Robert Guerrero will reportedly meet Keith Thurman in the main event of an NBC-televised boxing card on March 7, as Al Haymon's new venture kicks off with a strong main event matchup, as well as Adrien Broner in a potentially exciting co-feature against John Molina.
BoxingScene.com reported earlier that the two fights are set. Haymon is set to announce the fights tomorrow.
Guerrero (32-2-1, 18 KO) fought just one time in 2014, beating Yoshihiro Kamegai in a slugfest on Showtime in June. That followed his May 2013 loss to Floyd Mayweather, a one-sided affair where "The Ghost" looked overmatched. But that fight aside, Guerrero, 31, has generally been a fun fighter to watch, getting into wars with Kamegai, Andre Berto, and Selcuk Aydin since moving to welterweight.
Now he'll take on Thurman (24-0, 21 KO), an unbeaten rising star who has created buzz with both his fighting style and his mouth, as he's prone to boastful claims and big-time challenges. Most recently, he set out on a "Burn Money" campaign to get a fight with Floyd Mayweather, which wound up shutting down with Thurman's dull win over Leonard Bundu on December 13, where he was booed pretty heartily by the audience for not going on the attack more.
Broner (29-1, 22 KO) is still trying to stabilize his career following his December 2013 loss to Marcos Maidana. In 2014, he beat Carlos Molina (the bad one) and Emmanuel Taylor in fights at 140 pounds. The Taylor fight wound up being a lot of fun and really competitive, which may not be the best thing for Broner's long-term prospects.
Molina (27-5, 22 KO) is no world-beater, but he's a gritty, powerful fighter who doesn't go away, and in many ways, resembles the matchup that gave Broner fits against Maidana. That said, backlash against the matchup wouldn't be totally unwarranted, as Molina has lost two straight to Lucas Matthysse and Humberto Soto. The good news is that Molina makes for exciting fights, and Broner can be drawn into those pretty easily. The bad news is that Molina is certainly not a serious contender.
Thumbs up or down for this first Haymon show?