Casamayor-Guerrero: Can Joel pull out the stocks or will Robert end in his long journey

July 30th, 2010

By Peter Wells: Tomorrow night (Saturday 31st July) there will be one of boxing’s PPV worthy shows, with not only a great main event but a cracking undercard to go with it. The Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas super show we see two world title fights and also two make or break fights. One of them is between veteran Cuban Joel Casamayor and a man with a lot to prove, Robert Guerrero. After 42 professional fights and nearly 14 years in the sport, the 39 year old has a lot to be proud of, and a win hear would cap it off. The main concern is if he does win, Casamayor, like so many others will think he is the new Bernard Hopkins and get a blunt defeat against a top class opponent to put a nasty bump in his record. I only want Casamayor to win if he retires after that, I don’t want to see another great fighter go out on his back.

But his opponent is hoping to end his career just like that. Guerrero is a decent puncher with 18 stoppages from 26 victories with one draw and defeat to Gamaliel Diaz nearly five years ago. He has suffered 2 no contests once for his opponent using steroids and his most recent one after two rounds when he said he couldn’t see after suffering a nasty but not huge cut. He suffered criticism for that, The Ring compared it to Marco Antonio Barrera’s cut against Amir Khan, and how Barrera was adamant the fight continue. Guerrero hasn’t yet given Yordan a rematch. The only worry is that that may happen again here, but it is unlikely to happen twice. This will be his second contest at 135lbs after holding the IBF Super Featherweight and Featherweight titles. Malcolm Klassen was probably his toughest fight to date, as Yordan didn’t get much of a chance to give Robert a test.

Casamayor has only fought once since his September 08’ defeat to Juan Manuel Marquez. But opponent Jason Davis was only able to give Joel some rounds but no challenge. Casamayor has only been stopped by Marquez and has only lost to top fighters, Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo and Acelino Freitas. His most recent big victory was a 10th round stoppage of Michael Katsidis just before his last defeat.

Casamayor is only 1inch shorter than his foe, and is a good technical boxer. He is limited in great foot and hand speed and is an average puncher. If caught right, he will go down. Guerrero is another good boxer, but his punch may not be as affective at Lightweight. Casamayor will be wiser and Guerrero could let his guard slip and pay dearly.

I recon that Casamayor will take at least 4 rounds to brush away the cobwebs before starting to make it into a competitive fight. Guerrero will be determined to win and can pull away near the end and push for a stoppage, but will probably have to settle for a clear decision victory.