Fernando Guerrero's Win Not Without Controversy
Even with a night to sleep on it following Ishe Smith’s unanimous decision loss to Fernando Guerrero in DeSoto, Mississippi on Friday night, Smith’s trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad was still steamed. A night of reflection hadn’t dimmed his view that his fighter had been robbed of the opportunity to win the NABF middleweight title in the headlining bout of a national cable television card because of hometown judging and refereeing and boxing politics.
Muhammad wasn’t alone in his assessment that the judge’s scorecard was less than straightforward. Smith’s promoter Lou DiBella was also very upset after the fight, claiming that if “the fight took place somewhere other than Mississippi, he might have won the fight.”
While DiBella and Muhammad might be very biased, they also might both have legitimate beefs. Even impartial media observers were left shaking their heads at the decisions of the Mississippi State Athletic Commission and the scoring in the bout. Despite most ringside observers feeling that the 10-round fight could have gone either way, Guerrero (19-0, 15 KOs) won by margins of two, three and (most ridiculously) six points.
The fact that the promotional company Prize Fight Promotions, which handles Guerrero’s career, is based in DeSoto was enough to raise red flags. The fact that referee Randy Newman stopped to have a lengthy discussion with promoter Brian Young during the fight added fuel to the conspiracy theories. Newman worked all of the fights on the card and the three judges were all the same, something that is not allowed in most states but is allowed in Mississippi. Newman made him a presence in the fight after docking Smith (21-5, 9 KOs) a point after a few body punches that were marginally low.
The controversy shouldn’t take away from the quality of the fight – which was very entertaining throughout – or the fact that Guerrero certainly did enough to earn a close victory. He was able to get off the deck after being dropped at the end of the eighth round and summoned the grit to do enough to win the fight. To be fair, Smith knocked Guerrero down with a marginal punch which seemed to catch Guerrero while he was off-balance and he never appeared to be hurt. But it was still a potentially tricky moment, and Guerrero was able to keep on his feet the rest of the fight in spite of Smith’s renewed efforts to score a decisive knockout in the last two rounds.
Guerrero was able to show many of the skills which have made him one of the top young prospects in the middleweight division. He was able to work the body effectively throughout the fight, especially in the first three rounds when both fighters were working the body well. But Guerrero was able to transition to an inside game and hurt Smith several times with short hooks and uppercuts before stepping back in the middle rounds and showing a crisp, forceful jab which kept Smith at bay.
At the end of the fight, it was Smith who threw the more telling punches but Guerrero who was busier from the outside – a compete 180-degree turn from where most experts thought the fight would go. Guerrero inched closer to a world title shot with the victory, although the knockdown must be cause for concern. Even if it was a flash knockdown, it was the third time in his young career he’s been dropped.
Meanwhile, Smith’s people tried to find reason to be positive in the face of his second consecutive loss. They said that his performance proved that he could fight against elite boxers. DiBella said that Smith would return to junior middleweight after the bout – a change of pace which could help to revive his suddenly slumping career prospects.
Tags: