Mayweather vs. Guerrero: ‘Money’ rings up another victory

Ruben Guerrero seemed to spend the last few days attempting to make himself star of his son Robert’s fight with Floyd Mayweather. At the press conference for the fight he stood up and repeatedly announced that they were going to “beat that woman beater,” referring to Floyd’s recent jail stint and other prior domestic violence charges. That outburst led to a series of shouting matches with Floyd Mayweather Sr.

Those Sr. vs. Ruben confrontations continued during the pre-fight instructions. As the referee gave his final instructions to the fighters he had to stop as Ruben had started to yell at Floyd Sr. again.

After Floyd Mayweather made reasonably easy work of Robert Guerrero last night the same question as after all of Floyd’s big wins was raised.

What now?

Despite hurting his right hand in the fight, Floyd Mayweather defended his WBC welterweight title with a unanimous decision win over Robert Guerrero at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday night. He’s now 44-0 for his career.

Floyd “Money” Mayweather remained undefeated tonight in Las Vegas, dominating Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero to run his career record to 44-0 with 26 knockouts.

While the “big fight atmosphere” was there -- especially as Floyd and Robert had an intense staredown while their fathers/trainers engaged in a brief verbal battle -- Guerrero simply wasn’t on Floyd’s level.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. reminded tonight why exactly he is the best fighter on the planet, dominating Robert Guerrero in their Showtime pay-per-view bout.

There were concerns coming in that Mayweather had “gotten old” or that ring rust and a two month stint in jail meant that the younger Guerrero would be able to be the first to beat “Money.” Those concerns amounted to very little in the end.

Floyd Mayweather and Robert Guerrero had done battle over eleven rounds and came out for the final round, both men certainly aware that Guerrero couldn’t win without scoring a last minute knockout.

Knowing that, Mayweather still chose to pick spots between movement to land a right hand. Mayweather then landed a one-two combo, followed by sliding under Guerrero’s return shot, the skill difference on display one more time in a bout that has shown it plenty.

It was entirely likely as Floyd Mayweather and Robert Guerrero came out for round eleven that the scorecards were well out of reach for Guerrero. That meant that he would have to find a way to get a stoppage on Mayweather when he’d barely been able to hit him through the first ten rounds.

Mayweather began sliding along the ropes, landing single punches, then smothering Guerrero’s attack and sliding back out the side to get space.

Robert Guerrero began to make Floyd Mayweather work quite a bit in round nine of their bout but still was likely down by a considerable margin on the official scorecards.

Floyd landed some good left hands after he got off the ropes and out of a Guerrero smothering clinch attack that saw very little by way of actual punches that landed.

Floyd Mayweather and Robert Guerrero came out of the corners for the ninth round of their bout with Floyd having had the best round of the fight in the eighth.

Guerrero, bloodied from the constant right hands of Mayweather, came out, put his head down and tried to do some work. He was able to land a left hand and started trying to get a little bit rough in the clinch.

Robert Guerrero began to bleed in round eight of his bout with Floyd Mayweather. Guerrero has been active in trying to win the fight since the opening bell, but Mayweather has simply seemed like an A+ fighter taking on a A fighter. The great beating the good.

Though, it should be noted that Mayweather doesn’t look perfect like in the past. He’s slightly slower and he seems to get a little bit off balance which is a rarity from Floyd.

Floyd Mayweather and Robert Guerrero have fought half of the scheduled time in their Showtime pay-per-view fight and Mayweather appeared to be simply too good for “The Ghost.”

Guerrero simply hasn’t shown anything that Mayweather can’t handle through the first half of the bout and appears to be quickly falling out of being able to win this fight on the scorecards.

Floyd Mayweather’s straight right hand had taken over the fight against Robert Guerrero after five rounds. It was the single punch that Mayweather felt he could land whenever he threw it now that he had his timing worked out.

And he continued going back to it in round six, though Guerrero landed a nice counter shot of his own early in the round, as well as a jab.

Robert Guerrero knew he had to do something different in round five of his fight with Floyd Mayweather as Floyd had begun to figure out the timing.

Instead of anything different, early in the round it was more of Floyd letting his right hand lead go with solid effectiveness. Floyd also continued working in the jab. Guerrero just has not had much success since about midway through round two, though he did start to go to the body a bit more in round five.

Floyd Mayweather complained between rounds that Robert Guerero was rabbit punching through the first three rounds of the fight.

As they came out for round four, Mayweather seemed to be moving toward taking the fight over a bit as he had the spacing back where he was comfortable.

Robert Guerrero had had more success through the first two rounds of his fight with Floyd Mayweather than many expected. Mayweather had begun to make adjustments in the second round though, working to the body and mixing in jabs to start to get in with his own shots and disrupt Guerrero’s timing.

Guerrero started trying to bully again, pressing Mayweather into the ropes but FLoyd was able to get back to the middle of the ring and pop a hard straight right hand that snapped Guerrero’s head back.

After an interesting first round, Floyd Mayweather and Robert Guerrero came out of their corners with the question being who could adjust better to what the other was doing.

Early in the round it was Guerrero landing a solid shot as Mayweather got back against the ropes. Guerrero also continued throwing counters as Floyd tried to lunge in with his straight right. Guerrero again got in with a counter right and Mayweather looks slightly slow and hasn’t quite figured out what Guerrero is doing.

Floyd Mayweather and Robert Guerrero got their Showtime pay-per-view bout underway following the usual big fight pageantry of national anthems and dramatic ring walks. During the referee’s instructions Ruben Guerrero and Floyd Mayweather Sr. began jawing at each other while their sons engaged in a very intense staredown.

Mayweather came out and stood flat, landing right hands and ducking under Guerrero’s punches. Mayweather landed a good amount of straight right hands but Guerrero clinched and really tried to rough Floyd up in the clinch, drawing early warnings from the referee.

Abner Mares stepped up in weight to take on WBC featherweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon in the featured undercard bout of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Robert Guerrero card. The fight was hyped by many as having the potential to be fight of the night and a possible fight of the year contender.

Both men came out confident in round one, with Mares looking to box, staying on the outside and picking spots to engage while Ponce De Leon stalked and landed some hard punches. Ponce De Leon was also able to land some nice power punch combinations.

Leo Santa Cruz has been one of the more visible fighters of the past couple years, no doubt in large part due to his highly unusual fight frequency as well as an appearance on CBS in his last bout. Santa Cruz took on Alexander Munoz on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather’s bout with Robert Guerrero.

Munoz was a former champion but had moved up in weight late in his career while Santa Cruz was natural at super bantamweight.

The pay-per-view broadcast for Floyd Mayweather vs. Robert Guerrero got underway with a bout between J’Leon Love and Gabriel Rosado. For the undefeated Love, a The Money Team fighter, it was the biggest step up in his career as he took on a former world title challenger. There were questions about Love’s fitness, however. He came in overweight and had to forfeit a portion of his purse as a penalty.

Rosado appeared to be wanting to jab with Love and find space for a right hand counter if it opened up. Love’s quick jab became his most effective weapon in the early going, forcing Rosado to fight a bit of an uncomfortable fight until late in the second round when Rosado stung him with a series of hard shots, forcing him to hang on until the bell.

Luis Arias, a one time near Team USA Olympic boxing member, fought for the fifth time as a professional tonight on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather’s bout with Robert Guerrero. Arias was taking on DonYil Livingston, a former prospect himself.

Arias was able to take advantage of many of the mistakes made by Livingston early in the first round, including cracking to the body and then trying to unleash wild overhand rights to get the finish. Livingston was able to survive the round but things were not looking to be going his way.

Showtime’s coverage of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Robert Guerrero undercard kicked off with a bout between Badou Jack and Michael Gbenga. Jack was on the card as part of The Money Team, Floyd Mayweather’s stable of “promoted fighters,” and had been in premium positions on Showtime in the past. Meanwhile, Gbenga came in trying to get a win on his birthday.

Jack was clearly the better fighter from the opening bell while Gbenga was there expected to play opponent, the same role he played in his last fight, a loss to Andre Dirrell.

Not much has changed over the fight week for Floyd Mayweather’s bout with Robert Guerrero. At the start of the week I wrote that the fight was lacking “buzz” and that hasn’t really changed.

Robert Guerrero isn’t exactly the most exciting personality on the planet. In fact, he came across as almost a bit of a dork after the weigh-in Friday night as he yelled that he was “thinkin’ about gettin’ down!” and that it was “time to rock and roll, man!” And that hasn’t helped with the promotion of the fight. The main focus with Guerrero has been his wife’s battle with -- and victory over -- leukemia, a great story to be sure, but not one that is likely to make anyone hit the order button.

Floyd Mayweather’s new deal with Showtime was called the “richest individual athlete deal in all of sports” when he signed it earlier this year. Not a surprise for the man who regularly tops the Forbes list of highest paid athletes.

But it is still always a little staggering to see the fight purses that “Money” pulls in when he steps into the ring. For tonight’s bout with Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, Floyd will be tying the record for largest fight purse with $32,000,000, a record previously held by.....Floyd Mayweather. Floyd also made $32mil last May for his bout with Miguel Cotto.

When Floyd Mayweather and Robert Guerrero step into the ring later this evening on Showtime pay-per-view, few will give Guerrero a chance to pull off the win. That isn’t a knock on Guerrero’s skills, he’s proven himself a top-tier fighter in multiple divisions over his career. It’s simply that Mayweather is going to have to either lose or start looking very bad due to age before the expectation isn’t a comfortable win for the 43-0 pound-for-pound champion.

Mayweather is a rare talent, a once in a generation type of fighter with reflexes, speed and underrated power. Those natural abilities combined with a strong work ethic in the gym have pushed Floyd to his perfect 43-0 record.