JOAN GUZMAN vs ALI FUNEKA

One of the problems in boxing in this era is the way that leading boxers have a fight and then just disappear from view for the best part of a year. It’s not the way it used to be in years gone by when fighters stayed active and champions took part in non-title bouts. These days, it is all too easy for fans to lose touch with a fighter’s career. I did a piece on the topic for the current issue of Boxing Monthly.

This brings me to Joan Guzman, a boxer who had the potential to be a superstar in the lighter weight classes. When Guzman boxes for the vacant IBF lightweight title in Quebec on Saturday’s HBO show it will be only his second bout in two years. (He should, of course, have boxed Nate Campbell in a lightweight title bout in September of last year, but Guzman failed to make the weight and the bout was cancelled.)

Guzman is 33, and time is passing him by. The two-weight world champion (junior featherweight, junior lightweight) from the Dominican Republic is undefeated and has never come close to losing a fight, but Guzman’s inactivity is a concern — as is his tendency to pack on the pounds between bouts — and he is facing an extremely difficult fight on Saturday when he meets Ali Funeka, the towering South African who nearly beat Nate Campbell in their gruelling fight last February.

I do believe, though, that Guzman has prepared well for Saturday’s fight. “The weight’s perfect,” Guzman’s trainer, Don House, said over the phone from Quebec on Friday morning. “I checked his weight this morning [Friday] — 134.7. His attitude is great, he’s been training well, he’s done everything I asked him to do, so this should be a pretty good fight for him.”

House is working with Guzman for the second time, after a disagreement with the fighter’s management caused a temporary parting. Guzman has been training in Las Vegas for two months for this fight, House said.

“He was about 160 pounds [at the start of training]," House said. "It came down pretty easy. It came down to 140 pounds within two weeks of the fight, so that was OK. He’s very strong right now. He was ready to fight three weeks ago; we had to slow him down in training.”

House knows that Funeka is literally a tall order, and he felt that the South African did enough to beat Campbell. However, he feels that Guzman is on a different level to his 6ft 1in opponent. “This kid cannot fight on the inside,” House said of Funeka. “He can’t fight going backwards. Guzman’s a lot faster than Campbell and he’s a pretty good inside fighter — and we’re going to fight this kid on the inside, we’re going to push him back. Joan really, really wants to be a three-time world champion. Unfortunately, sometimes the coach is more hungry than the fighter, but in this case I think he’s more hungry than anybody else. He missed the 126-pound title otherwise he’d be a four-time world champion, but at least three is better than two.”

This fight is far from a formality, though. Funeka showed his toughness when he got up from two knockdowns to fight Campbell down to the wire. Funeka is gritty and he maintains a high workrate, and he is the puncher in this fight. Funeka looked Thomas Hearns-like in his fourth-round demolition of Zahir Raheem, but it seemed to me that the American boxer was seeking to be slick and elusive on the outside and thus getting caught on the end of Funeka’s punches, a mistake that Guzman doesn't intend to make.

From what I can glean, the Ghanaian, Yakubu Amidu, did well against Funeka by staying on top of him and crowding him. Being the tall man in the ring isn’t always an advantage. The chunky Guzman might be able to slip and slide his way in close and swarm all over Funeka — and it seemed to me that when Campbell was able to keep the pressure on the South African boxer he was having success.

While Guzman has been almost semiretired, Funeka hasn’t been what you could call an active fighter, either, with two bouts in two years.

Guzman’s weight gains are well known, but I don’t think it can be easy for Funeka to make 135 pounds. He started boxing as a flyweight and he has been boxing as a lightweight for three years. Maybe, if this fight goes into the later rounds, it might be Funeka who shows more signs of fatigue, especially if Guzman can bang away at the South African’s long body.

Obviously, Guzman has never met anyone as tall as Funeka, but this is a two-way street: Funeka has never faced a boxer with the speed, clever moves and versatility that Guzman possesses.

I respect Funeka, and I believe he poses a threat, but Guzman is one of those innovative and improvisational boxers who knows how to flummox and frustrate an opponent. Funeka will be competitive but I think that Guzman is going to be a bit too seasoned, smart and slippery for him. Whatever Funeka does, I believe that Guzman will find the answer. I envisage Guzman racking up points with his swift sequences of punches, at times smothering and outfighting Funeka up close, at other times buzzing around him, moving side to side, feinting, taunting, and generally making it difficult for the South African fighter to time him for clear, flush punches.

Funeka has come to win and his dogged determination could see Guzman being obliged to dig deep, Still, I do see Guzman winning, probably on points. Funeka is a very good fighter, but I see Guzman as being a bit special.