By Cliff Rold
Who is Rodrigo Guerrero?
That’s the big question, the only question, worth asking heading into his challenge of World Jr. Bantamweight Champion Vic Darchinyan on Saturday night.
No tape could be found. Look around the web at sites like YouTube and there isn’t any footage to be found. BoxRec doesn’t have so much as a birthdate. A main event on a special Saturday edition of “ShoBox” (9:00 PM EST/PST), Showtime’s web site provides an age but no height or reach.
The WBC has him in the ignominious number fifteen contender slot, the least required to validate a title fight which otherwise might not pass muster; the WBA sees him as high as twelve and the IBF fourteen.
Could that be a good thing?
Let’s go to the report card.
The Ledgers
Vic Darchinyan
Age: 34
Title: World Junior Bantamweight (2008-Present, 2 Defense)
Previous Titles: IBF Flyweight (2004-07, 6 Defenses)
Height: 5’5 ½
Weight: 115 lbs.
Average Weight – Last Five Fights: 115.2 lbs.
Hails from: Sydney, Australia
Record: 33-2-1, 27 KO
Record in Title Fights: 11-2, 10 KO
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated: 6 (Wandee Singwancha, Irene Pacheco, Victor Burgos, Dimitri Kirilov, Cristian Mijares, Jorge Arce)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat: 2 (Nonito Donaire, Joseph Agbeko)
Vs.
Rodrigo Guerrero
Age: 34
Title: 1st World Title Fight
Height: N/A
Weight: 114 lbs.
Average Weight – Last Four Fights: 115.06 lbs.
Hails From: Mexico City, Mexico
Record: 13-1-1, 9 KO
BoxingScene Ranking: None
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated or Faced in Defeat: 0
Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed - Darchinyan B; Guerrero ?
Pre-Fight: Power - Darchinyan A; Guerrero ?
Pre-Fight: Defense - Darchinyan B-; Guerrero ?
Pre-Fight: Intangibles - Darchinyan A; Guerrero ?
How does one handicap a fight between two men when never having seen one of them?
It’s not easy. It would be easy to dismiss Guerrero out of hand but this is boxing. One never knows where the surprising upset will come from. There are approaches which can be used beginning with analogy.
Every once in a while, the sanctioning body ratings unearth a contender who doesn’t look like one prior to a big opportunity. On paper, Ricardo Mayorga was nothing special when he achieved his first mandatory…then suddenly he was knocking out Andrew Lewis and Vernon Forrest at Welterweight. Guerrero is not a mandatory, but he’s here.
Having not seen him fight, but having seen photos of the weigh-in, he appears to be about an inch shorter than Darchinyan.
In terms of his record, Guerrero has been a homebody thus far, all of his fights in Mexico. Guerrero has two opponents which stand out and Harry Greb logic applies (i.e. go on what can be seen in his better foes; not comparing anyone to Greb). Four fights ago, he won a split against Juan Rosas who three fights prior had lasted the distance with Fernando Montiel. Two fights ago, Guerrero went eight and won a decision against former title challenger Luis Maldonado.
All of this paints the picture of a competent professional.
It still doesn’t answer the question of Guerrero is. That won’t be known for most until he gets in the ring Saturday.
It also fails to answer another question.
Seriously, what the hell is Vic Darchinyan doing fighting this guy?
Hope springs eternal and all that, and upsets are always possible, but this definitely has a bad look to it. Darchinyan, two bouts removed from a tough loss to Bantamweight Joseph Agbeko, got his gimme’-ish bout in December against fringe contender Tomas Rojas.
The best available fight, a rematch with Nonito Donaire, wasn’t available now. His next two best contenders, at least under the WBA, are fighting each other for a second time in May (Nobuo Nashiro-Hugo Cazares).
That doesn’t mean that all that was left for the legitimate World Champion in a fairly talented class was a guy whose fifteen fights contain only a couple against recognizable names, one of them an eight rounder just months ago.
At 34 years old, Darchinyan’s ‘report card’ is easily delivered. Quick hands, awkward approach, massive power; one of the most exciting fighters in the world; a likely Hall of Famer. At 34 years old, he’s got less big days ahead than more. One gimme’ is fine; two in a row in a consistent calendar of three bouts a year sort of stinks.
Maybe tomorrow won’t be a gimme’.
It would be a pleasant surprise.
The Pick
Mayorga’s are the exception rather than the rule. Darchinyan by knockout.
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
