SAN JOSE, CA — Robert Guerrero joined elite company in being one of the few fighters to have titles in four weight classes with a brusing win last night over Selcuk Aydin at the HP Pavilion.
Guerrero, who came up two weight classes to face Aydin at welterweight, was in control for the first half of the bout behind 3-4 punch combinations and and an overall prodigious punch output. The plodding Aydin struggled to get inside and found himself quickly countered at long and mid-range.
Guerrero was all business; he refused to touch gloves with Aydin after the second after both landed jarring uppercuts in the closing seconds. Guerrero scored with solid left hooks in the third and continued outworking Aydin through round six. However, Aydin’s heavy right hand did its share of damage; the Turkish slugger visibly stunned Guerrero in the fourth and dug into the body in the fifth.
The notable momentum shift came in the seventh behind Aydin’s relentless inside attack. A tired Guerrero tried in clinches and had his head snapped back by repeated right uppercuts. Aydin dominated the round and finished with thudding hooks to the body.
Guerrero would respond with a big eighth round that saw him tap into an energy reserve. He started with quick hook combinations inside and left uppercuts that backed up Aydin. The ninth round was much closer; Aydin succeeded in roughing up his opponent with cuffing right hooks while Guerrero countered with straight lefts and constant southpawing jabbing.
Aydin appeared close to securing a knockdown in the 10th behind a barrage of right hooks to the body. Guerrero could only hold most of the round while Aydin doubled the punch upstairs.
Yet again, Guerrero would find the energy to outwork Aydin in the 11th. Guerrero countered well with straight lefts and made sure to respond to every Aydin punch with 3-4 shots. Aside from a late right hook exchange that resulted in Guerrero taking the worst of it, The Ghost had notched another “comeback round” heading into the bout’s final three minutes.
Guerrero was again spent and languishing inside, allowing Aydin to tee off with right hands. Guerrero returned fire, but Aydin’s heavier right hands were doing more damage in these inside exchanges. Both would land wild power shots in the waning seconds with a relieved Guerrero pumping his fist at the final bell.
Although a tough fight, Guerrero’s high punch output and early dominance resulted in a clear unanimous decision by scores of 117-111 and 116-112 twice. Now the WBC welterweight champion, Guerrero made sure his intentions for the division were reiterated in the post-fight interview.
“Floyd [Mayweather] wants his belt, it’s right here!” exclaimed Guerrero. “Now you know I can take a shot from the welterweight division.”
A dejected Selcuk Aydin agreed with the scores, but also blamed the defeat on “boxing politics” and blood pressure issues in addition to a vision problem.
“I did wrong, not the judges,” said Aydin. “I couldn’t do what I wanted. After the fourth I was seeing double.”
On the undercard, Shawn Porter remained undefeated but not unscathed in winning a brusing, foul-filled unanimous decision over Alfonso Gomez. Porter’s faster hands and combinations allowed him to rack up points and stun Gomez several times with hard hooks inside. Gomez would stay in the fight behind sporadic overhand rights and persistent hooks downstairs. Head butt clashes resulted in Gomez receiving a bloody mouth and Porter sporting deep lacerations over both eyes. Final scores read 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jYPlMgSnqw&feature=youtube_gdata_player]*********************************************************
Last night had good performances from all involved. Considering the weight jump, Guerrero’s performance was particularly impressive. He didn’t run and many times fought Aydin’s fight.
But does this mean he’ll get a shot at Floyd Mayweather?
I seriously doubt it, but Floyd also doesn’t have many options if he wants to get in a fight before the end of the year. Porter proved he’s legit with that gutsy win over Gomez. Although he brawled a little too much, he didn’t get flustered at the sight of his own blood and mixed up his shots well. He’ll have to tighten up that defense, but Porter looks to be one of the better young fighters at welterweight.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 