But Lyakhovich showed up big time. Bolstered perhaps by some early round success, Lyakhovich consistently outworked Guinn and surprisingly showed much greater variety in his punching arsenal. Guinn never bother to establish his jab, and the fight was essentially an exchange of hooks. But Lyakhovich, consistently got off first, and really pressed the action to Guinn. While neither fighter was seriously hurt, Lyakhovich seemed to gain confidence from handling Guinn’s power.

By round 7 Guinn looked visibly frustrated with his inability to put away a fighter who basically stood right in front of him. The action took place in 4 a 5 punch flurries, usually with the Russian initiating the action. Lyakhovich consistently scored with uppercuts and made a conscious effort to work the body. In frustrating repetition, Guinn would hook with his left to the head before trying to come over the top with a big right hand.

This was a huge loss for Guinn. He fought hard and looked strong, but never solved what appeared to be an easy riddle. By the fourth round it was apparent that “The White Wolf” had showed up to fight, and was not going to crumble against Guinn’s power. Why did Guinn never got behind his jab, and chose to fight at close quarters rather than at distance? I think he was looking for something spectacular, but instead Guinn showed that against a motivated fighter he doesn’t have the ring smarts to make the adjustments all his skills could allow.