FERNANDO GUERRERO TKO4 JESSIE NICKLOW

They were competitive in a five-bout series in the amateurs, but that was then, this is now, and a gulf in class was quickly apparent as unbeaten junior middle Fernando Guerrero overpowered Jessie Nicklow in four rounds in the main event on the last ShoBox card of the year.

The sports books didn’t offer odds on this fight but I made Guerrero a fairly clear favourite. The odds should have been wider. Nicklow was game, and for a while he seemed to be holding his own as he crowded Guerrero and threw hooks and right hands up close. Once Guerrero started to trigger off fast, hard shots from his southpaw stance, though, Nicklow was looking bewildered and out of his depth.

This soon became one of those fights in which one man can’t do a thing. Nicklow couldn’t outpunch the stronger, harder hitting Guerrero, and when he tried to box and move he was getting run down. The fight could have been stopped when a southpaw right hook pitched Nicklow face first into — and halfway through — the ropes in the fourth, but referee Mark Nelson gave him a chance to rally. It wasn’t going to happen, though, and Guerrero was landing flush shots on an outclassed opponent when referee Nelson waved the finish after two minutes, nine seconds of the round.

My over/under of 9.5 rounds was wildly optimistic, although I must say that Guerrero was in outstanding form and looking to do damage in this renewal of rivalry between Baltimore-area fighters. I had a note from a Baltimore-area reader, “FlashyMike”, the day before the fight saying that he had been watching Nicklow in sparring and that he stood no chance, that Guerrero’s improvement had been too great since their amateur days. As there was no betting line I didn’t do an update to the preview, but FlashyMike nailed that one.

Also on this triple-header, junior middle Shawn Porter impressed me in his fourth-round stoppage of Jamar Patterson in a meeting of unbeaten boxers.

I had Porter a solid favourite and expected him to win in fine style — and he did. Patterson, moving up from welterweight and boxing for the first time in 16 months, was capable and game, but Porter was simply on a different level, fast, classy and confident in every move he was making. I thought my over/under of 7.5 rounds was looking OK, with Patterson slowly getting worn down for a late stoppage but, bang!, just like that, Porter suddenly leaped in with a big left hook to blast Patterson to the canvas in the fourth and the fight was effectively over. Although Patterson got up and was allowed to continue after the eight count he was a sitting target for Porter’s follow-up shots and referee Celestino Ruiz made a well-timed intervention after one minute, 54 seconds of the fourth in a scheduled eight-rounder.

In another scheduled eight-rounder, between undefeated junior welters, Lanard Lane, based in Houston, impressively halted Said El Harrak, of Las Vegas via London, in the second round.

Each fighter came from a well-connected camp: El Harrak with Mike Criscio, manager of Chad Dawson and Alfredo Angulo, while Lane is guided by Al Haymon, a manager with a star-studded roster of clients. I made El Harrak a slight favourite (although without too deep a look at the fight, as I admitted in the preview), and the tall, rangy boxer of Moroccan heritage started off aggressively — but then he got caught and dropped by a classic one-two, and he was down again from the same combination before the opening round was over.

I think that El Harrak would have been well-advised to box and move in round two and get himself back together, but he gamely went right at Lane again, got hit by too many right hands and was looking shaky when referee Mark Nelson waved the finish after one minute, 38 seconds of the round.

El Harrak was devastated by the intervention, dropping to his hands and knees, body racked by sobs. Maybe he could have fought his way out of trouble if he had been given the chance, but I think the referee was probably concerned at the ease with which Lane was landing the right hand and I couldn’t find too much fault with the stoppage.