David Benavidez has no shortage of HUGE fights on his radar. In an exclusive interview with BoxingScene, Jose Benavidez Sr. makes it clear that David still wants the biggest names at 175lbs including Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. Benavidez has previously said those are two fights he wants to make as he pursues more titles and major challenges. But there’s another name that could make things very interesting: Andy Ruiz Jr. Jose discusses the possibility of an all-Mexican showdown between Benavidez and the former heavyweight champion, along with David’s plans across multiple divisions. And with a potential Jai Opetaia showdown also building after the pair came face-to-face following Opetaia’s latest victory, Benavidez has some massive options ahead.
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By Cliff Rold
In front of yet another raucous, packed crowd in front of his hometown fans in Salisbury, Maryland, electric 23-year old Middleweight Fernando Guerrero (18-0, 15 KO) became the first man to stop 31-year old Michael Walker (19-4-2, 12 KO) of Chicago, Illinois at the Wicomico Civic Center on Friday night, forcing a standing stoppage with a fusillade of blows in round number two.
Guerrero weighed in right at the Middleweight limit of 160 lbs., Walker one pound over the limit at 161. Walker initially weighed in two and half pounds over the intended 160 lb. limit.
Walker charged forward hooks to the body, Guerrero bulled into the corner right away. Broken by the referee, the sequence repeated as Walker pursued Guerrero across the ring and into another corner. Broken again, the southpaw Guerrero jabbed and stuck a left into the face of Walker as he took the fight to the middle of the ring. Guerrero threw deliberate jabs until walker bulled him again towards the corner. Rather than covering up, Guerrero let loose an uppercut and turned his man, keeping Walker on the ropes with lead right hooks, two-fisted uppercuts, and stiff lefts to draw the crowd to their feet at the closing bell to round one.
The bell sounded for round two but the action was immediately paused to wipe excess water from the floor in the Walker corner. Action resumed, it was Walker again charging pushing Guerrero to the ropes once and then, following a hard Walker right, again. As had occurred in the first, Guerrero turned Walker again with his fists and Guerrero was a stream of leather, some blocked as Walker went into a shell defense. A fevered roar built in the crowd as more and more punches got through. Walker was offering no offense of his own, Guerrero pounding to the head and body, finally forcing the hand of referee Malik Waleed after two right uppercuts lifted the head of Walker out of his shell, stepping in for the stoppage at 1:49 of round two.
Guerrero came into the bout rated twelfth by the World Boxing Organization. The 2007 U.S. National amateur champion at Middleweight, Guerrero is one to watch as he prepares to flirt with real title contention.
An amateur rival of Guerrero provided chief support for the televised card and provided a similarly violent conclusion.
Having gone ten full rounds for the first time in his last outing, promising 22-year old Jr. Middleweight prospect Shawn Porter (14-0, 11 KO) of Akron, Ohio showed little interest in completing the scheduled eight on Friday night, rifling 30-year old Raul Pinzon (17-5, 16 KO) with a single right hand in the opening round.
Pinzon, who missed the contracted weight of 152 lbs., entered weighing 161 to Porter’s same day 158 ½. Porter had originally weighed in Thursday at 150 ½ and none of it seemed to affect him at all, pressuring at the opening bell with multiple left jabs. Pinzon was pushed to the ropes repeatedly in the first minute, his stance defensive aside from token hooks. Porter, punching in volume, struggled to land accurately until the second half of the round when his right hand began to land clean. Porter mixed in a series of uppercuts in the corner and Pinzon escaped entering the final thirty seconds.
He couldn’t avoid the finish long.
Again with his back to the ropes, Pinzon ate a snapping right hand to the head and dropped, first towards the ropes and then face first to the floor, rising only as referee Gary Camponeschi reached the count of ten at 2:39 of round number one.
Porter, the 2007 U.S. National Golden Glove amateur Middleweight champion and a 2008 Olympic alternate at only 5’7, may be dropping to the Welterweight division in the near future. Porter entered the night rated number fourteen by the World Boxing Organization at Jr. Middleweight.
The bout was Pinzon’s fourth loss in his last five contests, all of them within the distance.
The broadcast was carried in the U.S. on premium cable outlet Showtime as part of their “ShoBox” series, co-promoted by DiBella Entertainment and Prize Fight.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
