Yoenis Tellez vs Abass Baraou Keys to Victory: Breaking down tactics of each fighter

Yoenis Tellez is making his case to vie for a world championship stronger with each fight.

After a breakout performance of outpointing Julian Williams in March, the WBA interim junior middleweight titleholder will try to keep the momentum going Saturday night when he clashes with Abass Baraou in the co-main event of MVP Fight Night at Caribe Royale Resort Orlando in Orlando, Florida, and live on DAZN.

The Cuban sensation Tellez (10-0, 7 KOs) was able to defeat Williams by a comfortable unanimous decision despite the latter being a former unified world champion at 154 pounds and owning a deep experience edge. Meanwhile, German boxer Baraou (16-1, 9 KOs) enters this bout having produced seven consecutive wins which includes a unanimous decision of his own over Macaulay McGowan in June 2024.

With the winner being able to push himself closer to a world title shot, DAZN News analyzes the Keys to Victory, breaking down the tactics of each fighter.

Yoenis Tellez’ Keys to Victory

Get busy in bursts when pressuring

Watch Yoenis Tellez’ statement win over Julian Williams from earlier this year and you will see a 25-year-old who does an excellent job at getting busy in bursts.

Over several sequences of the fight, the Cuban showed enough savvy to know when to mash the gas pedal with a string of fluid boxing. This came in the form of a jab or sometimes doubling up on the stick and piecing together stinging combinations off it.

These flurries also came at the right time as Tellez has a natural instinct in knowing when to unleash them.

Against a seasoned Abass Baraou, doing this will be a major key.

Keep the punch palette and placement diversified

Tellez dipped deep into his bag of sweet science output against Williams, blasting the former champ with everything from stab jabs to the midsection to crunching liver shots, slicing uppercuts and prodding rights around the guard and through them.

Opponents tend to get flustered when such a diverse palette of punches and their locations are being presented.

Tellez will have to keep diversifying his punch portfolio and their locations to stifle Baraou.

Detonate the right hand

As technical as Baraou is with a rich amateur background, the German boxer is also capable of applying pressure and fighting in the pocket if necessary.

Baraou’s disciplined high guard gives Tellez the opportunity to wrap right hooks around it to get to the German’s temple. Or he could blast straight through the guard, altogether.

Nonetheless, Tellez, who works his angles efficiently, should look to detonate the right hand toward splashy results.

Abass Baraou’s Keys to Victory

Unload the right hand to the body

Abass Baraou makes concerted deposits to the body and these shots serve a two-pronged result as they tend to fatigue opponents over the course of a fight, while also forcing them to lower their guards.

Baraou must test Tellez’ body with the right hand to see if he could reach pay dirt via either avenue.

The German boxer sits on his rights to the body well, leveraging their maximum impact, making this a major key.

Disguise uppercuts

Baraou is so consistent and thorough to the body that he has the opening to disguise an uppercut as one of those crunching shots to the midsection.

He did this quite a bit in his last win over McGowan and turning a perceived body shot into an uppercut at the last second of the punch could be just the tool required to get a pressuring Tellez off of him.

Be mindful of the guard

There is such a thing as having one’s guard too high and tight in front of you to where it could be a liability in allowing hooks to be wrapped around it from the left or right openings.

Baraou is sometimes guilty of this or having a lax guard, altogether, where his hands are chest level or below later into fights.

He cannot afford these lapses against a skilled Tellez who will carve him up.

Baraou’s guard must have motion to adjust to Tellez’ angles and precise punch placement or he could find himself in deep waters quickly.

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