Dominick Guinn – Back to the Future

Monsters. Freaks of Nature. Giants. Whatever you call the new generation of heavyweight hopefuls, the one thing they cannot be called is 'classic.' What is considered normal nowadays is a 6'5″ 250 pound heavyweight with musculature that California's Governor could be proud of. At a mere 6'3″ and entering the ring in the neighborhood of 220 pounds, Dominick Guinn brings a unique advantage to the division – the kid can box better than anyone in his class.

Unlike many of the towers in boxing's heaviest division, Guinn learned the ropes between the ropes, through a solid amateur career. A true boxer-puncher, he is economical with his punches, which makes Guinn effective when he throws 'em, but conservative enough that he knows how to play some 'd'. Without that burden of lumbering around the ring pulling 250+ pounds and trying to toss long heavy arms for 30 minutes Guinn is simply efficient.

Seasoned to the ripe fighting age of 28, Guinn looks poised to make his mark on a heavyweight division that is looking for some excitement. Besides the Klitschko brothers there really isn't much to get stirred up about in boxing's showcase division, and even they may not be all that.

Wladimir was supposed to be the better of the boxing brothers, and he has two losses on his resume, having been pummeled by South African Corrie Sanders and after punching himself out facing trial horse Ross Puritty. Vitali has received all the fanfare of late as a result of losing to Lennox Lewis – figure that one out – and after disposing of a scared Kirk Johnson who still hasn't been found since not showing up that night. Joe Mesi is undefeated but he had his hands full in each of his last two bouts – one with cruiserweight Vassiliy Jirov and the other with Monte Barrett, who Guinn faces this weekend. The Barrett-Mesi-Guinn connection is one that will be in the minds of HBO boxing executives and Guinn's camp.

By beating Barrett in convincing fashion Guinn will then have the bargaining power to get paid what he is worth, and the suits at the network will have to move Guinn up the heavyweight ladder ahead of Mesi. And then what?

Then it gets interesting. It says here that Team Mesi will not want to have anything to do with Guinn once they see him on Saturday. If they do it will be a mistake and Mesi has had too many close calls recently for them to put it all on the line against Guinn. Guinn and either of the Klitschko's could be a fight or two away, but Guinn is so technically sound that he would test either brother.

The problem for the Klitschko's is that Guinn moves well, has a solid chin and a left hook that gets there before you know it has left the runway. We have already seen that they start treading water when taken into the deep end of a boxing match, and Guinn surely would be the one breathing easier as the fight goes on. That's one of the benefits of being 'small'. In a twelve-round championship boxing match the race does not necessarily go to the biggest or strongest, but often to the one who has the most to give when the fight is on the line. The longer the race the more of a burden size becomes.

Dominick Guinn just might be the most talented boxer in the heavyweight division and he does it all in classic style. Watch him on Saturday and see a boxer-puncher who uses head movement, keeps his hands up and jabs his way into setting up bigger punches in his arsenal. If you've seen it before, it's because they used to fight like that.