Adjusting his jaw side to side, Robert
”
The Ghost
”
Guerrero had just taken a shot that will make his
picture-perfect smile be preceded by a slight wince.
Adjusting his jaw side to side, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero had just taken a shot that will make his picture-perfect smile be preceded by a slight wince.
Similar to the beatings he took years ago from siblings, the punch that has the current IBF Featherweight champion’s jaw aching came from one of his five brothers. This pain, however, is unique in that the person who delivered the shot was younger than the champ.
Randy, a 15-year-old amateur and kid brother of the bunch, recently took up boxing and solicited help from big bro in anticipation of an upcoming fight.
“He caught me in the jaw with one,” Guerrero said of the pair’s sparring session. “He actually caught me with my mouth open on the uppercut.”
The favor was certainly returned in surplus as the two squared off for three rounds Wednesday in the sweat-stained, creaky Gilroy Youth Center that sits on a corner of rusty railroad tracks and small, faded houses on Sixth Street.
The Ghost credits his rise through the boxing ranks to mental toughness, which he gained from fighting against older brothers – who were bigger, stronger and dished out punishment, shortly before a hug.
But toughness inside the ring couldn’t prepare the 24-year-old champ for challenges recently presented to him and his family outside the ropes.
Two weeks before a Nov. 3 title defense against Martin Honorio, in which The Ghost knocked out his opponent in a now you-see-him-now-you-don’t 56 seconds, Guerrero’s wife Casey was diagnosed with leukemia. The champ stayed focused leading up to the fight – going forward with the bout only after receiving her blessing – despite concerns about her never leaving his mind for more than a few seconds.
“I was doing good, but it was still always right there,” Guerrero said. “The interviews, talking to people – it always comes up, ‘How’s your wife?’ It was always right there.
“I had to be strong-minded and work through it.”
Tuesday, the couple got a phenomenal birthday present for Casey – who turned 24 on the day – when doctors informed the Guerreros that the cancer was in remission, and no longer present in Casey’s system.
“It’s been tough for her, real tough,” Robert said. “Just being in the hospital for a long time, being away from the kids for a long period of time, they weren’t allowed to go and see her. It was driving her crazy.”
The couples’ two children, Savannah, 2, and Robert Jr., 9-months-old, weren’t allowed to visit their mom in the hospital for three weeks because her immune system was so weak.
In between trips to see Casey, Guerrero was forced to take over new responsibilities, ditching boxing gloves to better handle diapers.
“I’d changed diapers and stuff (in the past), but not having to change them all the time, it’s a handful,” he said. “I had to get them dressed, take them to baths, make sure they were eating, combing hair. Especially a little girl’s hair, I mean, it’s pretty hard. She’s moving all around and I’m like ponytail over here, hair sticking out over here.
“Yeah, I got a lot of respect for women, especially having two kids. It’s a job.”
Saying in the past that he was focused on boxing almost to a fault, Guerrero believes he has gained a better perspective on life through Casey’s illness.
“Before, boxing was like everything – boxing, boxing, boxing …” he said. “As soon as she got sick it gave me a whole new outlook. It was like, ‘I should be spending time home with her, spending time home with my kids, spending time with my family, my brothers, whenever I can be with everybody.’
“I was always just boxing. Even after the fights – doing so many events, going to gyms, sparring with other guys to help them out and going to do open workouts. You know, a lot of that time I had off took away from my wife. So, now it’s like, ‘Hey, you know what, after I fight it has to be family.’ ”
Guerrero added that it was his family that carried him the last couple months.
“While I was out there fighting, a lot of my family was here with Casey – visiting her, taking care of her, making sure she’s being taken care of in the hospital,” he said. “It helped out a lot.”
With his wife now healthy and back at home, Gilroy’s finest fighter has found a new outlook on life.
“Honestly, I think it’s a blessing because it just makes our family stronger,” he said. “Me and her are stronger, the kids, it brings us all together more. Even though it’s not a good situation, it’s bringing a lot of people back together.”
