By Dan Ambrose: Lightweight contender Robert Guerrero (29-1-1, 18 KO’s) is being allowed by the World Boxing Council to leap frog over #2 WBC contender Devon Alexander (23-1, 13 KO’s) to fight #1 WBC Selcuk Aydin (23-0, 17 KO’s) for the interim WBC welterweight title on July 28th at the Shark Tank in San Jose, California.
What makes this so wrong is that the 28-year-old Guerrero isn’t even ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies in the welterweight division, let alone by the WBC. That seems somewhat unfair for Alexander, because he is No.2 in the WBC, and should be the one facing Aydin, not a guy that has never even fought at welterweight like Guerrero. Why this is important is that the winner of the Guerrero-Aydin fight will be in the position to face WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a big money fight. The question is why is the WBC allowing Guerrero to jump ahead of Alexander if Guerrero isn’t even fighting in the welterweight division?
If Alexander is being skipped over for this fight, then it puts him in a position where someone is cutting in line in front of him. I think Guerrero is a great fighter, but he’s never fought at welterweight and is coming off of a serious shoulder injury and hasn’t fought since April of last year. By the time Guerrero steps into the ring to fight Aydin for the interim WBC title, Guerrero will have been out of the ring for 15 months. That’s a long time and still he’s being given a shot at the interim title two weight classes above his own. Does that seen unfair or what?
Alexander’s trainer Kevin Cunningham said that he’s hoping that Alexander can face the winner of the planned June 23rd rematch between Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz. That sounds like a nice idea, but Berto’s ruptured left bicep may not be healed in time for the June 23rd fight and it could be many months before Berto and Ortiz face off in a rematch. And even if they do fight again, who’s to say that the winner will want to fight Alexander? Cunningham is hoping they’ll want to fight Alexander but it may not happen and Alexander could end up with little to show for 2012 other than the win over Marcos Maidana.
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