'The Sweet Science of Bruising'

Robert Guerrero was in over is head last night in a one-sided match for the WBC and The Ring welterweight titles.

Completely outclassed by the 36 year old who showed no signs of ring rust after a 12 month lay off.

But let’s be real, who picked Guerrero to win this fight? Nobody. Know why? Because, with all due respect, Guerrero is not on Mayweather’s level and no behind the scenes promo shows like Showtime All Access or HBO 24/7 are going to fool us into thinking this is anything other than a complete mismatch.

Devout Christian Robert Guerrero seemed to be relying on blind faith rather than boxing ability, claiming that God has put him in this position to dethrone the pound-for-pound king. Sadly, he was wrong. I’m not qualified to do anything other than speculate on this, but I imagine when you’re an almighty super-being, you can’t get too invested in a prize-fighting contest.

So, what’s next for Mayweather? Saul Alvarez in September? Maybe, but unlikely. Too risky. I think Mayweather is guilty of cherry picking opponents and Alvarez, much like Pacquiao, is a risky fight for Floyd because he’s a combination puncher. The only answer for a great counter-puncher like Floyd is to throw punches in bunches.

Amir Khan scores a less than impressive win over Julio Diaz.

Last night Khan got rocked repeatedly in a fight that he needed to win convincingly to get back in the running for a world title.

There’s no dispute that Khan is an exciting fighter to watch but the problem with aggressive fighters like Khan, who come forward and try close the show early, is they often have short careers. At just 26 years old it would be a horrible tragedy if Khan’s best fights are behind him, but when ever he gets hit clean he looks vulnerable. They say with aging fighters the chin is one of the first things to go. Just look at Roy Jones Jr. In his prime, Roy was like magic, but now he’s shot.

With new trainer Virgil Hunter, Khan is showing a little more discipline in the ring, but not nearly as much as he needs to. If he can use some head movement, stay composed and not stay in the pocket for so long I like his chances at climbing the ranks again. It’s early days, so let’s see what 2012’s ‘trainer of the year’ Virgil Hunter can do with him.

I believe if Khan utilizes is strengths he has the potential to be incredible. He just needs to fight a smarter fight.

Saul Alvarez takes home a decision win over Austin Trout. The difference in last night’s unification bout was Alvarez’s power, which he displayed in the 7th round when Trout was knocked down for the first time in his professional career by a straight right hand.

The fight was too competitive to call a robbery, but I had Trout up by 2 rounds. Even though Trout was bothered by Alvarez’s power at times, he stayed busier throughout the fight and, in my opinion, did enough to win.

I’m not a fan of Texas’ open scoring system. Firstly, the judges were way off. With the judges scoring Alvarez ahead by a wide margin combined with the fighters knowing the official scorecards in between rounds, it pressures fighters into adjusting their strategy mid-fight. By the 10th round Trout knows he needs a knockout to win so he’s forced to walk into Alvarez’s hometown and try to score a KO, even though Alvarez is the puncher of the two. And by the 12th round Alvarez knows he’s won if he survives the round so he plays it safe, where normally he would go after it in the final round of such a competitive fight. The open scoring system stole the drama.

Stats below would suggest that Trout was pushing the pace, but you have to bear in mind that these stats are over the whole fight, not round by round.

Not to take too much away from Saul Alvarez. Obviously, the kid’s got some serious power and his punch resistance is impressive. He walked through a lot of punches without showing any signs of being hurt. Also, Alvarez often gets criticised for his lack of defence, but he showed some good head movement last night.

Close fight. Unfortunate circumstances for Austin Trout.

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Austin ‘No Doubt’ Trout, champion vs champion, face off for tonight’s light-middleweight unification fight.

I am so ready for this fight! With all the politics in boxing, it’s not often we get to see two genuinely great fighters at the top of their game cross paths in their prime. If, for some inexplicable reason, you only watch one fight this year, this is the one to watch. The winner should be mandatory challenger for Floyd Mayweather’s WBA super welterweight title. And to be fair, either one of these guys could be a problem for Floyd.

This is a tough one to call. Alvarez has been phenomenal lately. The way he puts combinations together is artful and a pleasure to watch. But on the flip-side, Trout looks supremely confident and the way he walked over Miguel Cotto in December was enough proof that he’s no joke. Neither fighter has been stopped in their professional careers so far, but who knows what will happen? Alvarez certainly knows how to finish a fight. I think it’s even and I like both fighters, but if I’m pushed to make a prediction I’ll pick Trout by decision.

Last night Nonito Donaire suffered his first loss in 12 years at the hands of two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux.

Rigondeaux, in just his 12th professional fight, managed to out class the ‘2012 fighter of the year’ in pretty much every round bar the 10th. Donaire had a short moment of success in 10th round when he switched to southpaw and landed a huge overhand left which put Rigondeaux on his back. However, the rest of the fight was all Rigondeaux - staying outside, circling away from Donaire’s powerful left hook and using his sharpness and precision to land counter punches at will. Donaire, in an attempt to capitalise on Rigondeaux’s alleged questionable chin, was head hunting and looking for the one punch knockout, but unfortunately for the Filipino Flash it never came.

Is Donaire a victim of his own success? Nobody has given him any trouble recently and he even rubbished the idea of a Rigondeaux fight last October, suggesting that Rigondeaux was not ready and needed some more experience. In fact, I’m pretty sure the only reason this fight was made is because Donaire has practically cleared out the division (with the exception of Abner Mares). Perhaps he took the Cuban southpaw too lightly.

While it’s true that this was a enormous step up in competition for Rigondeaux, it’s important to take into consideration that Rigondeaux boasts a legendary amateur record of nearly 400 fights with only 12 losses. I’ll call it what it is: an obvious made up lie. Do me a favour! I’m having some difficulty believing that it’s possible for anyone to have a 97% success rate after 400 fights.

Regardless, Rigondeaux has unified the Super Bantamweight belts, and I suppose the next fight that makes sense would be Mares, provided that Mares can get past Daniel Ponce De Léon on May 4th.

Meanwhile, Nonito Donaire will want a rematch with Rigondeaux, but he is likely to move up to featherweight very soon as he’s struggling to cut to 122lbs. Even though Donaire got taken to school last night, I don’t think a rematch is out of the question. Donaire was unprepared this time, but with the right strategy I like his chances in a rematch.

In the same vain as his role-model Floyd Mayweather Jr, boxing’s rising star Adrien “The Problem” Broner is causing some controversy outside the ring.

Adrien Broner is currently one of boxing’s top prospects. Unfortunately, Adrien Broner also happens to be a sociopath who submits his mugshots to social media websites, bites hotel security, performs oral sex on strippers at titty bars and destroys $20 bills because he regards anything smaller than $100 as chump change.

Attitude aside, inside the ring Broner looks fantastic. When he first arrived on the scene he had this wide stance, which allowed him to deliver powerful shots, but hindered his mobility. Broner’s a counter puncher who depends on his sharp reflexes, much like Floyd Mayweather, but unlike Mayweather he was easy to hit. He would weave backwards to avoid punches instead of covering up or using lateral movement. In his more recent fights you can see that he’s tightened up his defence, using the ‘Philly Shell’ (a defensive style favoured by Floyd Mayweather).

Broner is now moving up two weight classes, avoiding a division stacked full of dangerous and talented light-welterweights, to face the pillow-fisted WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi. I hate to say this about a world champion, but I don’t think Malignaggi poses much of a threat to Broner. Malignaggi is a paper champion and I believe Broner will expose him.

Broner’s cockiness and showboating demands attention from fight fans, but he has not achieved enough in the sport to warrant the arrogance he carries into the ring. I hope he doesn’t take his opponents as lightly as he wants us to believe because it would be a terrible shame for such a young talent to self-destruct so early.

There’s a lot of hype surrounding current WBA and IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin at the moment, being dubbed by many as the best middleweight in the world and most avoided man in the sport. His perfect record of 26-0-0 with 23 wins coming by way of knock out certainly looks impressive on paper, but I don’t think he’s faced any credible contenders as a professional to earn these accolades. I’m not saying he isn’t great, I’m just saying it’s too premature to tell.

Last night he made short work of former interim super welterweight champion Nobuhiro Ishida with a dramatic 3rd round knock out that sent Ishida through the ropes, handing the 37 year old his 3rd loss in a row.

Don’t get me wrong, the Kazakh KO King is definitely not all hype. He stopped former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute as an amateur and scored a win in the 2004 Olympics against Andre Dirrell. But I think Boy Wonder is being protected and it’s about time he stepped up the level of competition. Let’s see how long he can hang onto that 0 against other ranked middleweights such as Daniel Geale, Sergio Martinez or Peter Quillin.

“The most destructive, ferocious, fighting machine that God ever created.”

Much like their first fight in October last year, the rematch last night between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado was nothing short of spectacular.

Rios entered with the same strategy as the first fight: to close the distance and trade toe to toe. Alvarado got drawn into Rios’ fight a few times and got rocked badly in the 2nd round. But besides that, he fought the perfect fight. Made some small adjustments, used his jab and outboxed Rios from the outside, scoring a unanimous decision win..

Rios is a tough, durable fighter. He took some clean, hard shots and kept coming forward. You can’t fight Rios on the front foot because this kid is a wrecking machine with power in both hands.

It’s now 1-1, which sets this up perfectly for a rubber match. If Top Rank promoter Bob Arum doesn’t make the trilogy happen, he’s nuts.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a fight!

Tonight’s rematch between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado promises a lot of action. The first one was an all out war and considered by many ‘fight of the year.’ Rios scored a TKO in the 7th on their first outing last October after hurting Alvarado with some heavy overhand rights. Up until then, for the most part, Alvarado seemed to be getting the better of the exchanges.

Rios is a very strong, solid, inside fighter with a lot of power. He’s a lunatic who loves to trade and doesn’t mind eating some leather. I think he will stick to what works for him: loading up on his punches, getting inside and throwing short, tight left hooks and uppercuts to the body and head. It’s not a bad strategy, but I don’t think this alone is enough to beat Alvarado. Rios is coming into the fight with a lot of confidence from winning the first one. I expect Rios believes that Alvarado can’t hurt him, which may cause him to fight even more recklessly than normal.

Despite Alvarado being stopped in the first fight, I think he’s the better boxer and I believe he’ll be victorious this time round. The last fight was scheduled for 10 rounds, this one is for 12, which may trigger a change of pace. Alvarado is a decent inside fighter and Rios is a GREAT inside fighter, but Rios is a one trick pony. Not only can Alvarado hang with Rios on the inside, but he can also work behind his jab and pick Rios apart from the outside, and that’s where he has the advantage.

Both of these warriors are front foot fighters and either one can score a KO. But if the fight goes the distance, it’s in Alvarado’s favour because he has the ability to outbox Rios. It’s not typically his style, but if Alvarado has any sense he’ll fight off the back foot.

My pick is Alvarado via late stoppage. I think Rios is expecting a short fight and could slow down in the later rounds and wind up taking too much punishment.

I can’t wait for this!