TalkingBoxing Articles
Guzman puts Top Fighters on Notice | "Mayweather-Hatton 24/7" Premieres
MON November 19, ANDRES ANTONIO CARRIEDO - WBO Jr. Lightweight titlist Joan Guzman won the wild slugging match early, controlled the intense action through the middle rounds and got on his toes to out-maneuver his challenger Humberto Soto in the late rounds and retained his belt in his second defense by scores of 117 - 111 (twice) and 118-110. The comprehensive win put those in and around the 130 lb. weight on notice that despite his recent inactivity Joan Guzman remains a versatile force to be reckoned with.
Coming into the fight Guzman was rumored to be on the shortlist to face Jr. Lightweight superstar Manny Pacquiao on his March 13th HBO PPV date. The win kept Guzman's hopes of landing that plum assignment alive. However, for a number of reasons, Guzman remains a long shot land that fight. At the very least Guzman figures to land another televised title defense soon and, barring injuries in training, should not have to sit out 11 months between fights as he did prior to his fight last night.
The bout began with both fighters trading power punches. When Guzman loaded up and landed a couple of overhand rights to highlight the round it brought cheers from his supporters. In the second round, Soto began to land more frequently though Guzman's effective movement and powerful counters probably won him the round. Guzman landed the more effective body shots in the third round (including a body shot for which he was warned) as the slugger, Soto, headhunted with mixed results. Soto ate more leather than he landed, but was able to force the action he needed to in order have a chance to win later in the fight.
The action slowed progressively from rounds four through nine as Guzman continued to use his movement, hard counter punches, stiff jab and body shots to frustrate and then eventually slow Soto. Soto had his moments in rounds four and eight, but through the middle rounds Guzman clinched the victory by slickly avoiding most of Soto's punches even when he had his back on the ropes and then countered with quick, hard and effective shots. The best punch of the fight was a hard left cross out of a southpaw stance by Guzman in round five. The titlist also landed a number of punishing left hooks to both the head and body throughout the middle round as his rowdy supporters cheered him on.
Perhaps deciding he was not going to able to stop his tough and resolute challenger, Guzman got on his toes and gave away round 10. Rounds 11 and 12 were fought on even terms with Guzman slowing down long enough to land a few hard counters as Soto pressed forward attempting to trap Guzman on the ropes where Soto had his most success throughout the last three rounds.
In the end, Guzman proved just too much for the Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico native Soto. Though he's not likely to land the coveted fight with Pacquiao, Guzman did put the rest of the division on notice.
Unbeaten Prospects Shine
Former Olympians Rock Allen and Abner Mares both remained unbeaten on the undercard of last night's show in Atlantic City. HBO showed clips of 2004 US Olympian Allen's 80-72 (3x) eight round shutout of Braulio Lopez. Allen pressed forward and hurt Lopez with a few right crosses en route to the unanimous decision victory.
2004 Mexican Olympian Abner Mares, tabbed for the co-feature, opened with a solid first round and weathered a brave assault by granite chinned Argentinian Damian Marchiano through the next two rounds to take over the fight over the last nine rounds. The fight was highlighted by an overhand right by Marchiano in round two that caused a cut in Mares' nose that bled for the remaining 10 rounds and a hook in the sixth round that referee Sparkle Lee ruled a low blow. The punch appeared to land on the belt line and could easily have ended the fight. Marchiano took quite a bit of time to recover from the blow.
When action resumed Mares went right back to work. He consistently worked behind a double and triple jab to land powerful multi-punch combinations to the head and body. Mares did his most effective work with brutal left hooks to the body and crushing right crosses in close quarters. Through 11 rounds Marchiano walked right through an enormous amount of punishment and actually had Mares bloodied and bruised.
In the 12th round, Mares finally hurt Marchiano badly and had him on the verge of being stopped. Mares landed hard blows to the body early in the round despite being penalized for low blows a round earlier. Finally with just 35 seconds left in the fight a hard counter right cross snapped Marchiano head back and drove him into the ropes. Mares instinctively pounced on his opponent and tried futilely to end the fight. Marchiano clinched effectively to avoid any further punishment and finished the fight on his feet. In the end, the scores of 118 - 109 (twice) and 117 - 109 awarded Mares a well deserved unanimous decision victory.
Demetrius Hopkins also kept his record unbeaten by using his hand speed to take a lopsided 100 - 90 (twice), 99 - 91 decision over Enrique Colin. It was a very good night for Golden Boy Promotions. Their four notable prospects, contenders and titlists on the card remained unbeaten and positioned themselves for future television appearances with impressive victories.
"Mayweather-Hatton 24/7" Premieres
The episode began with Floyd Mayweather Jr. dropping something of a bombshell in revealing that he was actually born Floyd Sinclair and only later changed his name to Mayweather. The episode then proceeded to amplify the differences between the two boxers with the brash Mayweather enjoying his money and superstardom while the affable Hatton enjoyed the love of his neighborhood and gym. Another significant focus revolved around the animosity between Mayweather and his father and how it influences both his career and family life; the following segment exhibited the strong bond between Hatton and his trainer Billy Graham.
By the end of the episode, I felt that the buildup to Mayweather-Hatton began to take on the same vibe the De la Hoya-Vargas pre-fight buildup exhibited; with the younger aggressive fighter insisting that his richer and older superstar opponent no longer understood the will of the people nor had the desire to deal with what the hungry young lion plans to bring into the ring. Roger Mayweather delivered the best metaphor to counter that sentiment when he likened Mayweather's desire to continue fighting even after accumulating his immense wealth and celebrity to Bill Gates' continued demand for excellence as CEO of Microsoft even after becoming the richest man in the world. It reminded me of George Foreman summing up De la Hoya's knockout of Vargas with something along the lines of, "sometimes those guys in silk pajamas just know how to fight."
The most notable difference between Hatton and Vargas is the fact that Hatton comes into his fight with Mayweather undefeated and a linear champion in his weight class while many already viewed Vargas as damaged goods before his fight with De la Hoya. Still, the heated pep rally nature of the press conferences involving the rival factions is an intriguing aspect of the matchup while the conflict between the Mayweathers and solidarity within the Hatton camp against Mayweather's swaggering style are all poignant topics.
The preview of next week's episode hints that more training footage will be included. So, we should get a better feel of how well each fighter has prepared for this fight.
Forum
