Former heavyweight contender Dominick Guinn (28-5-1, 19 KO) will be returning to the ring tonight to take on Robert Hawkins in a 10-round bout a the River Rock Casino, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. Guinn, now 32, was one of the top heavyweight challengers up until 2004, strange as it may seem now. However, starting in 2004, Guinn began to have big problems, losing first to Monte Barrett by split decision in March 2004, and then two fights later, losing another decision, this time to Serguei Lyakhovich.
Unfortunately for Guinn, he continued to be matched tough, giving him little chance to pick up confidence and learn a few things along the way. Guinn followed the loss to Lyakhovich with a draw against Friday Ahunanya in April 2005, a fighter that Guinn perhaps would have normally had an easy time beating had he been more confident and in a better frame of mind. Guinn was then put in with the following fighters back to back:
James Toney, Audley Harrison and then Tony Thompson. Guinn was badly embarrassed by both Toney and Thompson, both of whom easily decisioned him. Though he was able to defeat Harrison, it only appeared so because Guinn found a fighter with worse problems than his own. After finally matched up with two opponents that Guinn could use to get his confidence back – Zack Page and Zuri Lawrence – he was thrown in with Eddie Chambers, one of the top prospects in the heavyweight division, who promptly easily defeated Guinn by 10-round unanimous decision.
As you can see, Guinn has had it tough in his short career, being matched consecutively with the top fighters despite his losses. It’s not something that’s normally done with a top fighter like Guinn, as they usually are taken slowly after losses to build them back up again, but it appears Guinn has had to do it the hard way, and it’s clearly had an effect on his won-loss record. Tonight, he’s back to the rebuilding stage in facing Robert Hawkins, a 37 year-old fighter with a good chin and not much else. Hawkins doesn’t figure to present much of a problem for Guinn, even with his confidence shot to pieces as it is now.
Hawkins has been in with many of the top fighters in his 13-year career, losing to Oleg Masakev, Samuel Peter, Eddie Chambers, Kevin Johnson, David Tua, Jason Estrada, Jean Francois Bergeron and most recently to Vladimir Virchis, who stopped Hawkins in the 5th round. Hawkins is known for his tough chin, but his KO loss to Virchis, not a particularly big puncher, may indicate that Hawkin’s chin is beginning to go. Guinn, also not a big puncher, doesn’t figure to be able to stop Hawkins, but he should have enough to pound out a lopsided 10-round decision.