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Veteran fighter DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley has been in the ring with Floyd Mayweather, and while that fight is nine years in the past now and Mayweather isn't the same fighter he was then, Corley still doesn't believe that Robert Guerrero has the skills to beat Floyd on Saturday.
The legend that Floyd struggles with southpaws is at least slightly overblown, probably, but Corley and Zab Judah did have some success against Floyd. That, though, doesn't convince Corley that Guerrero has a shot:
"Oh my goodness, Guerrero has no similarities to me and Zab. Not at all. He has nothing in common with either of us guys other than that he's a southpaw. He don't have no style, he don't have no skill. ... Guerrero doesn't have the skills that Zab has or that I have as a southpaw, and, the experience that we have. Guerrero don't know how to box. He don't know how to set punches up or set a trap for a fighter. All he wants to do is just throw punches and hit you below the belt, on the cup, on your head, on your neck. He doesn't care where he hits you at, and that's going to be the game plan for Guerrero to just rough Floyd up. Elbow him, and do whatever he can to try to cause the fight to be a real brutal fight for Floyd."
"... Floyd's going to make adjustments around the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, and he's going to dictate the tempo throughout the fight after that, because he's going to see that Guerrero can't fight the style that Floyd has."
Corley hurt Mayweather in round four, but was unable to capitalize, and Mayweather won a wide decision. Zab Judah also stunned Floyd, but ultimately clearly lost.
Guerrero is facing a 36-year-old version of Mayweather, who is not the elusive fighter he was in 2004 against Corley or 2006 against Judah. But while those guys did sting Floyd, Corley is right that Guerrero has little similarity to either of them. In other words, if Guerrero is banking any of their minor success to lay the "blueprint" for Saturday night, he's probably going the wrong way.
On the other hand, it's not like Corley or Judah actually came all that close to beating Mayweather, so perhaps having little in common with them is a good thing. Guerrero's not going to try to match speed with Guerrero as Judah did, and he's not going to try to be clever the way Corley did. Most likely, he will try to rough Floyd up. While Corley may be right that Mayweather will eat that up with adjustments, it's not totally certain that that approach will fail. Who knows?