Trout: I have to keep Cotto on the outside

09/15/201611/26/2012 ESB

By Paul Grunich: WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) isn’t taking any chances with the hard hitting Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) on Saturday night in their fight at Madison Square Garden in New York. Trout plans on using his jab to keep the 32-year-old Cotto at a safe distance where he’s a lot less harmful. Trout doesn’t want to get in any wars with Cotto where he could get lucky and score a knockout from one of his big power shots.

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Berto’s shoulder roll experiment cost him the Guerrero fight

09/15/201611/26/2012 ESB

Berto's shoulder roll experiment cost him the Guerrero fight By Bill Phanco: If there’s one area in Andre Berto‘s game where you have to latch onto to assign blame for his 12 round unanimous decision loss to interim WBC welterweight champion Robert Guerrero last Saturday night it was with Berto’s experiment with the Mayweather style shoulder roll defense. Berto likely would have won the fight had he not wasted time using the shoulder roll defense, because it was one big fail for him.

Berto looked uncomfortable using the shoulder roll, and it didn’t work for him in this fight because Guerrero was able to sail his shots right over Berto’s left shoulder all night long. The purpose of the shoulder roll is to avoid getting hit, but it looked like Berto had no clue how to use it.

It was immediately clear in the opening round that Berto’s shoulder roll defense was a failure agaisnt Guerrero, because he was getting hit nearly at will. Berto should have abandoned the shoulder roll in the next round and gone back to his old defensive style. Berto has never been a good fighter defensively, but he’s never been as bad as he looked last Saturday when he trying to fight using the shoulder roll.

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Guerrero batters Berto to win a brilliant 12 round UD

09/15/201611/25/2012 ESB

Guerrero batters Berto to win a brilliant 12 round UD By Joseph Herron – Last night at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California, four division World Champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero successfully defended his WBC Welterweight crown by defeating former world titlist Andre Berto by way of twelve round unanimous decision.

All three judges at ringside were identical, scoring the bout 116-110 in favor of the underdog and incumbent champion.

The primary reason why Berto was a 2 to 1 favorite going into last night’s contest was because of Guerrero’s lack of experience against top level opposition. Although “The Ghost” was indeed a four division world champion going into the contest and the reigning title holder, it was largely believed that he would crumble under the pressure and skill-set of a high level fighter in his respective prime.

Guerrero proved to his detractors that he belongs among boxing’s best by negating the speed and power of Andre Berto and imposing his will on the faster and harder puncher last night.

In the outset of the contest, Andre Berto used the questionable tactic of implementing the shoulder roll defensive stance against a very crafty and intelligent fighter like Robert Guerrero. The fighting pride of Gilroy, California took advantage of Berto’s inexperience and feinted with the straight right hand while pounding the leaning challenger with the left hook.

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Robert Guerrero vs. Andre Berto: Gogue’s big fight preview

09/15/201611/24/2012 ESB

Robert Guerrero vs. Andre Berto: Gogue’s big fight preview By Joseph Herron – Photos by Tom Hogan/Hoganphotos/Golden Boy Promotions – Tonight at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California, four division world champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KOs) will put his interim WBC Welterweight title on the line when he faces arguably his toughest test to date, former WBC 147 pound title holder Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KOs).

The highly anticipated match-up will air on HBO World Championship Boxing at 10PM EST/PST (delayed on the American west coast), after Golden Boy prospect Keith Thurman squares off against former 147 pound champion Carlos Quintana in the evening’s co-main event.

While the twelve round main event should answer many questions surrounding both competing fighters, expert trainer James Gogue believes that Guerrero and Berto respectively have a lot riding on this performance.

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If Hatton loses to Senchenko tonight you have to look at his weight loss as a huge factor

09/15/201611/24/2012 ESB

If Hatton loses to Senchenko tonight you have to look at his weight loss as a huge factor By Michael Collins: Ricky Hatton is staging his comeback tonight against Vyacheslav Senchenko in Manchester, England, and Hatton has set it up to where he might be vulnerable to getting knocked out cold once again due to a variety of factors. The first thing that Hatton has going for him in this fight is that he’s coming off of a 3 1/2 year retirement without a tune-up.

Senchenko is definitely a world class fighter despite being manhandled by the light hitting Paulie Malignaggi in his last fight. Senchenko is at least fringe level world class, and that’s more than good enough to beat a short, rusty fighter like Hatton, whose best weight at 140, not 147.

Hatton didn’t want to bother with taking a tune-up fight and is jumping straight into the fire so to speak with the Senchenko bout. That’s obviously not the smartest thing that a person can do. I know Hatton likes to do things his own way, but this is one thing that you don’t want to mess around with. Another problem that Hatton has for this fight is all the weight that he had to take off just to make 147.

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Froch hoping nothing bad happens to Hatton tonight

09/15/201611/24/2012 ESB

Froch hoping nothing bad happens to Hatton tonight By Michael Collins: Ricky Hatton is taking a considerable risk in making a comeback tonight against Vyacheslav Senchenko after a long period of time out of the ring. IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch is just hoping that Hatton can come out of this fight in one piece and doesn’t get hurt like he was in his last fight against Manny Pacquiao in 2009.

Speaking to the standard.co.uk, Froch said “If Ricky wants to come back that’s his decision. Good luck to him. But let’s just hope he is in as good shape as he looks and that he doesn’t get hurt.”

Hatton does look to be in outstanding condition judging by how good he looked during Friday’s weigh-in. However, there’s a big difference from being in good shape and being in fighting shape. Hatton looks like he’s taken off a lot of weight, but we don’t know how he’ll react when he starts taking head shots and how he’ll look once the fight goes past the 3rd round.

When you’ve got an older fighter that is making a comeback after years out of the ring like Hatton, they tend to look decent for about three rounds.

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Kwahu Tyson beats Okai to win Ghana Light Heavyweight title

09/15/201611/24/2012 ESB

Kwahu Tyson beats Okai to win Ghana Light Heavyweight title By Prince Dornu-Leiku – Emmanuel Omari Danso, the Ghana-based boxer known by the nickname Kwahu Tyson has realized the first of many ambitions after claiming the vacant Ghana Light Heavyweight championship with victory over David Okai.

Unbeaten Kwahu Tyson (16-0, 16 KOs) has vowed to live by his American namesake, Iron Mike Tyson and destroy opponents on his way to achieving the much craved dream of becoming boxing world champion.

Boasting a 100% knockout record from the 16 fights of his career thus far, Danso was at his destructive best even as Okai took him the furthest in his career before eventually succumbing in the penultimate round. Danso claimed the national Light Heavyweight belt via the 11th round technical knockout win against Okai at the Will Power Boxing Complex in Accra.

It also improved perfect record holder, Omari Danso to a number 2 in the African Light Heavyweight rankings but his team are patient to let him develop before thinking of taking on the best in the world.
“Locally there is no opponent again for him because he has beaten them all so maybe we shall look for opponents around the neighbouring countries like Nigeria, Benin, then go for the Africa title next year

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Weigh-in: Berto vs. Guerrero, Thurman vs. Quintana

11/24/201211/24/2012 ESB

By Bill Phanco: Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KO’s) and WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KO’s) came in under the welterweight 147 lb limit today during their weigh-in.

Guerrero weighed 146.4 lbs and Berto came in at 146.8. The card also has highly hyped unbeaten junior middleweight Keith Thurman (18-0, 17 KO’s) fighting WBO NABO light middleweight champion Carlos Quintana (29-3, 23 KO’s) for his strap. Thurman weighed in at 151.25 lbs, and Quintana at 152.

The official weighs for the HBO televised card:

Robert Guerrero 146.4 vs. Andre Berto 146.8
Keith Thurman 151.25 vs. Carlos Quintana 152
Randy Caballero 119.2 vs. Rigoberto Casillas 118.8

Guerrero can become a star with a win over Berto in this fight. He could pick up a big money fight and then get the backing of the considerable Mexican population in the U.S. It would make for an interesting fight if Guerrero could get past Berto and then get Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao in the ring somehow. The pay per view numbers would likely be very good. For that to happen Guerrero is going to have to find a way to get past Berto.

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Malignaggi turns 32 today; anxious to see if Hatton beats Senchenko

11/24/201211/23/2012 ESB

By Jeff Sorby: WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO’s) turns 32-years-old today, and he’s really interested to see what the outcome will be for this Saturday’s fight between Ricky Hatton and Vyacheslav Senchenko in Manchester, England.

Malignaggi has already given Hatton the green lightweight for a world title shot provided that Hatton beats Senchenko and the World Boxing Association responds by giving Hatton a top 15 ranking. That pretty much goes without saying because Senchenko already has a very generous #7 ranking by the WBA, and they’ll no doubt push Hatton up to somewhere in the top 15 if he beats Senchenko tomorrow night.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hatton get a top 10 ranking by the WBA if he wins tomorrow night. The sanctioning fees would be good with Hatton as the WBA champion if he were interested in holding onto the strap if he gets past Malignaggi.

Just to show you how eager Malignaggi is to get the Hatton fight, he’s already in England right now and attended the Hatton-Senchenko final press conference this week when Senchenko failed to show up. Malignaggi will obviously be at the fight, and likely hoping Hatton looks sensational in winning. Malignaggi has no interest in fighting Senchenko again, because he already gave him a bad thrashing last April in stopping him in the 9th round in Ukraine.

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A win for Guerrero over Berto makes him an appealing option for Mayweather or Pacquiao

11/24/201211/23/2012 ESB

By Steve Mabbotts: WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KO’s) has been talking for a long time about wanting to fight the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Now all Guerrero has to do to make himself an appealing option for those fighters is to beat Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KO’s) tomorrow night at the Citizens Business Bank Arena, in Ontario, California, USA.

That’s easier said than done, because Berto is a 2-1 favorite to win this fight, and Guerrero didn’t show the kind of power or speed in his last fight against Selcuk Aydin that would enable him to beat Berto.

Berto is beatable, and saw how he’s vulnerable against an opponent that puts a lot of pressure on him and throws a ton punches in Berto’s loss to Victor Ortiz last year. However, Guerrero will have to stand directly in front of Berto to accomplish that task he’s going to have to take a lot of hard shots in the process. Ortiz was able to get his way because he had power and speed pretty equal to Berto’s.

Guerrero doesn’t have that kind of speed and power going for him. Guerrero is more like a pumped up lightweight that left his power hind him at 135. Even at that weight, Guerrero wasn’t a big puncher, and he mainly got his victories by throwing a lot of shots. He’s going to have to do that with Berto on Saturday, and hope that the judges are more impressed with his higher punch volume compared to the harder, faster and more flashier shots that Berto is answering him back with.

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