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Showtime Championship Boxing Recap

November 3, 2007

Desert Diamond Casino-Tucson, Arizona

Oscar de la Hoya is promoting this event in conjunction with Showtime. It is their first collaboration.

IBF Featherweight (126 pounds) 12 Round Championship Match:

Robert Guerrero (20-1-1 (1 No Decision), 13 KO's, 126 pounds) (c) vs. Martin Honorio (24-3-1, 12 KO's, 126 pounds)

Guerrero won this title when it was vacant on February 23, 2007 via technical knockout at 1 second of round 9 over Spend Abazi at the Falconer Centret in Copenhagen, Denmark. The title was vacant, because Guerrero had lost the title via unanimous decision to Orlando Salido on November 4, 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, Salido's pre-match sample came up positive for the steroid Nandrolone. The Nevada State Athletic Commission changed the result of the match to a no contest, and the IBF stripped Salido of the title. The IBFruled the title vacant. They placed Guerrero in a match to crown a new champion, rather then returning the belt to the resident of Gilroy, California (garlic capital of the world and home to the excellent Gavilan Hills Academy). This is Guerrero's first defense in his new run title run.

Guerrero was scheduled to face Rocky Juarez for his first title defense. Juarez passed on the match to face Juan Manuel Marquez in the main event of this show for more money.

Guerrero is the number 3 ranked contender by The Ring magazine at 126 pounds to its vacant championship at that weight class.

Honorio turned pro at 18-years-old, and spent the first 3 years of his career boxing in his native Mexico City, Mexico. There Honorio compiled a record of 12-2, before he began boxing in the United States. Every one of his matches since June 27, 2003 have taken place in the United States. There Honorio is 12-1-1, with his last loss coming on November 5, 2004.

Honorio is the number 7 ranked contender at 126 pounds by The Ring magazine.

Guerrero has the age advantage at 24-years-old, compared to the 27-year-old Honorio. Honorio has the height advantage standing 5' 9.5" tall, while Guerrero stands 5' 8" tall. Guerrero has the reach advantage with a 70" wingspan, and Honorio has a 67" wingspan. Guerrero failed to make weight on his first attempt coming in 1.5 pounds over the limit. After 1.5 hours he came back and successfully made weight at the limit. The boxers' unofficial weights approaching match time are unavailable. The champion will employ the southpaw stance, and the challenger will box out of the orthodox stance.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this match. The referee is Tony Weeks. The official judges keeping score from ringside are all from Arizona.

A straight left hand from the champion sends Honorio to the mat, with 2:16 to go in round 1. Honorio is unable to answer the referee's count and this match is over. The challenger tried to stand up at 9 and started unsteadilystumbling across the ring out of control. The referee has grabbed Honorio when the challenger began to stumble and waved off the match. That is the fastest knockout on a major show this year.

The official decision as read by the always "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr.: at 56 seconds of round 1 the referee has put a stop to this contest making the winner by technical knockout and still IBF Featherweight Champion of the World, Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero. The win moves Guerrero to 21-1-1 with 1 no decision, and 14 of his wins coming by way of knockout.

In his post match interview, Guerrero dedicated this match to his wife who was diagnosed with cancer a little over a week before the match. Thankfully, the prognosis for her is good. Guerrero, also talked about moving up in weight to go after higher profile boxers.

The champion is now the number 2 ranked contender by The Ring magazine at 126 pounds, behind Chris John. This win should allow Guerrero to begin unifying titles. However, many of the other champions in this weight class live in Asia where getting fair judging, and a solid paycheck would be a problem. Guerrero's lack ofa big name may impede him getting a big match, still. The quick finish of this match may work against him being able to get bigger matches down the road. Guerrero finished the match before the end of Joe Calzaghe-Mikkel Kessler, and boxing fans had the chance to change the channel from HBO to Showtime.

Honorio was moved down 2 positions by The Ring magazine to the position of number 9 contender at 126 pounds. He showed serious defensive flaws in this short match. The straight left that knocked him out was not the worst defensive liability Honorio showed. Honorio wasbending down in a way that exposed him to right uppercuts. A few rebuilding matches to practice his defense, before taking on top opposition would be in his best interest.

This show is a pretty easy skip.