The Daily Mississippian’s David Hopper got a chance to speak with Showtime boxing analyst Steve Farhood about middleweight prospect Fernando Guerrero and his upcoming fight with Ishe Smith at the Desoto Civic Center in Southaven.
What do you see in Fernando Guerrero?
I see a lot of star appeal. He has a strong amateur background and all of the tools along with an exciting style.
But more than that, he has a certain presence and charisma that a lot of young fighters don’t have.
It’s unmistakable and as soon as he walks in the room he illuminates it. You combine the physical skills with the star appeal and you have a potential star.
What’s your assessment of the middleweight division as it stands?
It’s a division in flux. Right now there’s much more attention being paid to the super middleweight division.
Middleweights are a division right now that are largely dominated, at least at the championship level, by Europeans. But that could begin to change.
In a couple of weeks, Danny Jacobs is gonna fight for a version of the middleweight title (WBO title). Danny Jacobs and Fernando Guerrero know each other very well from the amateurs. They’re maybe the two best American prospects at the weight.
There could be a little bit more of an American spin on the division with Jacobs and Guerrero coming up and right now the champions are all foreign. It’s very difficult to win a championship on the road. And maybe by the time Guerrero is ready to make his move, it will be more of an American feel to the division and that will benefit him.
How do you think Guerrero with match up with Ishe Smith?
Guerrero is the naturally bigger guy, there’s no doubt about that. Ishe Smith fought Danny Jacobs as a middleweight but he’s always been more of a junior middleweight.
The size and strength of Guerrero is to Guerrero’s advantage. Smith is a tough guy. He doesn’t get pushed around that easily, he doesn’t get stopped that easily. Guerrero better bring his lunch pale because it’s probably going to be a long fight. It’s by far the biggest name and the toughest test to date for Guerrero. I’d call it a natural progression for him, and a good fight for him to take at this point.
What will be the keys to victory for Guerrero and for Smith?
For Guerrero, patience will be critical. He’s gonna need to set a pace that the veteran won’t like, so pace is important. Patience is important. It will probably serve him best to attack and get close. Ishe isn’t going to want to fight at a fast pace, he isn’t gonna want to make it a physical fight against a naturally bigger guy. And for Ishe, he’s just going to have to use all his tricks, counter punch. The key with Ishe is he’s gotta be able to fight at a faster pace than he’s used to.
In what ways has Guerrero improved since turning pro in 2007?
One improvement that is very noticeable to me is he does one thing well that so many fighters don’t. When he punches he brings his hands back quickly and high. And as a result, he’s hard to counter punch. That’s a very impressive thing.
Another thing that separates him, a strength of his that separates him from so many southpaws is he uses his right hand a lot and I don’t mean just the jab but the hook also. His right hook is probably as good as his straight left hand. That’s very unusual. So many southpaws, you might as well put their right hand in their pocket and they just look to load up on the left. He’s not like that.
And he’s a gifted athlete. He’s a strong kid. Not particularly tall, down the road that could be a little bit of a problem against a tall guy with a good jab who could stay outside. Guerrero’s only what 5-8 maybe, 5-9.
He’s listed as 5-10, I don’t think that’s accurate. He doesn’t have much range for a middleweight so that’s the kind of style down the road that could give him problems.
What do you think of the other two televised fights on the card, Lanard Lane (12-0) vs. Mike Dallas Jr. (14-0-1) and Shawn Porter (15-0) vs. Ray Robinson (11-1)?
The Porter-Robinson fight is interesting to me for one reason. Shawn Porter is undefeated. We know he’s trying to get down from junior middleweight to welterweight slowly and his toughest fight to date was against a tall southpaw, Russell Jordan. And here he is fighting another tall southpaw in Ray Robinson, so I find that very interesting. Ray Robinson only has one loss. It was to a very good fighter. As a matter of fact, a prospect on the same level as some of theses guys at welterweight. It’s clearly the toughest matchup for Porter yet.
But the fight that’s probably the most competitive on the card is the Lane-Dallas fight because they’re both undefeated and it’s very unusual and refreshing to see undefeated prospects fight each other at this stage. It just doesn’t happen that often.
If the fight happens, who’s your pick for Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao?
I hope it gets it made, and I think it will get made. And my pick is Mayweather. I can’t pick against him. The size difference to me is somewhat significant. I don’t think he’s gonna lose. I think he’ll beat Pacquiao.
Do you think Mayweather-Pacquiao will be competitive?
Oh yeah, I think Pacquiao is too physically gifted not to be competitive. Pacquiao has to make Mayweather fight outside of his comfort zone and that’s not easy to do. But if anyone can do it it’s him. I think he’s the biggest threat. I didn’t think (Shane) Mosley was much of a threat, and it proved correct, although he did hurt him.