‘The Ghost’ defeats Marcos via TKO in third round; Guerrero
triumphant in San Jose debut at ‘Fight Night’
San Jose – Robert Guerrero took out five months of waiting to avenge his first career loss on Sandro Marcos at Thursday night’s Fight Night at the Tank.
The result? A lot of blood and a resounding TKO.
In his Bay Area debut, Guerrero defeated Marcos by a technical knockout 53 seconds into the third round of the 10-round featherweight main event.
It was the Ghost’s first fight in front of a hometown crowd. And his fans, who greeted the 23-year-old fighter as he was introduced at the 3,219-person full HP Pavilion with screaming and cheering, didn’t disappoint.
“This is the best crowd I’ve ever fought in front of,” said Guerrero (17-1-1, 10 KO’s), swamped by fans outside the ring after the fight. “I was backed up for a couple months. It felt great to put on the eight ounces and really light on someone’s head.”
Inside the ring against Marcos, who had lost five of six fights since late 2002 going into the bout, the Ghost struck quickly. Guerrero’s first big attack on Marcos (25-15, 21 KO’s) occurred toward the end of the first round. The Ghost used a few solid left-right punch combinations to back Marcos into the ropes, where he continued to batter the Mexican fighter in the head.
“I didn’t know his style at all,” Guerrero said of his plan going into the fight. “I did a lot of body shots, which is what I wanted to do.”
But it was the southpaw’s jab that began to open up Marcos. In the second round, several effective Guerrero jabs backed the 32-year-old fighter into the corner. Moments later, the Ghost delivered a right to Marcos’ nose that sent blood spraying through the air.
From there, it was all Guerrero.
“I hit him with a shot and once he started bleeding, he started making funny faces,” Guerrero said. “As soon as I established that jab, I was taking control of the fight.”
More attacks from Guerrero in the third round caused Marcos to fall to a knee early. Later on, the Ghost forced Marcos into the corner again. Marcos succumbed to the seventh-ranked WBC featherweight’s attack, squatting down before falling to the mat after a flurry of punches to the head.
Once Marcos hit the canvas, Guerrero sprang across the ring and climbed up onto the post in the opposite corner, yelling and pumping his fists.
When asked if following up his first career loss with a win relieved him of some pressure, Guerrero said, “Oh yeah. But there’s always pressure. There’s always so much going on in and out of the ring.”
By winning, Guerrero secured a June 23 fight at Oakland Coliseum that will be aired on Showtime.
“San Jose has been a drought with champions and I want to give the Bay Area a champion they can watch like they do in Vegas and in other big areas,” Guerrero said.
Notebook
– In the semi-main event, an eight-round fight between super middleweights Ricardo Cortes and Keith Clevenger, San Jose native Cortes (17-1-1, 13 KO’s) defeated Clevenger (10-6, 5 KO’s) by TKO with 30 seconds left in the second round. Baudel Cardenas (14-4-2, 5 KO’s) outlasted Armando Cordova (21-22-1, 16 KO’s) to earn a majority decision in an eight-round junior lightweight bout. Junior middleweight Francisco Santana (3 KO’s) improved his record to 4-0 with a unanimous decision over Jovanni Rubio (6-7, 4 KO’s) in four rounds. Oakland fighter Antonio Johnson remained undefeated (5-0, 2 KO’s) with a unanimous decision against Julio Cesar Lanzas (4-9-3, 1 KO) in the second four-round junior middleweight fight of the night.
– Another South Valley boxer, Kelsey Jeffries, was also present at the Tank Thursday night. The Hollister fighter was signing autographs for her sponsor, the U.S. Army. Jeffries’ manager Bruce Anderson announced Thursday that Jeffries signed a contract to fight in defense of her IFBA 126-pound world title at Seven Feathers in Oregon June 15.
