23.06.06 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza: Usually, whenever fighters are stunned by a loss for the first time in their career, they are rushed into an unnecessary rematch to prove something they are not usually capable of proving. It happened, I think, when Mosley fought Forrest, it happened when Forrest fought Mayorga, and according to some, even when Hopkins fought Taylor. In Robert Guerrero’s case, his first loss to Gamaliel Diaz, forced him to reach deep down and awaken the beast within. If it sounds like partisan praise, that is only because it is seeing as Guerrero, a guy I had seen and was not really enthused about, came out swinging, looking to send his conqueror home early..
In fact, were it not for Diaz grabbing onto the “Ghost” that is exactly what might have happened. Gamaliel a guy who had never been knocked down in his entire career was sent to the floor twice in the first round, with the first knockdown knocking him over as he tried to grab Guerrero to recover from an earlier shot. The second knockdown sent him backwards and off balance as he stared up almost in disbelief at the guy who he decision previously in the biggest win of his career.
The fight took a bit of a turn for the worse after that with Guerrero still banking rounds but not making the same impact seeing as Diaz was looking to hold more so then fight. Though, Diaz had a few brief moments in the sixth round his Cinderella express hit wicked uppercut to the solar plexus and he went down spitting out his mouthpiece in the process. It was one of those shots where on replay the body of the receiver ripples as the shot impacts the surface. Brutally beautiful is the way to best describe it.
Guerrero was real impressive in tonight’s victory and what I liked most is the fact that he wasn’t afraid to not only rematch his victor, but go back and improve on himself to get the impressive win. Credit should also go to his promoters, who did not abandon Guerrero, seeing as that is quite common when a guy losses and destroys that perfect marketable ‘O’ in the losses column. As I have always said, I would rather see a fighter with 5 losses but a wealth of championship experience coming from them, than a perfect ‘0’ and a perfect misunderstanding of why that fighter is still green and raw and in fact quite beatable. Congratulations to Robert Guerrero and here is to hoping he continues to improve the way he has tonight.
IN OTHER ACTION……………
Both Dirrell brothers disposed of some cannon fodder on the undercard to begin the televised card. Anthony Dirrell looked to be the more impressive of the two, but that might have something to do with the quality of opposition the less accomplished of the two brothers was thrown.
The Anthony knockout was impressive in it’s own right, mainly because the guy he fought, although brave, but inherently reckless in the same sense. After getting drilled with a right over the top, and right on the temple the guy was obviously hurt, even though surprisingly his body language was not suggesting it, since he was bouncing on his toes for the ref, and even conversing with him as he let it go on. It didn’t take long for Dirrell to then stalk his opponent down and unload with what can best be described as lead shots akin to those that land on a heavy bag. After about three or four shots, James Morrow let out a deafening yell, as he sunk to the canvas. It was absolutely terrifying to behold, and at first, I thought Dirrell had broken his cheekbone, jaw, or some such other part of the body that would make Morrow scream in such agony. In fact, the replay showed it was a clean left to the body as Morrow raised his hands high to protect his face. Although impressive, these are obviously, purely for show fights, and it is difficult to ascertain just how much of the hype can be bestowed on this Dirrell brother.
Andre, on the other hand, was given a sterner test as his foe; Don Hall did have a good amount of amateur experience. Hall was obviously overmatched, but he did attempt to punch and grab, which made the fight last a bit longer. Dirrell, for his part, was completely unphased and proceeded to walk down a grinning Hall, and land punches at will. I thought the fight should have been stopped a bit sooner, as Hall obviously hurt and reeling in the third was just biding his time and waiting to receive the big finishing punch. Problem was, if Jon Shorle, the veteran referee, who was watching closely, would step in then some might say the stoppage was premature, and worse yet (or better depending on your outlooks) the crowd would not get a chance to see anything half as devastating as what the other Dirrell or Robert Guerrero did. Still, eventually Dirrell landed an uppercut, if I am not mistaken, sending Hall down for the third and final time, as Shorle did not wait to count this time.
All in all, it was a decent Shobox card promoted by Goosen Tutor.