We’re back with our first Saturday boxing live blog in many a moon. The main event tonight pits Danny O’Connor (26-2, 10 KOs) against Gabriel Bracero (23-2, 4 KOs) in a fight that will surely go the distance at 146 pounds.
The undercard may be the more interesting fight with Jonathan Guzman (19-0, 19 KOs) taking on Danny Aquino (17-2, 10 KOs) at 121 pounds. Guzman’s record is beyond perfect, with nothing but stops on his resume. Aquino is going to be a real opponent for him and this should be the kind of showstopper you don’t normally see at 121 pounds. Scroll down for the Live Blog or keep reading for some preview info.
Here’s the full card from ESPN.com. Depending on how fast the undercard is (and it may be over quick) we might see more than one of these other fights.
At Lowell, Mass. (NBC Sports Net): Gabriel Bracero vs. Danny O’Connor, rematch, 10 rounds, welterweights; Jonathan Guzman vs. Danny Aquino, 10 rounds, junior featherweights; Ryan Kielczweski vs. Rafael Vazquez, 10 rounds, featherweights; Gary O’Sullivan vs. David Toribio, 10 rounds, middleweights; Adam Kownacki vs. Rodney Hernandez, 8 rounds, heavyweights; Stephen Ormond vs. Michael Clark, 6 or 8 rounds, junior lightweights; Patrick Hyland vs. David Martinez, 8 rounds, lightweights; Titus Williams vs. Arthur Parker, 4 rounds, junior lightweights; Fernando Saucedo vs. Carlos Fulgencio, 8 rounds, lightweights
Here’s some preview information from PBC’s Website on the main event.
…Danny O’Connor has not so-fond-memories of April 8, 2011, the day he took a 14-0 record into the ring against Gabriel Bracero in Lardo, Texas, only to exit 14-1 after losing a one-sided unanimous decision.
On October 10, after more than four years of waiting, O’Connor will finally get his shot at revenge when he faces Bracero in a 147-pound clash at Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts, near O’Conner’s hometown of Framingham…
O’Conner (26-2, 10 KOs) will be after his fourth straight stoppage win in a calendar year, having most recently dismantled Chris Gilbert in May. In that contest, the southpaw scored five knockdowns on his way to a fifth-round TKO.
While O’Connor is on a roll, Bracero (23-2, 4 KOs) will be looking to rebound from April’s unanimous-decision loss to unbeaten Felix Diaz Jr. in a PBC card from Brooklyn, New York. A former Olympic gold medalist, Diaz floored Bracero once each in the eighth and ninth rounds en route to snapping Bracero’s five-fight winning streak.
Both O’Connor, 30, and Bracero, 34, have suffered losses to aging former champions in recent years.
And here’s some preview info on the undercard.
Jonathan Guzman hasn’t lost in 19 professional fights. But that’s hardly the most impressive part of his résumé. This is: He’s stopped each of those 19 opponents in six rounds or fewer, including 13 bouts that ended within the first two rounds.
The 26-year-old from the Dominican Republic looks to continue his incredible knockout streak October 10 when he faces twice-beaten—but never knocked out—Danny Aquino (17-2, 10 KOs) in a 122-pound clash scheduled for 10 rounds in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Guzman was last in the ring in May, when he knocked out former title challenger Christian Esquivel in the fifth round. His only other bout this year was in February and also ended with a fifth-round stoppage, this one against Juan Guzman (no relation).
A 25-year-old Mexico native who fights out of Meriden, Connecticut, Aquino has been idle since April 17, when he earned a split-decision, eight-round victory over Ryan Kielczewski.
The show is on NBC SportsNet at 8 p.m. Take a break from college football and playoff baseball and watch some men hit each other in the face. With me.
