Guerrero vs Berto - Post Fight Thoughts

What a spectacular fight. It has been a long while since boxing fans have been treated to such brutal beauty. I picked Guerrero to win the fight decisively, possibly with a late stoppage, which nearly came to fruition. What I did not expect was that Guerrero would dominate Berto like he did. I figured Berto's style and hand speed might give Guerrero some fits early, and I stand corrected. Guerrero knew Berto's advantage and immediately took it away by staying close and roughing Berto up, knocking him down in rounds 1 and 2. Guerrero was wise to turn this into a street fight, it clearly took Berto out of his game as he seemed to be expecting Guerrero to comply and stand outside and box with him, but he obviously did not comply with Berto's wishes. Berto did get off some vicious shots but to no avail as Guerrero never seemed phased by any of them, and even more scary, he never seemed to tire.

This win clearly solidifies Guerrero as a legitimate welterweight and should launch him into some top ten pound for pound lists. Berto was supposed to be bigger, stronger, faster, and better than Guerrero, yet Guerrero beat him down for 12 rounds. At no point did I think Berto actually turned the tide of the fight, he did fight back, he did land some good shots, but they were all answered immediately by Guerrero. I, who picked Guerrero, was surprised that he seemed to be bigger and stronger than Berto who had a 6lb weight advantage the night of the fight and Guerrero was perceived as being the smaller guy who moved up two weight divisions. He muscled Berto around and roughed him up the whole fight. He took everything Berto had and never looked shaken or even bothered, despite having a swollen eye, which at one point he told his trainer that he could not even see out of.

I truly believe that after this type of performance against a top notch guy, whom he was not supposed to beat, he has a legitimate claim to fight Mayweather or Pacquiao. It is a perfect time to fight either as both of them are seemingly in the twilight of their careers.

I think Guerrero should fight Mayweather. I think it is a good matchup for him and the right time as he is entering his prime and Mayweather is clearly passed it. If he employs this same style against Mayweather, he has a serious chance at putting the first blemish on Mayweathers record. Floyd has become less mobile and easy to hit in recent fights and showed that he can be seriously hurt against the aged veteran Shane Mosley. I would like to see that fight happen and it certainly has more intrigue now, but I am not so sure Mayweather would want a fight like that. For a guy who is much easier to hit now and has never been a fan of mixing it up, I doubt that fight would ever happen.