FERNANDO GUERRERO DEFEATS ISHE SMITH IN TOUGH DISTANCE BOUT

Posted on | July 18, 2010 | No Comments

SHAWN PORTER AND MIKE DALLAS JR. SCORE UNANIMOUS DECISION VICTORIES IN SHOBOX TRIPLEHEADER

SOUTHAVEN, MISS. (July 17, 2010) – Fernando Guerrero furthered his pursuit of middleweight stardom with a hard fought unanimous decision over veteran Ishe Smith in Friday’s ShoBox main event. Shawn Porter and Mike Dallas Jr. also took home unanimous decision victories at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven , Miss. to remain unbeaten.

Coming in to tonight’s matchup, Smith (21-5, 9 KOs ) was quoted as saying, “I’m going to take Guerrero into deep waters and see if he can swim.” Guerrero (19-0, 15 KOs ) proved to be a buoyant battler by withstanding an eighth round flash knockdown and ten rounds of body shots from Smith. Though most of the body work was legitimate, referee Randy Phillips twice warned Smith, of Las Vegas , Nev. , for repeated low blows before deducting a point in the sixth round.

Facing his toughest opponent to date, Guerrero, of Salisbury , Md. , pleased the crowd by throwing a tremendous amount of punches and keeping up the pace against a traditionally defensive minded fighter in Smith. Guerrero stated, “I train so hard so the zero in the loss column never goes away.” As the judges scored the fight 96-93, 95-93, 97-91, Guerrero successfully continued his hopeful transition from prospect to contender.

In the co-main event welterweight bout, Porter (16-0, 12 KOs), of Cleveland , Ohio defeated Ray Robinson (11-2, 4 KOs), of Philadelphia , Pa. , via unanimous decision with scores of 99-89, 97-92, 98-91. After an impressively aggressive start for Robinson, Porter poured on punishing body blows before an explosive combination that ended with right hand knockdown in the sixth round. Robinson displayed his mettle by recovering from the knockdown and regaining his composure through the fight’s final rounds.

After the fight, Porter said, “It was a hard fought victory. My dad (and trainer, Ken Porter) asked a lot of me and I did what I could to deliver. It took a lot of heart and we’re going to keep going from here.”

In the night’s battle of unbeatens, Dallas Jr. (15-0-1, 5 KOs), of Bakersfield , Calif. handed Lanard Lane (12-1, 7 KOs), of Houston , Texas , the first loss of his career via unanimous decision. All three judges scored the fight 78-74 as Dallas Jr. frustrated Lane throughout most of the fight. Lane was unable to establish of his jab which prevented him from landing enough of his favorite right hands. Dallas Jr. set the pace early with his quick hands and nimble footwork. As stated by SHOWTIME expert analyst Antonio Tarver, “Hand speed was the difference” in the junior welterweight bout.

The judges for the evening were Gerald Deming, of Hernando , Miss. , Louis Henry, of Greenville , Miss. and Ressie Mullens, of Greenville , Miss.

The Prize Fight promoted tripleheader was the143rd ShoBox telecast since the series began nine years ago on July 21, 2001. Curt Menefee called the action from ringside with Steve Farhood and Antonio Tarver serving as expert analysts. The executive producer of ShoBox is Gordon Hall with Richard Gaughan producing and Rick Phillips directing.

For information on SHOWTIME Sports Programming, including exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries, complete telecast information and more, please go the SHOWTIME Sports website at http://www.sho.com/sports.

About ShoBox: The New Generation

Since its inception in July 2001, the critically acclaimed SHOWTIME boxing series, ShoBox: The New Generation has featured young talent matched tough. The ShoBox philosophy is to televise exciting, crowd-pleasing and competitive matches while providing a proving ground for willing prospects determined to fight for a world title. The growing list of fighters who have appeared on ShoBox and advanced to garner world titles includes: Leonard Dorin, Scott Harrison, Juan Diaz, Jeff Lacy, Ricky Hatton, Joan Guzman, Juan Urango, David Diaz, Robert Guerrero, Kelly Pavlik, Paul Malignaggi, Kendall Holt, Timothy Bradley, Bernard Dunne, Yonnhy Perez, Yuri Foreman and Andre Ward.

About Showtime Networks Inc.:

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD™, SHOWTIME 2 HD™, THE MOVIE CHANNEL HD™, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL ON DEMAND™ and FLIX ON DEMAND®. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution which recently launched SMITHSONIAN CHANNEL™. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.