Mayweather to fight twice in 2013; Robert Guerrero a possibility for first fight

By Bill Phanco: Leonard Ellerbe, one of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s advisers, has reported that Mayweather will be fighting on May 4th [Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo] and September 14th in 2013. Mayweather has two dates but no opponents to fill those dates. The chances of a Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight for the first date on May 4th isn’t going to happen.

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Should Robert Guerrero get Fighter of the Year for beating Berto and Aydin?

Should Robert Guerrero get Fighter of the Year for beating Berto and Aydin?By Bill Phanco: WBC interim welterweight champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KO’s) is being considered for Fighter of the Year honors for his 12 round decision wins over previously unbeaten #1 WBC Selcuk Aydin, and his decisive 12 round decision victory over former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto.

I think Adrien Broner is more deserving of the Fighter of the Year award than Guerrero because Berto has some fine wins over solid fighters Eloy Perez, Vincente Escobedo and Antonio DeMarco this year. I see those opponents as being better than the two guys that Guerrero has beaten.

It’s hard to imagine Guerrero getting that award based on wins over Aydin and Berto because both fighters were limited. Aydin was someone that had never really proven that he deserved to be ranked #1 by the World Boxing Council. His power was very real, but he’d never really faced anyone good before until the Guerrero fight. Aydin had struggled in fights against Said Ouali and Jo Jo Dan before he got to the Guerrero fight.

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Schaefer working on Mayweather-Guerrero bout

Schaefer working on Mayweather-Guerrero boutBy Bill Phanco: Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions is trying to put together a fight between WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero and Floyd Mayweather Jr. WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez wants a fight with Mayweather too, but Schaefer is looking to put Guerrero in with Mayweather instead for some reason. It could be that Mayweather isn’t all that eager to get back in with another junior middleweight after taking a lot of punishment in his win over Miguel Cotto last May.

Schaefer told RingTV “Robert [Guerrero] really wants that Mayweather fight, and so I’m going to see what I can do. I’ve already started negotiations for the Guerrero fighting Mayweather, so we’ll see where it’s going to end.”

Let’s hope that Schaefer can put that fight together because it could be a huge one due to Mayweather’s big fan base and the large amount of fans that Guerrero captured with his win over Andre Berto last Saturday night.

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Robert Guerrero: Could “The Ghost” Be “The Great”?

Robert Guerrero: Could “The Ghost” Be “The Great”?By Marc Livitz: Some called it a battle while some called it a brawl. Some complained that they don’t like their sweet science so sour, while others hailed this past Saturday’s meeting between Robert Guerrero and Andre Berto as a masterful production within a phone booth.

The bottom line should be all that really counts. Each fighter showed the utmost amount of grit and determination, yet the detractors didn’t wait to start dissecting the bout staged for the interim WBC welterweight title.

Additionally, much scrutiny was thrown in the way of Berto due to the fact that he hadn’t fought in over a year for reasons within and beyond and his control. In contrast, the stories of family, pain and triumph, which Guerrero brought with him to the broadcast, made some forget all about the fact that he had been able to amazingly jump two weight classes after a year plus break from the ring of his own.

They met and they clashed. Win ugly, but get it done.

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Guerrero stands no chance against Mayweather

Guerrero stands no chance against MayweatherBy Bill Phanco: WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KO’s) will stand little chance of beating WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) if this fight gets made in early 2013. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is in the beginning stages of trying to put this fight together, but it’s not going to be a good fight unless you like mismatches.

This is really lowering the bar for Mayweather. He’s going from fighting the likes of Miguel Cotto and Victor Ortiz to the slow-handed Guerrero and it’s going to be a huge drop off. Guerrero doesn’t have the speed or power that those guys possess and he’s going to be way out of his league Mayweather. I didn’t see much from Guerrero that I was impressed with in his win over Andre Berto last weekend.

I saw Guerrero get away with holding and hitting for one of his knockdowns in the the 1st round that should resulted in Guerrero being penalized. Guerrero also did a lot of shoving, holding and throwing punches after the bell. I felt those things should have been penalized as well.

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Schaefer: Mayweather is interested in Robert Guerrero fight

Schaefer: Mayweather is interested in Robert Guerrero fightBy Rob Smith: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer says that WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is interested in facing WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero in 2013. Schaefer said to LA Times writer Lance Pugmire “Interest is there. It’s a process, one that has begun. I have a site and date in mind.”

If Mayweather takes the fight this will finally end Guerrero’s constant calling Mayweather out. He’s been wanting a fight with Mayweather for well over a year, and it’s been a source of comedy to some boxing fans because Guerrero was talking about a Mayweather fight even before he’d fought at welterweight. Now that Guerrero has beaten two of the top welterweights in Selcuk Aydin and Andre Berto no one is laughing anymore. They have to take Guerrero seriously, because he’s winning decisively and looking pretty sharp.

Guerrero gave Berto a real beating last Saturday night in a 12 round decision, swelling both of his eyes in the process. After the fight Guerrero declined an offer from Max Kellerman to fight a rematch against Berto, and instead said he wanted Mayweather next.

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Robert Guerrero should prove himself against Keith Thurman to get Mayweather bout

Robert Guerrero should prove himself against Keith Thurman to get Mayweather boutBy 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.

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Berto’s shoulder roll experiment cost him the Guerrero fight

Berto's shoulder roll experiment cost him the Guerrero fightBy 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

Guerrero batters Berto to win a brilliant 12 round UDBy 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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