that makes for a difficult target to connect with. Because he's giving up 3.5" inches in height and 1.5" in reach, he'll need to get inside to do any damage.

I predict that ultimately Herrera will revert to his defensive style. It's simply the way he fights, and we see consistently that fighters aren't able to alter their in-ring approach very easily. Herrera will give Benavidez Jr. trouble with his elusiveness and counterpunching.

However, it will be difficult to award Herrera clear advantages in the rounds as he tends to smother his work with clinches after combinations. Benavidez will do enough with his jab and right cross to gain a narrow and disputed decision victory over Herrera.

Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter. I dig boxing and MMA.