Weekend Wrap: Guzman, Grant, Brad Pitt Get Wins

A lighter weight standout from the near past who has battled weight woes and a heavyweight contender from the fairly distant past notched wins this past weekend.

Joan Guzman, not that long ago on a pretty short list to get a crack at Manny Pacquiao at 130, remained unbeaten, as he ran over Florencio Castellano in the Dominican Republic on Saturday night. The Colombian loser ate an uppecut in round one, hit the deck and didn't beat the count. Guzman (now 31-0-1) made the welterweight limit for this one, but says he will get down to 140, and wants a showdown against a name in that class. Castellano drops to 17-5. The event took place at the Hotel Jaragua in Santo Domingo, DR.

The right uppercut got started at the beer stand, but Flo didn't see it coming in time to slip it. He was on his back, and was counted out by the ref. The round started slowly, with Guzman closing the distance near the end of the session. He won a minor IBF title with the W.

I watched the replay a dozen times, and I had a hard time, OK, I failed to detect the impact which caused a knockout. It looked to me like maybe Guzman's right hand hit Castellano's right glove, which ricocheted into his face, and kayoed him. I mean, it looked like Sonny's errant toss in his street brawl with Carlo in “The Godfather.”  

Michael Grant also scored a stoppage win, in much less cloudy circumstances. Frans Botha, age 43,  was up on the cards against the 39-year-old Grant, who was stopped in round two of his 2000 challenge to champion Lennox Lewis. But he had next to zero in the tank in round 12; his hands were at his sides, and he was managing to throw while awaiting the final bell. But a Grant right hand, behind a double jab,  caught him flush and sent him crashing to the floor with 26 seconds to go. He didn't beat the count in the fight staged in South Africa, his homeland. His cornerman pushed him, to help him beat the count, to no avail. Grant says he wants a Klitschko. There will not be a groundswell of support for that.

Also, 12-0 cruiserweight Brad Pitt, not that Brad Pitt, beat Victor Oganov (31-5) in Australia on Friday night. The TKO5 win came at 2:56. Pitt worked Ogie's body and a left hook to the side put the loser down on a knee. He was up but told the ref he was done.

Ex super fly and bantam champ Fernando Montiel was in a tight scrap Saturday in his native Mexico, against fellow Mexican Victor Terrazas (32-2-1). The vacant WBC silver super bantam title was up for grabs and Terrazas took it, by scores of 115-112, 115-113, 114-113. The ex champ was down in round two, and drops to 46-4-2.