Ward rooting for Guerrero to beat Mayweather

By Boxing News - 03/05/2013 - Comments

guerrero#1By Chris Williams: WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward wants his friend WBC interim welterweight champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KO’s) to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) in their fight in two months in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ward sees it as a tough fight for Guerrero, but he believes his boxing ability, southpaw stance, and his adaptability will be key factors for him in this fight.

Ward said to Fighthype.com “So I’m rooting for Robert…His [Guerrero] boxing skills are underestimated. He’s coming from a different angle, the left handed position…people lose sight of the fact that Robert can box.”

Guerrero hasn’t used too much boxing in his recent fights since he moved up to welterweight. Guerrero has been straight up slugging in his wins over Andre Berto and Selcuk Aydin. If Guerrero does decide to box, it’ll be a departure from what he’s been doing for a long time. In Guerrero’s fights against Michael Katsidis, Vicente Escobedo, Joel Casamayor, Roberto David Arrieta and Malcolm Klassen, he slugged it out with those guys.

I can’t remember ever seeing Guerrero actually stand back and box, so maybe Ward is remembering Guerrero from amateur days rather than what he’s done in the pro ranks because he’s been a slugger since he turned pro in 2001.

Guerrero has decent boxing skills, but the thing is Mayweather’s skills are so far ahead of Guerrero’s that it might not pay off for Guerrero to try and get in a boxing match with Mayweather. That would be playing to Mayweather’s strength and I doubt it would work out well for Guerrero.

We just saw how Miguel Cotto had success by slugging with Mayweather last year in June, so that would seem like the smarter thing for Guerrero to attempt to do rather than trying to beat Mayweather by hanging back and throwing jabs and occasional left hands. That would be a disaster for Guerrero because if he limits his work rate by trying to box Mayweather then it’ll be that much easier for Mayweather to win the fight. If Guerrero listens to Ward’s advice, then he’s going to lose the fight and lose it badly.



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