Ringside Boxing Report: Juan Carlos Burgos vs. Vyacheslav Gusev

ByMichael Worden


© Mike Worden / Saddo Boxing

Moving his way further up the ladder of the featherweight rankings, WBC #3 ranked Juan Carlo Burgos, 22-0 (15), pulled out a scrappy ten round decision over Russia’s Vyacheslav Gusev, 16-2 (3), on Friday night in order to retain his WBC CABOFE title.

Dubbed by Thompson Boxing Promotions as “New Blood 4”, the card from the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California had a good amount of the red stuff flowing. The majority of which was generated from under the right eye of Gusev after a right hand from Burgos opened a cut early in the first round.

While the cut appeared to bother Gusev early in the bout, the challenger managed to push through the adversity to give Burgos his toughest challenge to date.

Burgos utilized his boxing skills and speed throughout the fight in order to neutralize the aggression of Gusev. With a stiff jab and his ability to stay just out of the challenger’s reach, Burgos showed fight fans just why so many boxing insiders are so high on him.

For Burgos, a possible world title fight lies just around the corner. He has recently been calling for a shot at WBC featherweight champion Takahiro Aoh, 17-1-1 (8,) however, at this stage in his career, Burgos feels that he is ready for anyone.

This was Gusev’s first fight outside of Russia and he managed to gain some fans in the loss. Although he came up short, the crowd on hand in Ontario was very receptive to his aggressive style and unwavering heart.

The official scorecards were 98-92 and 97-93 twice and although most ringside observers felt that the margin was a little too wide, no one thought that Gusev landed enough clean shots to win the fight.

The bout was co-promoted by Fox Sports en Espanol and will be shown on television next Friday night.

In the co-feature bout of the evening, highly touted Riverside, California prospect Mauricio Herrera, 11-0 (5), captured the vacant WBC USNBC Welterweight title by defeating the rugged veteran Luis Alfredo Lugo, 10-9-1 (6), by way of a ten round UD.

Herrera employed a consistent body attack throughout the fight and managed to systematically break down a very game Lugo.

After absorbing a barrage of hard shots in the seventh round, the referee took a long look at Lugo and asked his corner if their man wanted to continue the fight. He did, and with his granite chin still intact, Lugo managed to finish out the fight on his feet.

The official scores were 99-91 and 100-90.

In a bloody six round featherweight bout, Jesus Hernandez, 8-0-1 (2), and Aaron Garcia, 9-1-1 (2), left everything they had in the ring, however, what the two men left with was a draw.

Both fighters were bloodied during the bout with Hernandez suffering the worst cut of the evening with a gash just over his right eye. His corner managed to neutralize the flow and the fight went the distance. Scores were 58-56 and 57-57 twice for Garcia.

In a rough junior welterweight bout, Yakub Shidaev, 2-1 (1), edged out Ignacio Garcia, 2-2-1 (0), over four rounds by UD. All three judges scored the fight 39-37.

Starting off what would be a great night for the Herrera family, Albert Herrera, 2-0 (2), scored an impressive TKO over Alfredo Rivera, 0-5 (0). Herrera looked sharp from the opening bell, landing hard crisp shots throughout the first round and hurting Rivera in the second. Herrera eventually floored Rivera :45 seconds into the third round when the referee immediately called a halt to the bout.

In his professional debut, lightweight Oscar Chinchilla, 1-0 (0), won a hard fought majority decision over Miguel Oronia 0-1 (0). Scores were 38-38 and 39-37 twice.