6.2.09

Friday Night Fights on ESPN2 Co-Main Event: Guerrero vs. Rosado

Live from Salisbury, Maryland, it's an eight-round bout between two prospects coming from well-respected camps.

In one corner is Fernando Guerrero, fighting under the same trainer as the Peterson brothers. His opponent is Gabriel Rosado, fighting under Nazim Richardson and a former sparring partner for Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins.

Much has been made about boxing being past its prime. Often commentators have suggested that promoters should build fighters with a local following and put fights on outside of casinos close to where a local draw fights. Those commentators could not be more correct. Guerrero is a local hero, and the Civic Center in Salisbury looked sold out. The amosphere for this fight had crazy electricity. The way the crowd was standing and cheering for Guerrero you would have thought that this fight was for a championship belt. So kudos to whoever the promoter was for this fight.

Rosado was credited for a flash knockdown in Round Three. Teddy Atlas ended up actually scoring the round 9-9.

Round Four had the entire crowd standing due to its action both ways.

Atas scored the fight 79-74 Guerrero, as did B.J. Flores. The judges saw it 76-75, and 77-74 twice, all for Guerrero, who moves to 13-0 (11).

This was a great fight considering it was a co-feature on FNF, with lots of crowd interest. Both fighters were skilled, in shape and came to win. Both men would have my interest if they fought again on FNF in a prelim fight, and maybe we will see Guerrero someday on Shobox, Boxing After Dark or FNF in the future.

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