By Jake Donovan, Boxing Scene.com
Fernando Guerrero picked up his fourth straight win with a 6th round stoppage over Juan Carlos Candelo in their middleweight bout Saturday evening in Humble, Texas.
The rebuilding prospect was measured in his attack, boxing early before picking up the pace. The 38-year old Candelo struggled to keep up with the still-peaking Guerrero, never coming close to winning a round or even an exchange.
The beginning of the end came in the fourth round, when Guerrero scored the lone knockdown of the bout. A classic one-two from the southpaw stance was enough to floor Candelo, who seemed disinterested in continuing but still dusted himself off and continued to fight.
Guerrero was dominant enough in the fifth round to where his corner threatened to stop the fight if he didn’t show any positive turnaround. That decision was made for him, mere seconds into the sixth round when he was deemed unfit to continue.
The official time was 0:12 of round six.
Guerrero improves to 25-1 (19KO) with the win, having scored knockouts in every fight among his current four-fight win streak. Managed by Al Haymon and now under the watchful eye of red hot trainer Virgil Hunter, there is still plenty of time for the 26-year old southpaw.
Meanwhile, time appears to have run out on Candelo’s career. The former super welterweight contender drops his second straight as he falls to 32-12-4 (21KO). A two-time title challenger, Candelo was competitive in a loss to Raul Casarez earlier this year but looked like a shot fighter on this particular evening.
The bout served as the televised main event on Fox Deportes, though shown via tape delay in many markets due to a Fox-aired college football game.
All photos courtesy of Erran Booker. Carla Ja served as ringside reporter for the fight.
