By Marcus Richardson: HBO analyst Larry Merchant prefers that Floyd Mayweather Jr. be looking to get a bigger fight the next time he sets foot in the ring by going after a fight with the likes of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Manny Pacquiao rather than choosing to fight WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero, who has been calling Mayweather Jr. out a lot lately trying to get a fight with him.
Merchant said to examiner.com writer Chris Robinson “I hope that Mayweather is shooting for bigger game [than Guerrero], which would be Pacquiao and possibly Alvarez. Beating Berto is a very good win, but it doesn’t automatically put you in that game.”
I agree with Merchant. Beating Andre Berto was a good win for Guerrero, but it wasn’t a big enough win to get him a big money fight against Mayweather. Guerrero still needs to make a name for himself by taking on some of the top welterweights like Marcos Maidana and Luis Carlos Abregu. Guerrero has only had two fights at welterweight against Selcuk Aydin and Berto. He needs at least two more fights minimum to get a fight with Mayweather because he’s still so unproven.
It’s too bad that Guerrero didn’t face Keith Thurman last Saturday night while Thurman’s opponent Carlos Quintana fought Berto. I think things would have been a lot more interesting because Thurman blew out Quintana in a 4th round TKO victory, while Guerrero beat up and totally dominated Berto by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 116-110, 116-110 and 116-110. Thurman vs. Guerrero would have been a lot better test for Guerrero to see if he has the talent to get to the next level.
What we don’t want to see is Guerrero get a fight with Mayweather straightaway and then get dominated in a one-sided fight. If Guerrero can show that he belongs in the ring with Mayweather by beating someone good then boxing fans can thus avoid seeing a boring fight involving Mayweather and Guerrero.