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Guzman respond to Devon
For as long as it took for them to agree to terms to face one another, it seems that Devon Alexander and Tim Bradley are already looking beyond their January 29 clash.
Once signed, sealed and delivered, it didn’t take long for either to not only predict victory, but reveal plans to parlay such a win into a lucrative showdown with Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather.
Pursuit of such a payday is understandable, and forgivable for either fighter to look very far beyond their head-on collision.
What is rubbing some the wrong way is the opinions being developed of other fighters angling for a shot at the winner of what’s being referred to as the first major fight of 2011.
In particular, Devon Alexander’s comments on a variety of topics conducted in an interview recently posted on You Tube, struck a nerve with a certain fighter.
Undefeated former two-division champion Joan Guzman was none too pleased with his name making its way to Alexander’s thoughts, especially since it was mentioned in a derogatory manner and not to discuss the possibility of a future fight.
In a brief interview conducted earlier Tuesday, Guzman had the opportunity to comment and respond Alexander’s comments regarding his once-scheduled fight with Chris Fernandez, which would have been his first since his pair of tough fights with Ali Funeka.
"Devon Alexander should mind his own business when it comes down to who I am fighting,” Guzman said of his planned tune-up, which was recently scrapped due to an issue with the on-site investors.
“I heard his interview where he commented on Chris Fernandez and why I'm fighting a guy with 10 losses. Well, my fight with Fernandez was recently canceled. All he has to do is get past Bradley and we could get it on in the ring since he's so concerned with my career.”
The fight with Fernandez was intended as a rust-shaker, as he hasn’t had a sanctioned fight since his rematch with Funeka earlier this year. Guzman came out victorious, but once again lost his battle at the scales, weighing in well beyond the lightweight limit.
It was agreed by Guzman and his team that, while he could still realistically make the 135 lb limit with the right preparation, the logical step just to save face would be to move up to 140. They thought that by moving up to his fifth weight class as a pro, that the ultra-talented Dominican would have an easy time securing fights.
Wrong they were, which was why they wound up agreeing on Fernandez as an opponent. Not from cherry picking, but because they wanted to fight and had to accept whomever was willing.
“For the record, my team contacted Kendall Holt and his people turned us down, Lucas Matthysse turned us down, Andre Berto turned us down, Raymundo Beltran turned us down, Dorin Spivey turned us down, I asked for Victor Ortiz and that also went unanswered.
“I could go down a list of fighters that said no to me and the only one that had the heart was Fernandez. My respect goes out to him.”
Unfortunately for both, neither will be able to collect a payday against the other, barring a reschedule, though fights on that level rarely remain in queue for very long, or in any kind of demand when it comes to reserving TV dates.
The likely scenario is that Guzman winds up going idle for the remainder of 2010. Perhaps a long enough layoff will entice some of his peers to jump into the ring with him.
Ideally, he’d like one more fight before pursuing one on the level of the winner of Alexander-Bradley. But for now, he’ll just settle for whoever is willing to fight, rather than merely drop his name without any intention of stepping to him.
“If only some of these 140 pounders had the heart Fernandez has boxing would be in good shape, but instead we have to deal with managers who want to protect their fighters and others that just know how to run their mouths."
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Originally Posted by DaxxKahn
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