number1contender.net

HBO Boxing After Dark Recap

November 17, 2007

Borgata Hotel Casino-Atlantic City, New Jersey

WBO Junior Lightweight (130 pounds) 12 Round Championship Match:

Joan Guzman (27-0, 17 KO's, 130 pounds) (c) vs. Humberto Soto (43-5-2, 1 NC, 27 KO's, 130 pounds)

The champion won this title in an odd situation via split decision over Jorge Rodrigo Barrios on September 16, 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM Grand. Barrios was the champion heading into the match, but was stripped of the title prior to the match for failing to make weight for the match.Therefore, Barrios could not win the title back in the match, but Guzman could gain the title with a victory. Guzman is making his second defense of this title.

The champion was an accomplished amateur boxer. He began boxing at 8-years-old, and compiled a 310-10 amateur record. Guzman finished his amateur career with a gold medal in the Pan American Games for the Dominican Republic in boxing at 112 pounds. Then representing the Dominican Republic in boxing at 112 pounds during the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympiad. At the Games, Guzman was chosen to be the flag bearer for the Dominican Republic.

Guzman's last loss came at the 1996 Olympics in July 2006, when the number one song in the United States was "California Love" by 2Pac (one of the top ten greatest songs ever).

The Brooklyn, New York resident suffered an injury to his left wrist last spring that has kept him inactive for the last 333 days. Guzman was schedule to box on an HBO BAD program in May, but the injury allowed him time to change trainers to the "Trainer of Champions" Floyd Mayweather, Sr. (Guzman and Senior could be seen training together during the filming of De La Hoya/Mayweather 24/7, after Senior and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. had another one of their falling outs.) This is their first match working together.

The champion has sustained injuries to both wrists and hands at other times in his career, and they could be a factor in this match.

Guzman's last match was a 12 round blowout unanimous decision victory over Antonio Davis on December 18, 2006 at Palacio Virgilio Travieso Soto in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Guzman is the number 3 ranked contender by The Ring magazine to its vacant championship at 130 pounds.

Soto is one of the most talented boxers at the smaller weight classes according to ESPN.com's Dan Rafael. He has a host of impressive victories. The most impressive victories are an unanimous decision win over Rocky Juarez on August 20, 2005, and a knockout victory over Manny Pacquiao's younger brother, Bobby Pacquiao, on June 9, 2007 in Madison Square Garden on the undercard of Miguel Cotto vs. Zab Judah.

The challenger's matches have been marred with fouls leading to point deductions on both sides. Three of the major victories in Soto's career have seen point deductions for fouls for a total of 5 points taken away (2 from Soto, 3 from his opponents).

The challenger's last match was a technical knockout victory 25 seconds into round 3 over Ismael Gonzales on September 14, 2007 in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. That was a rematch of a round 10 technical knockout victory earlier in Soto's career.

Soto is the number 5 ranked contender by The Ring at 130 pounds.

The challenger holds the age advantage at 27-years-old, compared to the 31-year-old champion. Soto has the height advantage standing 5' 7.5" tall, while Guzman stands 5' 7" tall. The Tijuana, Mexico resident has the reach advantage with a 24" arm length measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, and the Brooklyn resident has a 23" arm length measure the same way. Both boxers came in .25 pounds over the weight limit on their initial try at the scales. It took Soto 20 minutes to lose the extra weight, and it took Guzman 40 minutes to run off the extra weight. After rehydrating, Guzman has moved up 4 weight classes, and now unofficially weighs 148 pounds. This is likely his last match at this weight class win or lose, but for this match his energy may be drained by making such an extreme weight cut for such a small boxer. Soto has rehydrated to unofficially weigh 135 pounds by match time. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance. Guzman is a 7-5 betting favorite heading into the match.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this match. The referee is Harvey Dock. Two of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from New Jersey, and the other is from Connecticut. Continuing to keep unofficial score for HBO is Lederman.

Soto wins round 1, 10-9 Lederman scores round 1 for Guzman, 10-9. There is swelling developing around the eyes of Guzman after round 1. Guzman wins round 2, 10-9. Through 2 rounds, Guzman has landed 43 of the 119 total punches he has thrown, for a 36% connect percentage. Through 2 rounds, Soto has landed 34 of the 154 total punches he has thrown, for a 22% connect percentage. Lederman awards Soto round 3, 10-9. There is a vicious clash of heads less then 10 seconds into round 3, and Soto gets the worst of it. However, no blood appears to have been drawn from the collision. With 1:23 to go in round 3, a punch from Guzman appears to have caught Soto in his manhood. The referee calls time as Soto goes into a deep crouch, then takes a knee. After several seconds Soto triesa  bow legged walk. Soto may need some ice. Replays clearly show Soto took a left uppercut to the wedding tackle. It was slightly off the cup, and may have forced the cup into his, man region. On color commentary Lennox Lewis did not believe the punch was low enough for the warning Guzman received to be justified, but Bob Papa doing play-by-play, and Merchant disagree. After, a few minutes Soto says he is good enough for action to resume. Guzman wins round a very close round 3, 10-9. Guzman leads on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 29-28. Soto wins round 3 on Lederman's scorecard, and is winning the match after 3 rounds, 29-28. After 3 rounds Merchant has Guzman winning, 29-28, and Papa has Guzman winning, 30-27.

Guzman wins round 4, 10-9. Soto is focusing his punches to the body of Guzman, and it may pay off for him later in the match. Lederman scores round 4 for Guzman, 10-9. Guzman wins round 5 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Soto was warned in round 4, and Guzman was warned in round 5 for borderline low blows. Guzman is probably on the verge of losing a point for hitting low. Guzman wins round 6 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. In round 6, Guzman landed 24 of the 50 total punches he threw, for a 48% connect percentage. In round 6, Soto landed 14 of the 64 total punches he threw, for a 22% connect percentage. Guzman leads on both of our scorecards after 6 rounds. The champion leads 58-56 on Lederman's scorecard, and 59-55 on my scorecard.

The champion wins round 7 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Guzman wins round 8 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. According to CompuBox, during rounds 7 and 8 Guzman had a combined 63-to-33 connect advantage over the challenger. With 1:35 to go in round 9, Guzman goes down to the mat, because Soto accidentally stepped on the champion's lead left foot. The referee correctly rules it a slip, and the action is restarted with 1:27 to go in the round. With 22 seconds to go in round 9, Soto throws a wild left hand that, while missing Guzman, the force of the punch carries the challenger to the canvas on his follow through. The referee rules it an obvious slip, and the action is resumed with 17 seconds to go in the round. Guzman wins round 9 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. After 9 rounds Lederman has Guzman winning the match, 88-83. After 9 rounds my scorecard has Guzman winning the match, 89-82. At this point it is 12:30 AM on Sunday for the people watching the match live on the East Coast and in the building. The fact HBO scheduled 1:25 of hardcore porn after this show, apparently will not actually be the major deterrent to younger fans watching.

Lederman believes that the reason Guzman is throwing "slapping right hands", as Lewis described them at this point in the match, is because the champion has re-injured the hand. That might be the only reason this one-sided match is still going. Guzman spends a lot of round 10 showboating, and Soto cannot do anything about it. Guzman wins round 10 on my scorecard, 10-9. Lederman scores round 10 for Soto, 10-9. Close round 11, that Guzman gave away by barely doing anything. Soto wins round 11, 10-9. The challenger won round 11 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. Guzman is spending the first half of round 12 with his arms completely down, walking around the ring completely unwilling to engage. The crowd, which has been subjected to a long night of non-competitive boxing begins to loudly boo Guzman. Close round 12, that Guzman riding his bicycle, probably won, 10-9. Guzman wins the match on my scorecard, 118-110. Lederman scores round 12 for Soto, 10-9, but awards Guzman the match, 115-113.

The final decision as read by Michael Buffer is that the judges have scored the match: 118-110, 117-111, 117-111, all for the winner by unanimous decision still undefeated, and still the WBO Junior Lightweight Champion of the World, "The Sycuan Warrior" Joan Guzman. The win moves Guzman to 28-0, with 17 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have the champion landing 302 of the 686 total punches he threw, for a 44% total connect percentage. Guzman landed 216 of the 401 power punches he threw, for a 54% power connect percentage. Soto landed 192 of the 888 total punches he threw, for a 22% total connect percentage. The Tijuana resident landed 143 of the 524 power punches he threw, for a 27% power connect percentage.

The show is going way long so there will be no post match interviews. HBO cannot delay running "Katie Morgan on Sex Toys" any more. However, watching Papa be unable to read the promo for that program, almost made sitting through this 2 hours of uninteresting boxing worth it.

Guzman was dominant in this performance when he felt like it, but displayed little punching power. The champion wants a match with Manny Pacquiao, and he is not going to get it soon, after this performance. A match with either Julio or David Diaz at 135 pounds might be a more reasonable match up for him.

Soto was dominated in this loss. He needs to take on some challenging opponents lower down the ranks at 130 pounds to rebuild.

Skip the final 2 hours of this program, they are boring.