By Dan Ambrose: WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) successfully defended his title in beating former two division world champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (32-3-1, 18 KOs) on Saturday night in Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions series at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final judges’ scores were 120-107, 118-109 and 118-108.
Thurman knocked Guerrero down hard in the 9th round from a left hand to the head. Guerrero barely beat the count in getting up at the count of 9. Guerrero took a lot of punishment in the round and wound up suffering a cut on the side of his left eye. The referee Kenny Bayless looked like he was close to stopping it, but Guerrero did a good job of holding on and fighting back to get out of the round.
Thurman did a lot of moving and pot shotting from the 7th round on. He initially traded shots with Guerrero in the early going, but after suffering a huge bruise on the left side of his forehead in the 3rd, Thurman became more cautious about standing toe-to-toe with Guerrero.
Thurman’s movement kept it from being a perfect performance from him, as he started moving a lot in the second half of the fight, especially in the 11th and 12th rounds. Guerrero was able to pin Thurman against the ropes in the 11th to land some shots, but it wasn’t nearly enough to hurt Thurman in any real way.
“He’s a veteran, a four-time champion, and he showed it tonight,” Thurman said after the fight. I was able to knock him down late. I knew I was hurting him in every round.”
Overall, this was a fight that was basically won for Thurman the moment that Al Haymon put the fight together. Guerrero didn’t have the punching power to test Thurman’s questionable chin, and he also didn’t have the speed. This was just another fight where the A-side fighter won. There was no truly competitive fights on the card where the B-side fighter had a chance to win.
For Thurman to get beaten, it’s going to take for him to be matched against Kell Brook, Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao. You can also throw in Marcos Maidana, Danny Garcia and Lucas Matthysse. I see all of those fighters having a good chance of beating Thurman, but definitely not a slow fighter without power like Guerrero. It was a win for Thurman as soon as Haymon picked out Guerrero for Thurman instead of a hard puncher.
If Thurman wants to take over as the best fighter in the welterweight division after Pacquiao and Mayweather both retire, then Thurman is going to need to stop running and start fighting more in the pocket. It looked really odd the way Thurman was running from the light hitting Guerrero in the 10th, 11th and 12th rounds after he had knocked Guerrero down in the 9th. It just looked like Thurman didn’t have much heart for standing in the pocket. With that kind of fighting style, Thurman won’t ever become a pay-per-view fighter. He doesn’t have blazing hand speed or an exciting fighting style like Mayweather and Pacquiao. To make up for his lack of speed and talent, Thurman needs to be willing to stand and trade more to make him more entertaining. But I’m not sure that Thurman will ever choose to change his fighting style, because he just doesn’t like to get hit. It could be that he’d hiding a weak chin, or he simply doesn’t have the heart to take the pain of being punched in the head. Whatever the case, he might not ever move to the next level to become a pay-per-view fighter in the future unless he changes his fighting style.
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Former three division world champion Adrien Broner (30-1, 22 KOs) easily defeated a very timid looking John Molina (27-6, 22 KOs) by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision.
The final judges’ scores were 120-108, 120-108 and 118-110.
Molina rarely threw punches in the fight, and he mainly followed Broner around the ring, not throwing punches, and sometimes throwing wild rights.
Broner did a lot of showboating in the last three rounds of the fight, and it looked bad given that he wasn’t impressing all that much. Broner came across as good – but hardly a great fighter – who was full of himself. He didn’t look powerful, and his hand speed was average. The only thing Broner had going for him was that he was matched against a guy who looked more like a journeyman than a quality fighter in Molina.
All in all, this was really, really bad television. If you wanted to pick a fight to impress the casual boxing fans on NBC, this wasn’t it. You have to wonder why Broner’s adviser Al Haymon chose Molina as Broner’s opponent, given that Molina was coming off of two straight losses to Humberto Soto and Lucas Matthysse.
In other words, Haymon put Broner in a showcase fight by putting him in with an easy mark instead of tougher opposition. This is Broner’s third straight tune-up fight, and he wasn’t ready to say when he’ll start facing better opposition when interviewed after the fight.
The fans booed constantly due to Molina not throwing punches, and Broner constantly holding each time Molina would throw a shot.
In the 12th round, Broner ran the entire round while the crowd booed loudly. It was definitely not the right way for Broner to close the show, given that Molina has already showed that he was afraid to throw punches the entire fight.
“The last time I tried to fight for the crowd, I lost,” Broner said after the fight. “I had to do what I had to do to get the victory. I stood right in front of the fight and won unanimously. My defense was as sharp as a thorn, and I am still beautiful. He wanted me to stand there and bang it out, but why would I do that when I have so many gifts? Anybody can get it…”
With this kind of performance from Molina, it’s going to be difficult for him to be matched against other top fighters. He’s now lost his last three fights and he’s no longer ranked in the top 15. He’s heading for journeyman status, which is why you have to wonder why Haymon chose Molina as Broner’s opponent tonight. Molina was a definite backwards step from Broner’s last opponent Emmanuel Taylor, who Broner really struggled with last year. Haymon should have been moving Broner forwards not backwards, especially with this fight being televised on NBC.
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In a rather dull fight, former three division world champion Abner Mares (29-1-1, 15 KOs) defeated an over-matched 2nd tier fighter Arturo Santos Reyes (18-5, 5 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The final judges’ scores were 96-93, 98-91, and 99-90. Mares was hit a lot in the fight, and he was fortunate that Reyes didn’t have the kind of power to worry him the way Jhonny Gonzalez did in 2013. Mares knocked Reyes down in the 2nd round when a shot to the head caused Reyes to touch his glove to the canvas.
Other boxing results on the card:
Jorge Lara TKO 1 Mario Macias
Robert Easter TKO 2 Alejandro Rodriguez
Mario Barrios TKO 3 Justin Lopez
Ladarius Miller UD 4 Ryan Picou
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