On the 7th of June 2013 Willie Limond, Glasgow, will make his first defence of his Commonwealth Light-Welterweight Title against self proclaimed Prince of Passion Mitch Prince, Cumbernauld.

At the photo shoot outside the Radisson Blu Hotel in Argyle Street both boxers were in good spirit graciously striking a pose when politely asked, however, this was a masquerade when compared to them both sitting either side of Tommy Gilmour at the press table. Willie Limond sat wearing a beanie hat with his team logo embroidered on the front; he had been in this position many times before and looked like a proficient gunslinger with his chin resting on his fist. Mitch Prince had an austere, acute appearance that resembled a man who meant business. Both boxers dispatched their last opponents in the 1st round.

Willie pointed out his training regime has never changed in 14 years, “I’ve been in with a few crackers, superstars and one up and coming boxer”. Mitch admits he has had an on off career since 2006 where at times he got bored of the game but training with Jim Love has immensely helped Mitch fall back in love with the game and says, “I’m younger and hungrier”.

Although Mitch has not been as active in the professional ranks as he would have wished since turning pro, he has a good amateur pedigree having boxed for Scotland in Melbourne, Australia at the Commonwealth Games 2006, on the other hand Willie has vast experience in the pro ranks and still holds his European ranking and another shot at that title is still on the cards if he is successful.    

Both boxers have always been on good terms but this is business, it’s going to be an awesome fight – friendship wise, what happens in the ring stays in the ring.

Tommy Gilmour was quick to point out how significant the Title was because the Commonwealth takes up two thirds of the world, and the winner will probably go on to fight The Aberdeen Assassin Lee McAllister.

By Raymond Fraser Buchanan

By Bobby Creed

 

In just 2 short weeks WBC welterweight Champion and Ring No 3 welterweight Robert Guerrero will enter the MGM Grand to face what is no doubt the biggest challenge of his career. He fights arguably the greatest fighter of our generation (some say in history) Floyd Money Mayweather.
Mayweather has a professional record of 43 wins 0 defeats with 26 KOs in a career spanning almost 2 decades and has continually faced, defeated and in some cases humiliated top class fighters, and has arguably never even been seriously hurt let alone touched the canvas.
Guerrero a top class fighter in his own right comes into the contest several years his opponent’s junior, with a 31 win of 32 fight record and has just fought the best fight of his career claiming an incredible victory over Andre Berto in what many called the best fight of 2012. Despite this momentum there are very few pundits or former pro's giving the Gilroy native much of a chance of victory in Las Vegas.....

Bob Arum compared Floyd to Ray Robinson, Larry Merchant claimed that Floyd reminded him of Willie Pep hailing his 'great legs and speed'. The New York Times claimed he had 'blazing speed and power'. All of the aforementioned quotations are from more than a decade ago. So how does this man who many believe to be unbeatable stay at the top of arguably boxing's toughest weight classes taking into account the deterioration of things in ones skillset for example stamina, hand and foot speed that age brings?

Floyd is one of only 2 fighters currently operating in the top end of the sport (the other being Bernard Hopkins) who has managed to manipulate his style to accommodate for age process. Does he have the blazing hand speed now?.... No. He's replaced that with timing and precision counterpunching that is second to none in the sport. Does he have Willie Peps legs?...... No. He's replaced that with ring generalship and experience to know when to move just that little bit to create an angle or get out of range. These assets combined with the almost perfect shoulder roll defence and boxing brain to know just what to do at any given moment have kept Floyd at the top table for the last few years.

So for Robert Guerrero, is it even worth turning up? The answer to this question is a resounding yes! There have been 43 previous fighters who have stepped into the ring with Floyd and within 3 minutes have gone from having huge aspirations to 'just happy to be at the dance'. 
However 3 minutes and packing up and leaving due to the fact that you've thrown a ton of leather, scored no points and hit plenty of shoulders and arms doesn't seem to be Guerrero’s style.

There's more than enough evidence to fuel the man from Gilroys belief that the 2013 Money man can be hustled out of the defensive master class that he puts on show when he decides to make a PPV appearance. Floyd, come May 4 will have been inactive for almost a year and in his last fight against Miguel Cotto took more punches than ever before to suggest that the 'oh so perfect' skill set that he's used for the latter part of his career may just have slipped ever so slightly to let the Hagleresque Guerrero hustle him and make him uncomfortable enough to land what so many have tried and failed to do...'the follow on' shot. That punch that can faze a fighter for just enough time for the senses to be scrambled and the defensive shell to break away. Fighters draw from their own experience and Floyd has a ton of it. What he hasn't experienced in years is how to recover from the 'follow on' or how to deal with a fighter who can fight at a ferocious pace for the duration of a fight, pin him against the ropes and be willing to take 2 to land one of his own.

Deploying this strategy is Robert Guerrero’s best chance of winning this fight. Veteran referee Robert Byrd will be in charge of the fight, and if he isn't too fussy and lets the action flow The Ghost will get his chance to attempt to do to Floyd what he did to Andre Berto. Floyd enters this contest having had things basically his own way apart from Shane Mosley who only managed to slightly wobble him with a few right hands a few years ago. He's showed fantastic rope and bag work on Showtimes All Access TV programme, and also broke off from training to play basketball. He trains, speaks and gives off the general demeanour of a man who believes he cannot be beaten or even challenged. This is a polarising contest not only of styles but also attitudes both in and out of the ring. Guerrero appears stone serious in training while Floyd is relaxed. The styles couldn't be further apart with Floyd deploying 'hit and don't get hit' tactics while Robert is willing to go through and take whatever is necessary to get to his man, armed with a great engine, a granite chin and relentless pressure game plan, can The Ghost make history? Or will the Rubik Cube that is Floyd Mayweather further his claim to be the greatest fighter of our generation and make Robert Guerrero just 'happy to be at the dance'...

I’m off to the St Andrews Sporting Club in Glasgow tonight to report on professional boxing where the Guest of Honour will be Amateur Boxing Scotland Chairman Richard Thomas.

Reflecting over the past week, the Scotland Amateur team were in Serbia fighting in a Multi-Nations Tournament and met stiff opposition, all the boys did their country proud; however, Lewis Benson 64kg was competing in his first International tournament and is returning with a Silver medal which was a fantastic achievement for this young man who’s going from strength to strength.

On the professional scene it was great to see stylish Edinburgh Light-Middleweight John Thain extend his unbeaten run to 10-0 at Wembley against southpaw Middlesex man Ryan Toms. On the same bill former World Champion Scott Harrison showed flashes of his former self and put up a bold display against crafty Cromer southpaw switch-hitter Liam Walsh but eventually lost out on points.

I've done two very interesting interviews this week with boxers past and present that I will be turning into stories, Buchanan style.