Weekend Wrap Up February 22
By Mike Hanson
I was glad to hear all the feedback from my first weekend wrap-up last week. Please keep it coming as it can only make this column better.
While I have always like Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, I was definitely critical of him for what seemed to be a lack of courage when he called it quits after a headbutt cut in his fight against Daud Yordan. News came this week that he has canceled his March 27th fight against Michael Katsidis and he has decided to spend more time by his wife’s side. Casey Guerrero is fighting her rematch with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia and it requires far more heart and courage for the Guerrero family to face this opponent than any Robert could meet in the ring. I wish them the best and will be rooting for both of them.
Mismatch weekend in the fight game this past weekend. The ESPN card featured two young prospects facing the usual early career easy opponents. Lanard Lane scored a 8 round unanimous decision of Martin Tucker. Lane has some solid boxing skills but his lack of punch will hurt him going forward. I am not sure how he will keep a stronger pressure fighter off of him. Shawn Porter took on mildly skilled veteran Russell Jordan and with the exception of a lonely right hook in the second round by Jordan, Porter had a fairly easy time of it. Porter showed a real amateur style by bouncing all over the ring and he might need some outside of the family training help if he is to become a contender.
Saturday night brought us more mismatches on the FSN Espanol card. It was highly entertaining, however. Urbano Antillon got back to the business of winning with a 3rd round stoppage of Luis Antonio Arceo. The interesting thing about this fight was not knowing what the announcers were saying (it was in Spanish), it appeared to be a cut from a headbutt and when the doctor stopped the fight Arceo didn’t question it. It was ruled from a legal blow so Antillon got the win. The main event was my little guy Giovanni Segura stopping Walter Tello in the 3rd round also. Segura is an all-action Jr. Flyweight and will be fun to watch how far as he can take his wild style. Tello looked more like he was break dancing than boxing. We got two undercard fights on this telecast also. Omar Chavez looked like a carbon copy of his big brother Julio Cesar Jr. landing a nice left hook to finish a stiff in the first. Then there was a 17 year old kid named Adrian Young winning his 6th bout. The kid looked like he was going on 10. That was quite strange.
We have a few cards on television this week starting on a Thursday night FSN broadcast as Victor Ortiz tries to continue his journey back from Quitsville as he takes on a keep busy opponent looking ahead to a possible May fight with his Quitsville traveling companion Nate Campbell. The “who will quit first” card is scheduled to take place May 15th. ESPN brings us Antonio Escalante facing solid puncher Miguel Roman. The undercard is an interesting fight with young Danny Garcia possibly biting off more than he can chew with vastly underrated Ashley Theopane. Should be a good card.
Saturday night we have another FSN broadcast featuring the exciting Philadelphia prospect Mike Jones taking on veteran Henry Bruseles. Also a very intriguing PPV match up featuring two very good prospects Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and Marvin Sonsona will be available on Saturday night. Three televised cards and a PPV this week then four televised cards next week, good thing boxing is dead or maybe we couldn’t see it as much.
As always please support Title Bout Championship Boxing http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/joomla/home-tbcb.html and tune into the only daily boxing show worth listening to Talkin Boxing with Billy C http://www.talkinboxing.com/
Porter did what I ask all young fighters to do early. Fight quality opposition and learn on the job, as opposed to fighting stiffs and going to 20-0 and still not know how to fight. If Porter becomes a more tuned fighter, we might look back on a fight like Friday as a key to his development. He certainly has the talent and showed some poise after being hurt. He does have plenty to work on, but at least he knows now, as opposed to later when its too late
Porter had trouble with Jordan’s height, he’s used to giving up height and he better be because at 5 ft 7 he’s going to do it in most every fight, but the 6 ft 2 Jordan was an extreme case. I thought it was a good learning experience as well.
On the Fox Espanol Card, I actually thought Omar Chavez looked better than his Brother, even though the opposition wasn’t much. Omar might develop into something, whereas I think JCC Jr. is never going to be anything but a fringe talent with beating a Matt Vanda being the high watermark.
Nice article, Mike, and best wishes to Casey Guererro!!!
Good points about Omar … my only problem with his performance is he dips real low when throwing the patented Chavez left hook to the body and throws it slow … he was wide open for a right hook the every time he threw it. I thought his balance was better than JCC’s. Good point about Porter Davema and if Jordan makes Porter work on things such as the bouncing then he was a very worthwhile opponent for Shawn.