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Guerrero Pounds Out Win Over Berto, Wants Mayweather Next

ONTARIO, CA-Behind a well-planned attack, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero pounded the body and floored Andre Berto twice in winning by a wide unanimous decision on Saturday. Next up is Floyd Mayweather if further plans proceed as expected.
“Nobody at 147 pounds can hurt Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero. Nobody,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO for Golden Boy Promotions, which promoted the fight. “Whoever doesn’t have Guerrero in the top five pound for pound list has something wrong.”
Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 Kos) proved his capabilities early on as a welterweight; the beefed up former featherweight looked bigger, taller and stronger in defeating former welterweight world champion Berto (28-2, 22 Kos) before 4,865 fans at the Citizens Business Bank Arena.
The WBC interim titleholder took some shots but proved he was the stronger man against the determined Berto.
Knockdowns in the first two rounds by Guerrero may have startled the crowd and surprised Berto, but from there on the Florida fighter bore down and never quit trying to send the Northern California prizefighter into slumber land.
After a few slow minutes in round one Berto connected with a right hand and quickly Guerrero opened up with his own left cross. Berto’s blow seemed to anger Guerrero who then attacked and fired three successive lefts while Berto held on to his right arm. Down went Berto from the blows in staggering fashion as the crowd roared at the surprise knockdown. It was always assumed that Berto was the stronger puncher, not Guerrero, who began his career as a junior featherweight.
“I can punch,” said Guerrero. “And I can take a punch.”
Guerrero dropped Berto again in round two with left hands as the Floridian attempted to hold. A swelling quickly developed on the right eye of Berto. Guerrero pounded Berto on the ropes excessively and refused to allow Berto to regain momentum.
The fight stayed mainly inside with Berto intent on holding and hitting and Guerrero pounding the body. He never stopped pounding the body. The plan by Guerrero seemed clear that he planned to work Berto’s body. In rounds three through five he pounded away on the body with both lefts and rights every opportunity.
“My plan was to fight on the inside,” said Guerrero. “I love it on the inside. I love to fight.”
The fans could sense the glee in Guerrero’s attack and began to shout “Guer-re-ro! Guer-re-ro!”
Berto finally saw his rights connect in round six as he caught Guerrero with some sizzling uppercuts and right counters. Guerrero didn’t seem fazed by the blows but they scored and probably gave Berto his first round on the judge’s cards.
“He didn’t hurt me at all. He caught me with a few shots and punches hard, but I have a great chin,” said Guerrero.
A perfect left uppercut by Guerrero hurt Berto in round seven who seemed surprised by the big blows. Guerrero walloped him with some more combinations and it looked bad for Berto. But the Floridian fought back with a vengeance. Both of his eyes were swollen from the hits he absorbed.
Berto rallied in round nine with some vicious right uppercuts that found the mark on Guerrero’s chin and face. The Northern Californian’s right eye swelled from the shots but both of Berto’s eyes were swollen even worse. The crowd began to cheer “Guer-re-ro! Guer-re-ro!”
With two swollen eyes Berto still tried to match Guerrero who continued to pound the body. Berto tried valiantly to land that one good right hand that could change the fight but never could land the punch to turn the fight around in his favor.
In the final round both fought in their usual position along the ropes with Guerrero firing body shots like some kind of punching machine. Berto occasionally tried to flurry with some combinations but Guerrero would flurry with his own combinations. With 30 seconds left in the fight both began to fire killing blows with Guerrero getting the upper hand perhaps because he only had one eye closed instead of two like Berto. The bell rang but Guerrero continued to fire as the crowd roared and made it impossible to hear the final bell. Four blows connected solidly on Berto’s chin, then, referee Lou Moret stopped the action through the loud cheers. It was finally over.
“I told Andre I was going to beat him down. I had to keep my word,” said Guerrero. “I had to fight him in the inside and work the body. We were on the inside and I was pushing him on the inside to land my punches.”
All three judges scored it identically 116-110 for Guerrero who retains the WBC interim welterweight.
“I came back after 14 months and fought Robert Guerrero. At the end of the day he fought a great fight,” said Berto.
Is Floyd Mayweather next on the list for Guerrero who is recognized as one of the top fighters pound for pound?
Richard Schaefer, CEO for Golden Boy Promotions, said he will be working on making a Guerrero versus Mayweather fight.
“I don’t know how Floyd Mayweather can hurt Guerrero,” said Schaefer immediately after the fight. “Guerrero hurt a natural welterweight.”
Guerrero agrees that Mayweather cannot hurt him and feels he will dethrone the current pound for pound champion.
“I feel I can’t be beat. I’m unstoppable,” said Guerrero during the post fight conference. “I’m here, let’s do this Floyd.”
Other bouts
Florida’s Keith Thurman (19-0, 18 Kos) floored former world champion Carlos Quintana (29-4, 23 Kos) with a left hook to the liver in the first round. It was all downhill from there for Thurman who chased the Puerto Rican for three more rounds and finally ended the fight with a barrage of brutal blows. Quintana refused to quit and kept firing but seemed out on his feet. Finally, referee Jack Reiss jumped in to end the fight at 2:19 of round four.
“I give myself a B-plus,” said Thurman, who grabs the NABO junior middleweight title with the win. “He had heart.”
Quintana said that he is retiring after the loss, but credited Thurman for his talent.
“He’s a strong fighter. He has a good future ahead of him,” said Quintana of Thurman.
Coachella’s Randy “El Matador” Caballero (17-0, 9 Kos) pounded out a third round technical knockout victory at the end of round three against Mexico’s iron chinned Rigoberto Casillas (8-9-1, 6 Kos). Caballero was pounding out combinations throughout the first two rounds including a right uppercut that stunned Casillas. In the third round a seven-punch combination wobbled Casillas but he refused to go down. Both exchanged freely but it was Caballero doing much more damage. At the end of the round referee Jack Reiss brought in the ringside physician who conferred with Casilla’s corner and the fight was stopped for a technical knockout win by Caballero.
Houston’s undefeated Jermell Charlo (19-0, 10 Kos) beat Escondido’s Dashon “Flyboy” Johnson by unanimous decision after 10 rounds of a junior middleweight bout. Charlo was busier throughout the fight with his straight punches through Johnson’s high guard. Every so often Johnson would erupt with a barrage of punches but it wasn’t enough to win the rounds. The judges scored it 100-89, 99-90, 98-91 for Charlo. There were no knockdowns.
Former Olympian Dominic Breazeale (2-0, 2 Kos) started slowly against Tennessee’s Michael Bissett (1-1) who landed some good blows early, but that just seemed to wake up the bigger Breazeale. A four-punch combination sent Bissett down midway through the first round. Then another right cross connected to floor Bissett again. Round two saw Bissett look to kill or be killed instead of running. But Breazeale was too accurate and quick and floored the Tennessean twice in round two right rights. Referee David Denkin stopped the contest at 1:17 of round two.
Manny “Chato” Robles (3-0, 2 Kos), a sharp punching featherweight from Paramount, stunned Missael Martinez (0-7) of Los Angeles with a counter right in the opening round. Then a flurry of 30 blows ensued snapping Martinez’s head back and forcing referee Jack Reiss to stop the fight at 2:15 of round two.
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‘Krusher’ Kovalev Exits on a Winning Note: TKOs Artur Mann in his ‘Farewell Fight’

At his peak, former three-time world light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev ranked high on everyone’s pound-for-pound list. Now 42 years old – he turned 42 earlier this month – Kovalev has been largely inactive in recent years, but last night he returned to the ring in his hometown of Chelyabinsk, Russia, and rose to the occasion in what was billed as his farewell fight, stopping Artur Mann in the seventh frame.
Kovalev hit his peak during his first run as a world title-holder. He was 30-0-1 (26 KOs) entering first match with Andre Ward, a mark that included a 9-0 mark in world title fights. The only blemish on his record was a draw that could have been ruled a no-contest (journeyman Grover Young was unfit to continue after Kovalev knocked down in the second round what with was deemed an illegal rabbit punch). Among those nine wins were two stoppages of dangerous Haitian-Canadian campaigner Jean Pascal and a 12-round shutout over Bernard Hopkins.
Kovalev’s stature was not diminished by his loss to the undefeated Ward. All three judges had it 114-113, but the general feeling among the ringside press was that Sergey nicked it.
The rematch was also somewhat controversial. Referee Tony Weeks, who halted the match in the eighth stanza with Kovalev sitting on the lower strand of ropes, was accused of letting Ward get away with a series of low blows, including the first punch of a three-punch series of body shots that culminated in the stoppage. Sergey was wobbled by a punch to the head earlier in the round and was showing signs of fatigue, but he was still in the fight. Respected judge Steve Weisfeld had him up by three points through the completed rounds.
Sergey Kovalev was never the same after his second loss to Andre Ward, albeit he recaptured a piece of the 175-pound title twice, demolishing Vyacheslav Shabranskyy for the vacant WBO belt after Ward announced his retirement and then avenging a loss to Eleider Alvarez (TKO by 7) with a comprehensive win on points in their rematch.
Kovalev’s days as a title-holder ended on Nov. 2, 2019 when Canelo Alvarez, moving up two weight classes to pursue a title in a fourth weight division, stopped him in the 11th round, terminating what had been a relatively even fight with a hellacious left-right combination that left Krusher so discombobulated that a count was superfluous.
That fight went head-to-head with a UFC fight in New York City. DAZN, to their everlasting discredit, opted to delay the start of Canelo-Kovalev until the main event of the UFC fight was finished. The delay lasted more than an hour and Kovalev would say that he lost his psychological edge during the wait.
Kovalev had two fights in the cruiserweight class between his setback to Canelo and last night’s presumptive swan song. He outpointed Tervel Pulev in Los Angeles and lost a 10-round decision to unheralded Robin Sirwan Safar in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Artur Mann, a former world title challenger – he was stopped in three rounds by Mairis Briedis in 2021 when Briedis was recognized as the top cruiserweight in the world – was unexceptional, but the 34-year-old German, born in Kazakhstan, wasn’t chopped liver either, and Kovalev’s stoppage of him will redound well to the Russian when he becomes eligible for the Boxing Hall of Fame.
Krusher almost ended the fight in the second round. He knocked Mann down hard with a short left hand and seemingly scored another knockdown before the round was over (but it was ruled a slip). Mann barely survived the round.
In the next round, a punch left Mann with a bad cut on his right eyelid, but the German came to fight and rounds three, four and five were competitive.
Kovalev had a good sixth round although there were indications that he was tiring. But in the seventh he got a second wind and unleashed a right-left combination that rolled back the clock to the days when he was one of the sport’s most feared punchers. Mann went down hard and as he staggered to his feet, his corner signaled that the fight should be stopped and the referee complied. The official time was 0:49 of round seven. It was the 30th KO for Kovalev who advanced his record to 36-5-1.
Addendum: History informs us that Farewell Fights have a habit of becoming redundant, by which we mean that boxers often get the itch to fight again after calling it quits. Have we seen the last of Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev? We woudn’t bet on it.
The complete Kovalev-Mann fight card was live-streamed on the Boxing News youtube channel.
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 322: Super Welterweight Week in SoCal

Two below-the-radar super welterweight stars show off their skills this weekend from different parts of Southern California.
One in particular, Charles Conwell, co-headlines a show in Oceanside against a hard-hitting Mexican while another super welter star Sadriddin Akhmedov faces another Mexican hitter in Commerce.
Take your pick.
The super welterweight division is loaded with talent at the moment. If Terence Crawford remained in the division he would be at the top of the class, but he is moving up several weight divisions.
Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) faces Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs) a tall knockout puncher from Los Mochis at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, Calif. on Saturday April 19. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card that also features undisputed flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora. We’ll get to her later.
Conwell might be the best super welterweight out there aside from the big dogs like Vergil Ortiz, Serhii Bohachuk and Sebastian Fundora.
If you are not familiar with Conwell he comes from Cleveland, Ohio and is one of those fighters that other fighters know about. He is good.
He has the James “Lights Out” Toney kind of in-your-face-style where he anchors down and slowly deciphers the opponent’s tools and then takes them away piece by piece. Usually it’s systematic destruction. The kind you see when a skyscraper goes down floor by floor until it’s smoking rubble.
During the Covid days Conwell fought two highly touted undefeated super welters in Wendy Toussaint and Madiyar Ashkeyev. He stopped them both and suddenly was the boogie man of the super welterweight division.
Conwell will be facing Mexico’s taller Garcia who likes to trade blows as most Mexican fighters prefer, especially those from Sinaloa. These guys will be firing H bombs early.
Fundora
Co-headlining the Golden Boy card is Gabriela Fundora (15-0, 7 KOs) the undisputed flyweight champion of the world. She has all the belts and Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1, 3 KOs) wants them.
Gabriela Fundora is the sister of Sebastian Fundora who holds the men’s WBC and WBO super welterweight world titles. Both are tall southpaws with power in each hand to protect the belts they accumulated.
Six months ago, Fundora met Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz in Las Vegas to determine the undisputed flyweight champion. The much shorter Alaniz tried valiantly to scrap with Fundora and ran into a couple of rocket left hands.
Mexico’s Badillo is an undefeated flyweight from Mexico City who has battled against fellow Mexicans for years. She has fought one world champion in Asley Gonzalez the current super flyweight world titlist. They met years ago with Badillo coming out on top.
Does Badillo have the skill to deal with the taller and hard-hitting Fundora?
When a fighter has a six-inch height advantage like Fundora, it is almost impossible to out-maneuver especially in two-minute rounds. Ask Alaniz who was nearly decapitated when she tried.
This will be Badillo’s first pro fight outside of Mexico.
Commerce Casino
Kazakhstan’s Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0, 13 KOs) is another dangerous punching super welterweight headlining a 360 Promotions card against Mexico’s Elias Espadas (23-6, 16 KOs) on Saturday at the Commerce Casino.
UFC Fight Pass will stream the 360 Promotions card of about eight bouts.
Akhmedov is another Kazakh puncher similar to the great Gennady “GGG” Golovkin who terrorized the middleweight division for a decade. He doesn’t have the same polish or dexterity but doesn’t lack pure punching power.
It’s another test for the super welterweight who is looking to move up the ladder in the very crowded 154-pound weight division. 360 Promotions already has a top contender in Ukraine’s Serhii Bohachuk who nearly defeated Vergil Ortiz a year ago.
Could Bohachuk and Akhmedov fight each other if nothing else materializes?
That’s a question for another day.
Fights to Watch
Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Charles Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) vs. Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs); Gabriela Fundora (15-0) vs Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1).
Sat. UFC Fight Pass 6 p.m. Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0) vs Elias Espadas (23-6).
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TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts

The Boxing Writers Association of America has announced the winners of its annual Bernie Awards competition. The awards, named in honor of former five-time BWAA president and frequent TSS contributor Bernard Fernandez, recognize outstanding writing in six categories as represented by stories published the previous year.
Over the years, this venerable website has produced a host of Bernie Award winners. In 2024, Thomas Hauser kept the tradition alive. A story by Hauser that appeared in these pages finished first in the category “Boxing News Story.” Titled “Ryan Garcia and the New York State Athletic Commission,” the story was published on June 23. You can read it HERE.
Hauser also finished first in the category of “Investigative Reporting” for “The Death of Ardi Ndembo,” a story that ran in the (London) Guardian. (Note: Hauser has owned this category. This is his 11th first place finish for “Investigative Reporting”.)
Thomas Hauser, who entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the class of 2019, was honored at last year’s BWAA awards dinner with the A.J. Leibling Award for Outstanding Boxing Writing. The list of previous winners includes such noted authors as W.C. Heinz, Budd Schulberg, Pete Hamill, and George Plimpton, to name just a few.
The Leibling Award is now issued intermittently. The most recent honorees prior to Hauser were Joyce Carol Oates (2015) and Randy Roberts (2019).
Roberts, a Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University, was tabbed to write the Hauser/Leibling Award story for the glossy magazine for BWAA members published in conjunction with the organization’s annual banquet. Regarding Hauser’s most well-known book, his Muhammad Ali biography, Roberts wrote, “It is nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of the book to our understanding of Ali and his times.” An earlier book by Hauser, “The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing,” garnered this accolade: “Anyone who wants to understand boxing today should begin by reading ‘The Black Lights’.”
A panel of six judges determined the Bernie Award winners for stories published in 2024. The stories they evaluated were stripped of their bylines and other identifying marks including the publication or website for which the story was written.
Other winners:
Boxing Event Coverage: Tris Dixon
Boxing Column: Kieran Mulvaney
Boxing Feature (Over 1,500 Words): Lance Pugmire
Boxing Feature (Under 1,500 Words): Chris Mannix
The Dixon, Mulvaney, and Pugmire stories appeared in Boxing Scene; the Mannix story in Sports Illustrated.
The Bernie Award recipients will be honored at the forthcoming BWAA dinner on April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in the heart of Times Square. (For more information, visit the BWAA website). Two days after the dinner, an historic boxing tripleheader will be held in Times Square, the logistics of which should be quite interesting. Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez share top billing.
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