Guerrero tops Khan-Garcia undercard with decision over Medina

LAS VEGAS – Once-beaten middleweight standout Fernando Guerrero topped the undercard to the Amir Khan-Danny Garcia junior welterweight championship at the Mandalay Bay on Saturday.

Guerrero (24-1, 18 knockouts), of Salisbury, Md., outboxed and outworked Jose Medina (17-11-1, 7 KOs) to a one-sided unanimous decision. Guerrero, who won by scores of 100-89 (twice) and 99-90, dropped the game journeyman from Tilton, N.H., with a short left in the second round of the 10-round bout.

The athletic southpaw, who trains in Van Nuys, Calif., was in command the entire fight, which featured some nice exchanges in spots during the first half of the bout but was generally uneventful down the stretch. Guerrero landed 53 percent of his power punches, according to CompuBox stats.

Phil LoGreco, a Canada-based junior middleweight prospect from Italy, made his Las Vegas and (Golden Boy Promotions) debut a quick one by knocking out hopelessly overmatched Brandon Hoskins in the first round.

LoGreco (24-0, 13 KOs) dropped Hoskins, of Columbia, Mo., with the first solid hook he landed. Hoskins (16-2-1, 8 KOs) got up but was dropped less than 20 seconds later by another hook. LoGreco went on the attack but referee Jay Nady stepped in to spare Hoskins any more punishment.

Middleweight prospect J'Leon Love, of Dearborn, Mich., dominated game but out-gunned Joseph De Los Santos, of Caguas, Puerto Rico, to unanimous shutout scores of 80-70. Love (12-0, 7 KOs), who trains in Las Vegas at the Mayweather Boxing Club, scored two knockdowns in the first round of the eight-round bout. De Los Santos (10-10-3, 4 KOs), who looked at least one weight class smaller, put forth a gutsy effort but absorbed a lot of punishment in doing so.

Junior middleweight prospect Daquan Arnett (5-0, 3 KOs), of Orlando, Fla., blasted out Utah-based journeyman Eddie Cordova (3-3-1, 1 KO) in the second round of their scheduled six-round bout.

Lightweight prospect Jamie Kavanagh (11-0-1, 5 KOs), a former amateur standout from Ireland now based in Hollywood, Calif., outworked and outpointed game Paul Velarde (3-2-3) to an eight-round unanimous decision. Kavanagh won by unanimous shutout scores of 80-72, but the fight was competitive and entertaining.

Lightweight prospect Abner Cotto (14-0, 6 KOs), a member of Caguas, Puerto Rico’s famous fighting family, opened the Golden Boy Promotions card with an eighth-round TKO of tough Mexico City journeyman Juan Manuel Montiel (7-6-3, 2 KOs).

Photos / Naoki Fukuda