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The spotlight this weekend was in Las Vegas as American TV company NBC put Boxing back on prime time evening viewing for the first occasion in recent memory as there were a bevy of good fights at the MGM Grand Arena.
In the only world title bout on the bill, welterweight Keith Thurman, 25-0 (21), lit up the ring with a captivating performance against former two-weight world champion Robert Guerrero, 32-3-1 (18), in defense of his WBA crown.
From the start, Thurman showed an edge in quickness and power as he stalked Guerrero, landing sharp right hands and bracing left hooks.
Guerrero, perhaps feeling the heavy hands of the champion, was far more reserved than usual but did score with whipping counters that let Thurman know this would be far from easy.
The pair each also focused on the body, digging in hurtful shots in an attempt to bring down the hands but it was an inadvertent head clash that produced a large swelling on the forehead of Thurman in the early rounds.
Thurman was clearly bothered by this and became less effective on offense, allowing Guerrero to step it up a bit and begin to press forward.
But Guerrero couldn’t solve the riddle of Thurman’s footwork as the champion became more defensive, snaking in counters whenever Guerrero overextended himself in search of the target.
By the middle rounds Thurman had regained his focus and began to pick Guerrero apart, once again leaping in with right hands that shook the challenger.
Guerrero fought back and scored well at times but was caught with a devastating shot in the ninth round and went down hard on the canvas.
The Californian showed great heart in getting up at the count of nine and used his long experience to survived the remained of the round.
Instead of going into survival mode in the tenth, Guerrero came alive and used pressure tactics on the inside to bully and maul Thurman on the ropes. While this wasn’t entirely effective, Guerrero was far more competitive in this mode, which is how he generally fights most opponents.
Thurman did manage to clip Guerrero with some sneaky, hard shots but could not regain control of the contest the rest of the way, electing to run away from Guerrero for large portions of the championship rounds.
When the scores were read, Thurman got the well-deserved victory but won by the rather wide margins of 120-107, 118-109 and 118-109.
Thurman showed great skill in handling the challenge of Guerrero and should be in line to face one of the welterweight division’s elite such as Amir Khan, Juan Manuel Marquez, Timothy Bradley or Marcos Maidana.
Or, will Thurman get the biggest prize of all – a showdown with the winner of the massive clash between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao?
At 26, Thurman should have a lot of great fights ahead of him and based on his performance against Guerrero, will probably win most of them.
On the undercard, former three-weight world champ Adrien Broner, 30-1 (22), breezed to an easy points verdict over out-skilled John Molina, 27-6 (22), winning 120-108, 120-108 and 118-110 after 12 rounds at light welterweight.
Broner used a highly effective punch and move strategy that kept the much slower Molina from formulating any kind of offensive strategy.
Molina just looked for one big punch all night, largely neglecting the jab in order to close distance and throwing telegraphed haymakers that Broner easily avoided on the rare occasion Molina did punch.
Broner is back in the ring in June and is likely one victory away from getting a world title opportunity at light welter.
Also on the bill at MGM Grand, another former three-weight world champion, Abner Mares, 29-1-1 (15), was in action but the former Mexican Olympian had a tough time with spirited opponent Arturo Sanchez Reyes, 18-5 (5), at featherweight.
Reyes proved to be very crafty on both defense and offense, drilling the bigger Mares with quick handed shots and picking off a lot of punches on his gloves.
But Reyes lacked the concussive power to truly trouble Mares, who swept the cards by scores of 96-93, 98-91 and 99-90, to win the ten-rounder.
At Cotai Arena in Macao, China, heavily-hyped flyweight prospect Zou Shiming, 6-1 (1), was rushed into his first world title bout with negative results as the light-hitting stylist was out pointed by amateur nemesis Amnat Ruenroeng, 15-0 (5), who came off the floor in the second round to win by scores of 116-111 on all three cards.
