By Derek Bonnett
The Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, USA played host to the Robert Guerrero-Danny Garcia clash for the vacant WBC welterweight title. On the undercard, some divisional shaping action took place in the heavyweight and welterweight divisions as two rising contenders broke the spirits of two proven, durable contenders.
In the opening bout of the televised card on Fox, 2012 USA Olympian, Dominic Breazeale rose from a third round knockdown to stop big-punching heavyweight fringe contender Amir “Hardcore” Mansour. Mansour, living up to his nickname, dominated the action with confident punching, taking the lead from the opening bell. Breazeale’s usual tentative start was made even more cautious by the effective aggression of Mansour. Mansour’s hooks kept Breazeale shelled up in the first two rounds. A right hook dropped the unbeaten prospect in round three. Breazeale rose, but was on unsteady legs and brazenly survived the round. Breazeale mounted his comeback in round four and earned an even round on SecondsOut’s scorecard after dropping the first three rounds. Breazeale’s straight punches landed with more regularity than in previous rounds, but Mansour was still swinging like a designated hitter. Breazeale stunned Mansour in the fifth round. The younger fighter did well to keep his durable adversary hurt and increased his punch rate. However, the clock ran out on the round and Breazeale appeared to lose his momentum for a knockdown. Mansour dragged himself to his corner with a look of concerning, appearing every bit the beaten man despite his lead on the cards. Between rounds, Mansour’s team deemed their fighter unfit to continue due to a suspected broken jaw.
Breazeale lifted his record to 17-0-0 (15) with his career best victory even if his performance was less than stellar. Regardless, Breazeale rose from a big knockdown and showed championship character going into a future that suddenly seems its brightest. Mansour fell to 22-2-1 (16).
In the second bout of the night Sammy Vasquez dominated Aaron Martinez for six rounds before the underdog surrendered due to an injury to his left arm. Vasquez won every round clearly, outboxing and out punching adversary from bell to bell. Vasquez backed Martinez up for much of each round, stalking effectively. Martinez did not appear the same fighter that controversially lost to Robert Guerrero and upset Devon Alexander. However, that should not impact the stock of Vasquez, which is fast on the rise.
Vasquez remained unbeaten at 21-0-0 (15). Martinez sank to 20-5-1 (4).
In the main event, Danny Garcia was completely outworked over the first six rounds by Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, but the former 140-pound champion rebounded well in the second half of the fight. While Guerrero remained the aggressor, Garcia adjusted to fighting while going backward. Garcia’s best punch, the left hook, made the difference on the judge’s scorecards, but SecondsOut still saw Guerrero a 116-112 winner. The official result granted Garcia the vacant WBC welterweight title by unanimous scores of 116-112.
Garcia, now a two-division champion, raised his dossier to 32-0-0 (18). Guerrero fell to 33-4-1 (18).
