by Lem Satterfield

TONY HARRISON, FERNANDO GUERRERO TO ANSWER CHIN QUESTIONS

Tony Harrison figures that junior middleweight rival Fernando Guerrero perceives his chin to be suspect given his failure to get up from a ninth-round knockdown against Willie Nelson in a TKO loss last July.

Harrison (22-1, 18 KOs) will meet Guerrero (28-3, 20 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round bout at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania as part of an action-packed tripleheader on Showtime on Saturday night (10 p.m. ET/PT).

“I know there are questions for me to answer, but if he comes after me, then that works in my favor,” said Harrison, a 25-year-old product of Detroit’s Kronk Gym and protégé of the late trainer Emanuel Steward. “If he does that, then it will be a short night, because I have good footwork, balance and hand-eye coordination. I’ll make him run into every shot that I want him to.”

Guerrero has hit the canvas 10 times over the course of his past five fights as a middleweight, going 3-2 with one victory coming by KO.  He is returning to the junior middleweight division for the first time in10 fights.

Guerero, a 29-year-old southpaw from Salisbury, Md., was knocked out in the third and seventh rounds of middleweight title fights with David Lemieux and Peter Quillin – both dropped him four times during their matches.

“I have that warrior mentality where every time I’ve gotten dropped, I’ve gotten back up and either won the fight or tried to win,” said Guerrero, who went 7-2 with four knockouts at 160 pounds.

“The bottom line is that I have a more proven history than Tony does, and I think he has some questions about himself. So my job is to just go in there and pound on him and beat the crap out of him.”

 

ANTOINE DOUGLAS, AVTANDIL KHURTSIDZE PUT IT ON THE LINE

Streaks, like records, are made to be broken. That’s what Antoine Douglas and Avtandil Khurtsidze will discover when they tangle in a 10-round middleweight match at the Sands Casino at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Saturday night.

Douglas (19-0-1, 13 KOs) of Burke, Virginia and Khurtsidze (31-2-2, 20 KOs) of Georgia (in the former Soviet Union) both have active knockout and winning streaks that they’re trying to preserve.

Douglas, 23, scored a fourth-round knockout of Les Sherington in his last fight in November - his third straight stoppage victory.

Khurtsidze, who trains in Brooklyn, is coming off a first-round stoppage of Melvin Betancourt and has won eight consecutive fights, six by knockout since losing a unanimous decision to Hassan N’Dam in France in 2010.

“Khurtsidze is a very rugged guy who has never been knocked out or down,” said promoter Lou DiBella. “The loss to N’Dam being a disputed one that most people thought he won.”

Khurtsidze was supposed to have a rematch against N’Dam in November, but the fight was canceled due to the terrorist attacks in Paris that month.

“Khurtsidze lost that chance, so now this is a great opportunity for him to fight a meaningful opponent like Douglass on Showtime,” said DiBella. “He needs this sort of an opportunity to get a title shot, and he has to capitalize on it.”

ROBERT EASTER WANTS ‘ELITE’ STOPPAGE OF ALGENIS MENDEZ

Robert Easter wants to go where no man has gone before and that is standing over a knocked out Algenis Mendez. The two will meet in a 10-round lightweight match on the undercard of the Adrien Broner-Ashley Theophane junior welterweight title match at the D.C. Armory in Washington D.C. on PBC on Spike TV on April 1.

Easter (16-0, 13 KOs) has vowed to be the first to legitimately stop Mendez (23-3-1, 12 KOs), winner of two straight since losing his IBF title by unanimous decision to Rances Barthelemy in 2014. The bout was a rematch of Mendez's controversial second-round knockout loss to Barthelemy. The KO loss was overturned and called a "no-decision" after it was ruled Mendez was hit after the bell.

It is a major step up fight for Easter, a 25-year-old contender from Toledo, Ohio.  A victory over the 29-year-old Mendez will put him on a different level.

“I hear he’s said I’m in over my head, but I’m tall and rangy, and we’re going to go in there and make him adjust to me at all times,” said Easter. “Because of our training regimen, there’s not a fight style that I haven’t seen. It’s a big fight for me, but I’m going to show the world that I should be on the elite level. I’m going to stop him by either KO or TKO. Bottom line.”

 

PETERSON: BRONER’S FIGHTING MAYWEATHER MORE THAN THEOPHANE

Count lightweight contender Anthony Peterson among those who think there is some transference going on with Adrien Broner taking on Ashley Theophane in a junior welterweight match at the D.C. Armory on April 1. Broner called out Theophane immediately after defeating Khabib Allakhverdiev for the WBA title. Broner is feuding with his friend Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who promotes Theophane.

Peterson has been working out alongside of Broner at the Headbanger’s Gym in Washington D.C., preparing for a match on the undercard.

“When Broner’s on his game, I don’t think that anybody can beat him,” Peterson said. “I think he’s fighting Mayweather more than his fighter Ashley Theophane. That’s why I think you’re going to see a knockout on April 1. It’s going to be a message to Mayweather.”

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Lem Satterfield is a writer for Premier Boxing Champions. Re-use of any or all of this material must contain proper attribution that reflects that.