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.
Robert Guerrero should prove himself against Keith Thurman to get Mayweather bout
By Bill Phanco: While WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KO’s) got a lot of attention in defeating former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (28-2, 22 KO’s) by a convincing 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night, the real story on the card was unbeaten welterweight knockout artist Keith Thurman (19-0, 18 KO’s) with his 4th round knockout win over Carlos Quintana.
Guerrero says he wants a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr, but I think it would be a lot more interesting if Guerrero had to get by Thurman before first before getting a fight against Mayweather. I doubt that Mayweather will even bother fighting Guerrero just yet. Guerrero wants the fight, but he’s only had two fights at welterweight and he’s still unproven at this weight. I don’t want to take anything away from Guerrero’s victory, but Berto was coming off of a long layoff last Saturday and he didn’t look like the same fighter he once was.
Between his recent left arm injury and the long layoff that he had, Berto looked like he was only fighting at 50% capacity last Saturday. The referee didn’t help matters by not stepping in to prevent Guerrero from knocking Berto to the canvas in the 1st round after he grabbed him by the head with one arm and hit Berto repeatedly with the other until he dropped.
Fury vs. Johnson on Saturday, December 1st in Belfast, Northern Ireland
By Michael Collins: Tyson Fury (19-0, 14 KO’s) is hoping that Saturday’s fight against 33-year-old former world heavyweight title challenger Kevin Johnson (28-2-1, 13 KO’s) is a mere formality when he meets up with the American at the Odyssey Arena, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
Gennady Golovkin vs. Fernando Guerrero a possibility for January 19th in New York
Guerrero would be an okay choice, but not really an ideal one because he was already knocked out by 40-year-old Grady Brewer last year in June, and that kind of takes the interest out of watching him fight Golovkin. Guerrero has won his last four fights since the defeat to Brewer, albeit he’s faced 2nd tier opposition.
Golovkin doesn’t have a lot of good options right now because the middleweight division is so dead right now and lacking in talent.
Trout: I have to keep Cotto on the outside
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.
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.
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.
Senchenko ends Hatton’s comeback; Guerrero defeats Berto; Thurman beats Quintana
Great night of boxing for both HBO and Showtime; Minutes away from a great comeback win, Hatton has liver failure
Thurman continues to look impressive in stopping Quintana
Two knockdowns too hard for Berto to overcome – Guerrero gets UD
By Paul Strauss: Don’t worry, Ricky’s condition was temporary. It was due to a beautifully placed body shot that snuck in under “The Hitman’s” outstretched right arm. There isn’t a more debilitating shot in boxing. It doesn’t matter how many sit-ups you’ve done. If the shot lands on target, forget it. A few years back, Ricky landed a similar shot to the liver of Luis Castillo with the same results. You just don’t recovering quickly from one of those, regardless of whether you have a six- pack, eight-pack or full case of abdominal muscles.
Up until that time, Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton was fighting a good fight at the Manchester Arena, Manchester, Lancashire UK on Showtime Boxing.
Ricky Hatton gets KO’d by Vyacheslav Senchenko in 9
By Joseph Herron: After staging a valiant comeback from over three years of inactivity, Ricky Hatton (45-3, 32 KOs) was knocked out by a lethal shot to the liver via left hook from former WBA Welterweight Champion Vyacheslav Senchenko (33-1, 22 KOs) in the closing seconds of the ninth round in a scheduled ten round contest.
To begin the contest, an exuberant “Hitman” excited the crowd by closing the distance effectively and launching his trademark left hooks to the body and head of the rangy Ukrainian boxer. Although Ricky’s timing and rhythm was not reminiscent of the classic Junior Welterweight Hatton, Manchester’s favorite son was pressing the action successfully and forcing the fight to the larger visiting pugilist in the first half of the bout.
To begin the sixth round, Senchenko began to create distance by using the jab and landing the left hook, straight right hand combination to the body and head of the two division world champion. Despite trudging forward and landing the occasional effective left hand, the 34 year old fight veteran was getting caught cleanly and regularly while marching into the much taller and rangier fighter throughout the last half of the contest.
Ricky Hatton: Blue Moon on Sunday
By Marc Livitz: The Manchester fighter once again had the adulation of his home crowd behind him on Saturday evening and by his own admission, he faced an opponent who was anything but a “ham and egger”.
Vyacheslav Senchenko had the gall to step into the ring while wearing a Manchester United shirt, which made this writer hope for a Hatton knockout even more. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian fighter may already know what will be his first choice of what to take with him into the next life: his left hook to the body. When you absolutely must send your rival to the floor, accept no substitutes.
One’s liver is quite susceptible to blunt force, yet Ricky didn’t appear to get to experience the one to two second delay that separates the shot from the slump. The bet to place in regard to a valid explanation may be the easiest addition to your next parlay. The documentation present in virtually all forms of media confirms that one of the hardest working entities in all of the British Isles has been Hatton’s liver. Do as you will and live as you may, yet the little party rascals to which Ricky has given anything and everything but austerity may have stiffed him on the check more than he would care to believe.