Gilroy’s ghost is set to make a re-appearance in the Bay Area.
Five-time world champion boxer Robert
”
The Ghost
”
Guerrero (29-1-1 18 KOs) has inked his name to an Aug. 27 fight
at HP Pavilion in San Jose, which will be featured as the main
event for HBO’s Boxing After Dark.
GILROY
Gilroy’s ghost is set to make a re-appearance in the Bay Area.
Five-time world champion boxer Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (29-1-1 18 KOs) has inked his name to an Aug. 27 fight at HP Pavilion in San Jose, which will be featured as the main event for HBO’s Boxing After Dark.
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Guerrero, 28, the interim WBO and WBA lightweight titleholder, will move up yet another weight class (140 pounds), announcing via Twitter on Friday that he signed to face current interim WBA junior welterweight champ Marcos Maidana.
“This fight is for the fans!” he wrote. “I’m going to put everything on the line!”
A night prior to Guerrero sharing the news, Golden Boy promoter Richard Schaefer told ESPN’s Dan Rafael that he had “a very good feeling, but it’s not done yet,” in regard to the completion of the contract.
Both fighters are two months removed from their last ring action April 9. Fighting on the same Action Heroes card, Guerrero first showcased a dominating unanimous decision victory against heavy-hitting Michael Katsidis. In the main event, Maidana (30-2 27 KOs) defeated Erik Morales in a back-and-forth encounter to earn the interim junior welterweight title.
After his convincing decision over Katsidis, Guerrero again pined for a crack at Juan Manuel Marquez. However, Marquez, who has been gunning for a third shot at Manny Pacquiao, got what he wanted and is slated to go toe-to-toe with Pacquiao on Nov. 12.
That left Guerrero searching for another high-quality opponent, which looked to be junior welterweight Amir Khan. Instead, Khan agreed to fight Zab Judah.
It appears the only hiccup preventing the intriguing Guerrero-Maidana matchup from getting off the ground is Khan’s refusal to engage Maidana in a rematch of their December 2010 bout, where Khan grinded out a unanimous decision to retain the WBA junior welterweight belt – which he may end up vacating, pending a WBA ruling.
A Khan-Maidana rematch was mandated to take place some time before Sept. 11. But with Khan agreeing to fight Judah, that is off the table.
“Things are leaning toward Maidana,” Guerrero’s publicist Mario Serrano said. “We are just waiting on him to sign. He’s just working out some issues with the WBA.”
Maidana had been expected to add his signature to the fight over the weekend, however that did not happen and Serrano said Monday it is still a waiting game.
In an e-mail from Golden Boy matchmaker Robert Diaz received late Monday, Diaz said to “expect an announcement soon.”
Guerrero is in the midst of a 13-fight win streak.
No matter the opponent, the Aug. 27 date is set in stone for Guerrero, who will make his fourth appearance at the Shark Tank.
Guerrero’s last fight in San Jose was a technical knockout win against Efren Hinojosa in June 2009, three months after a disappointing go with Daud Yordan, in which Guerrero took an inadvertent headbutt and could not continue as a result of a nasty cut that opened up over his right eye.
