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Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero Injured, Must Pull Out & Other Chatter…Avila

It was terrible news on Thursday morning.
Golden Boy’s CEO Richard Schaefer announced that Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero had injured his left shoulder and will not be able to fight Argentina’s Marcos Maidana on Saturday Aug. 27, in San Jose.
Just yesterday I was in Big Bear, Ca. to watch Guerrero in his final week in the mountain training camp prepare for the junior welterweight showdown with hard-hitting Maidana. The always smiling Ghost was jovial as usual and getting ready for sparring and working on a few things with his dad.
“We have some good sparring with these young guys,” said Ruben Guerrero, father and trainer of the Ghost. “Both of them are real quick.”
During sparring Team Guerrero prefers to work on defense and avoiding the quick and hard punches of the youngsters. On Wednesday, Guerrero sparred with Juanito Garcia a lithe looking boxer out of the Phoenix area and East L.A.’s Frankie Gomez.
For numerous rounds he began with Garcia and fired blows but not at full force. Most of the time Garcia attacked and Guerrero blocked and slipped while moving away.
“We don’t like to go all out because we just want to stay sharp,” said Ruben Guerrero. “We’re not here to hurt these kids. They’re real good.”
Next came Gomez whose speed and power is impressive.
“He throws looping punches like Marcos Maidana,” said Robert Guerrero. “But he’s faster than Maidana.”
Gomez, for those that are unfamiliar with his style, is nicknamed “Pitbull” and he fights like that. He’s always on attack mode but in recent times under trainer Abel Sanchez, the young boxer-puncher has become even more potent with more accuracy in his blows. No longer does he fire with abandon, now he sets up his punches and lands effectively.
Both Guerrero and Gomez have speed. The Ghost is taller but Gomez is wider around the shoulders. They’re exchanges were quick and burst-like.
“He’s perfect for working on defense,” said Ruben Guerrero about Gomez.
The East L.A. fighter has not only quick hands but very nimble footwork too. He’s just as quick darting in and out as he is firing machine gun bursts. On several occasions both fighters were entangled. On one of those entanglements along the ropes their arms locked and Guerrero slipped away but it was an awkward looking moment.
Katherine Rodriguez, who works as my primary photographer and is a former boxer, noticed the same awkward moment and commented on it.
“It didn’t look right when he got away from Frankie’s attack,” said Rodriguez who took the photo above of Guerrero just before his sparring session.
After the sparring session we spoke to all of the fighters and it didn’t appear that Guerrero was hurt at the time. But he did talk in the back with his handlers. The Ghost posed for photos for us with his team and was his usual spirited self. The entire team was friendly and open as usual.
It’s a darn shame.
Golden Boy Promotion’s CEO Richard Schaefer told the press about the disappointing injury.
“We were very much looking forward to it but it has to be postponed,” said Schaefer during a conference call on Thursday morning. “It’s very unfortunate that this exciting showdown is not going to be happening.”
Guerrero was flown to Northern California to see the San Francisco 49ers physician who is an expert in diagnosing similar injuries.
The Ghost is considered one of the top fighters in the game pound for pound and was a favorite to beat the feared Maidana. Hopefully, the gentleman fighter can return to full form and at 100 percent. Anyone who knows the Ghost and his team know that he and his team are a classy outfit. The best in boxing. Our best wishes to them.
Other chatter
The entire fight card on Saturday Aug. 27 has been postponed including the women’s flyweight bout that was going to feature Carina Moreno versus Chantel Cordorva.
“We really wish Robert Guerrero the best,” said Claudia Ollis, who was staging the female fight on the San Jose card.
Another fight was going to feature heavyweight prospect Seth Mitchell in the semi-main event. The heavyweight fight was going to be included on HBO’s telecast.
All tickets will be refunded.
Still more chatter
Two heavyweight fights headline the Roy Englebrecht Events fight card at the Orange County Fairgrounds tonight. Undefeated Alexander Flores (4-0) fights Serhiy Karpenko (6-1) and Lionel Davis (9-0) meets Andrae Carthron (5-7-2) in a pair of six round bouts. Several other boxing and mixed martial arts matches are planned for the event. For tickets and information (949) 760-3131.
Undefeated Efrain Esquivias (13-0, 9 KOs) meets Juan Ruiz (23-6, 7 KOs) of Santa Clarita, Calif. for the vacant NABF junior featherweight title on Friday Aug. 19 at Omega Products International in Corona. Also on the fight card is San Bernardino’s Artemio “King” Reyes (12-1, 10 KOs) facing Mexican veteran Cristian Favela (31-31-1, 15 KOs) in a welterweight clash set for eight rounds. For tickets or information call (714) 935-0900.
Boxing and mixed martial arts fights including a fight between Adam Lynn and Jason Meaders for the MEZ Sports Pandemonium lightweight MMA title take place on Friday Aug. 19 at the Riverside Convention Center. Hard-hitting Alex Luna is set to fight Alex Artiaga in a lightweight boxing match. For tickets and more information (949) 716-2557 or go to www.mezsports.com
Alfredo “Perro” Angulo (19-1, 16 KOs) finally returns to the ring after more than a year off and faces Joseph Gomez (17-4-1) on Saturday Aug. 20 in Mexicali, Mexico. Angulo just signed with Golden Boy Promotions. His last fight was a first round knockout win over Canada’s Joachim Alcine at Rancho Mirage on July 2010.
Coachella’s Antonio Diaz (47-6-1, 30 KOs) stopped Ernesto Zepeda (39-15-4, 34 KOs) at the end of round eight in what could be his final pro ring appearance last Friday at Fantasy Springs Casino. Also winning were Andrew Cancio, Jose Vargas, Angel Osuna, Kenny Williams and Humberto Zatarain.
Layla “Amazing” McCarter (34-13-5, 13 KOs) of Las Vegas beat Puerto Rico’s Belinda Laracuente (25-26-3, 9 KOs) in a lightweight battle between two female fighters with more than 50 pro fights. There are very few women prizefighters with more than 50 pro bouts. The match took place in Colorado. McCarter won by unanimous decision.
WBA junior bantamweight titleholder Tomas “Gusano” Rojas (36-12-1, 24 KOs) defends the title against Thailand’s Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (18-5-1) on Friday in Thailand. The Mexican southpaw from Vera Cruz is making his third world title defense.
Matthew Hatton (41-5-2, 16 KOs) fights Andrei Abramenka (15-0-2) for a vacant international welterweight title on Friday Aug. 19, in Lancashire, United Kingdom. Hatton is returning to his natural weight after losing in a world title bid to Mexico’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez last March.
Former 2008 U.S. Olympian Demetrius Andrade (13-0, 9 KOs) faces his most dangerous opponent in Grady Brewer (28-12, 16 KOs) a ranking junior middleweight out of Oklahoma. Brewer, 40, has upset several undefeated youngsters including Fernando Guerrero last June. The match takes place in Hammond, Indiana on Friday Aug. 19.
Michael Katsidis (28-4, 23 KOs) knocked out Michael Lozada (38-9-1, 30 KOs) at the end of round three on Saturday. Katsidis, a lightweight contender, fought n Queensland, Australia.
In a battle of heavyweight contenders Monte Barrett (35-9-2, 20 KOs) beat David Tua (52-4-2, 43 KOs) by unanimous decision after 12 rounds on Saturday in New Zealand. Tua was the favorite.
Argentina’s Alejandra Oliveras (22-2-2, 9 KOs) knocked out Liliana Palmera (20-9-3) in the first second of round five to win the vacant WBA lightweight world title. The championship match took place in Cordoba, Argentina on Friday.
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“Breadman” Edwards: An Unlikely Boxing Coach with a Panoramic View of the Sport

Stephen “Breadman” Edwards’ first fighter won a world title. That may be some sort of record.
It’s true. Edwards had never trained a fighter, amateur or pro, before taking on professional novice Julian “J Rock” Williams. On May 11, 2019, Williams wrested the IBF 154-pound world title from Jarrett Hurd. The bout, a lusty skirmish, was in Fairfax, Virginia, near Hurd’s hometown in Maryland, and the previously undefeated Hurd had the crowd in his corner.
In boxing, Stephen Edwards wears two hats. He has a growing reputation as a boxing coach, a hat he will wear on Saturday, May 31, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas when the two fighters that he currently trains, super middleweight Caleb Plant and middleweight Kyrone Davis, display their wares on a show that will air on Amazon Prime Video. Plant, who needs no introduction, figures to have little trouble with his foe in a match conceived as an appetizer to a showdown with Jermall Charlo. Davis, coming off his career-best win, an upset of previously undefeated Elijah Garcia, is in tough against fast-rising Cuban prospect Yoenli Hernandez, a former world amateur champion.
Edwards’ other hat is that of a journalist. His byline appears at “Boxing Scene” in a column where he answers questions from readers.
It’s an eclectic bag of questions that Breadman addresses, ranging from his thoughts on an upcoming fight to his thoughts on one of the legendary prizefighters of olden days. Boxing fans, more so than fans of any other sport, enjoy hashing over fantasy fights between great fighters of different eras. Breadman is very good at this, which isn’t to suggest that his opinions are gospel, merely that he always has something provocative to add to the discourse. Like all good historians, he recognizes that the best history is revisionist history.
“Fighters are constantly mislabled,” he says. “Everyone talks about Joe Louis’s right hand. But if you study him you see that his left hook is every bit as good as his right hand and it’s more sneaky in terms of shock value when it lands.”
Stephen “Breadman” Edwards was born and raised in Philadelphia. His father died when he was three. His maternal grandfather, a Korean War veteran, filled the void. The man was a big boxing fan and the two would watch the fights together on the family television.
Edwards’ nickname dates to his early teen years when he was one of the best basketball players in his neighborhood. The derivation is the 1975 movie “Cornbread, Earl and Me,” starring Laurence Fishburne in his big screen debut. Future NBA All-Star Jamaal Wilkes, fresh out of UCLA, plays Cornbread, a standout high school basketball player who is mistakenly murdered by the police.
Coming out of high school, Breadman had to choose between an academic scholarship at Temple or an athletic scholarship at nearby Lincoln University. He chose the former, intending to major in criminal justice, but didn’t stay in college long. What followed were a succession of jobs including a stint as a city bus driver. To stay fit, he took to working out at the James Shuler Memorial Gym where he sparred with some of the regulars, but he never boxed competitively.
Over the years, Philadelphia has harbored some great boxing coaches. Among those of recent vintage, the names George Benton, Bouie Fisher, Nazeem Richardson, and Bozy Ennis come quickly to mind. Breadman names Richardson and West Coast trainer Virgil Hunter as the men that have influenced him the most.
We are all a product of our times, so it’s no surprise that the best decade of boxing, in Breadman’s estimation, was the 1980s. This was the era of the “Four Kings” with Sugar Ray Leonard arguably standing tallest.
Breadman was a big fan of Leonard and of Leonard’s three-time rival Roberto Duran. “I once purchased a DVD that had all of Roberto Duran’s title defenses on it,” says Edwards. “This was a back before the days of YouTube.”
But Edwards’ interest in the sport goes back much deeper than the 1980s. He recently weighed in on the “Pittsburgh Windmill” Harry Greb whose legend has grown in recent years to the point that some have come to place him above Sugar Ray Robinson on the list of the greatest of all time.
“Greb was a great fighter with a terrific resume, of that there is no doubt,” says Breadman, “but there is no video of him and no one alive ever saw him fight, so where does this train of thought come from?”
Edwards notes that in Harry Greb’s heyday, he wasn’t talked about in the papers as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. The boxing writers were partial to Benny Leonard who drew comparisons to the venerated Joe Gans.
Among active fighters, Breadman reserves his highest praise for Terence Crawford. “Body punching is a lost art,” he once wrote. “[Crawford] is a great body puncher who starts his knockouts with body punches, but those punches are so subtle they are not fully appreciated.”
If the opening line holds up, Crawford will enter the ring as the underdog when he opposes Canelo Alvarez in September. Crawford, who will enter the ring a few weeks shy of his 38th birthday, is actually the older fighter, older than Canelo by almost three full years (it doesn’t seem that way since the Mexican redhead has been in the public eye so much longer), and will theoretically be rusty as 13 months will have elapsed since his most recent fight.
Breadman discounts those variables. “Terence is older,” he says, “but has less wear and tear and never looks rusty after a long layoff.” That Crawford will win he has no doubt, an opinion he tweaked after Canelo’s performance against William Scull: “Canelo’s legs are not the same. Bud may even stop him now.”
Edwards has been with Caleb Plant for Plant’s last three fights. Their first collaboration produced a Knockout of the Year candidate. With one ferocious left hook, Plant sent Anthony Dirrell to dreamland. What followed were a 12-round setback to David Benavidez and a ninth-round stoppage of Trevor McCumby.
Breadman keeps a hectic schedule. From Monday through Friday, he’s at the DLX Gym in Las Vegas coaching Caleb Plant and Kyrone Davis. On weekends, he’s back in Philadelphia, checking in on his investment properties and, of greater importance, watching his kids play sports. His 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son are standout all-around athletes.
On those long flights, he has plenty of time to turn on his laptop and stream old fights or perhaps work on his next article. That’s assuming he can stay awake.
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Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More
It’s old news now, but on back-to-back nights on the first weekend of May, there were three fights that finished in the top six snoozefests ever as measured by punch activity. That’s according to CompuBox which has been around for 40 years.
In Times Square, the boxing match between Devin Haney and Jose Carlos Ramirez had the fifth-fewest number of punches thrown, but the main event, Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero, was even more of a snoozefest, landing in third place on this ignoble list.
Those standings would be revised the next night – knocked down a peg when Canelo Alvarez and William Scull combined to throw a historically low 445 punches in their match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 152 by the victorious Canelo who at least pressed the action, unlike Scull (pictured) whose effort reminded this reporter of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” – no, not the movie starring Paul Newman, just the title.
CompuBox numbers, it says here, are best understood as approximations, but no amount of rejiggering can alter the fact that these three fights were stinkers. Making matters worse, these were pay-per-views. If one had bundled the two events, rather than buying each separately, one would have been out $90 bucks.
****
Thankfully, the Sunday card on ESPN from Las Vegas was redemptive. It was just what the sport needed at this moment – entertaining fights to expunge some of the bad odor. In the main go, Naoya Inoue showed why he trails only Shohei Ohtani as the most revered athlete in Japan.
Throughout history, the baby-faced assassin has been a boxing promoter’s dream. It’s no coincidence that down through the ages the most common nickname for a fighter – and by an overwhelming margin — is “Kid.”
And that partly explains Naoya Inoue’s charisma. The guy is 32 years old, but here in America he could pass for 17.
Joey Archer
Joey Archer, who passed away last week at age 87 in Rensselaer, New York, was one of the last links to an era of boxing identified with the nationally televised Friday Night Fights at Madison Square Garden.

Joey Archer
Archer made his debut as an MSG headliner on Feb. 4, 1961, and had 12 more fights at the iconic mid-Manhattan sock palace over the next six years. The final two were world title fights with defending middleweight champion Emile Griffith.
Archer etched his name in the history books in November of 1965 in Pittsburgh where he won a comfortable 10-round decision over Sugar Ray Robinson, sending the greatest fighter of all time into retirement. (At age 45, Robinson was then far past his peak.)
Born and raised in the Bronx, Joey Archer was a cutie; a clever counter-puncher recognized for his defense and ultimately for his granite chin. His style was embedded in his DNA and reinforced by his mentors.
Early in his career, Archer was domiciled in Houston where he was handled by veteran trainer Bill Gore who was then working with world lightweight champion Joe Brown. Gore would ride into the Hall of Fame on the coattails of his most famous fighter, “Will-o’-the Wisp” Willie Pep. If Joey Archer had any thoughts of becoming a banger, Bill Gore would have disabused him of that notion.
In all honesty, Archer’s style would have been box office poison if he had been black. It helped immensely that he was a native New Yorker of Irish stock, albeit the Irish angle didn’t have as much pull as it had several decades earlier. But that observation may not be fair to Archer who was bypassed twice for world title fights after upsetting Hurricane Carter and Dick Tiger.
When he finally caught up with Emile Griffith, the former hat maker wasn’t quite the fighter he had been a few years earlier but Griffith, a two-time Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the BWAA and a future first ballot Hall of Famer, was still a hard nut to crack.
Archer went 30 rounds with Griffith, losing two relatively tight decisions and then, although not quite 30 years old, called it quits. He finished 45-4 with 8 KOs and was reportedly never knocked down, yet alone stopped, while answering the bell for 365 rounds. In retirement, he ran two popular taverns with his older brother Jimmy Archer, a former boxer who was Joey’s trainer and manager late in Joey’s career.
May he rest in peace.
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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.
Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.
“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.
After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.
Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.
One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”
Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.
“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”
Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.
A real fight was happening.
Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.
Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.
In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.
“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”
Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.
In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.
“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”
Espinoza Wins
WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.
“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.
Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.
Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.
It was Espinoza’s third title defense.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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