On Saturday August 20 at the Casino Black Pyramid in Manzanillo, Mexico, local man Rafael Guzman and Venezuelan puncher Rafael “El Potro” Hernandez battled to a twelve round draw in their fight for the vacant World Boxing Federation World Super Featherweight title.
Guzman started the fight fast, and showed from the first round that he had come to win and take the WBF title back to Venezuela. Both fighters had their moments, but as the rounds progressed the capacity crowd of around 3500 enthusiastic spectators started to shift their sympathy towards the busier visitor.
Several rounds were very difficult to score one way or the other, but in the end Guzman seemed lucky to escape with the draw as he ran out of gas in the last few rounds, and appeared seriously hurt in round twelve only to be saved by the bell. A point was also deducted from Hernandez for repeatedly hitting behind the head.
The three judges scored the fight 114-114 (Francisco Navaro), 114-114 (Salomon Ojeda) and 117-112 (Jesus Salcedo). WBF Supervisor was Sergio Sotelo.
Guzman, hailing from Guadalajara, now has a professional record of 28-3-1 (20), while Hernandez´ ledger goes to 13-3-2 (11). The fight was promoted by Hector Garcia and his HG Boxing, and broadcasted live on Televisa.
