Expected to fight for featherweight title by year’s end
Robert
”
The Ghost
”
Guerrero’s next fight is the one he’s been training for his
whole life
– a fight for the featherweight championship of the world.
”
It’s kind of hard to believe,
”
said Guerrero, who is now the World Boxing Council’s No. 1
contender thanks to his sixth-round knockout of Mexico’s Gamaliel
Diaz last Friday night at the Oakland Arena.
”
It hasn’t really sunk in right now. But it’s what I’ve been
working for since I was 9 years old.
”
Expected to fight for featherweight title by year’s end
Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero’s next fight is the one he’s been training for his whole life – a fight for the featherweight championship of the world.
“It’s kind of hard to believe,” said Guerrero, who is now the World Boxing Council’s No. 1 contender thanks to his sixth-round knockout of Mexico’s Gamaliel Diaz last Friday night at the Oakland Arena. “It hasn’t really sunk in right now. But it’s what I’ve been working for since I was 9 years old.”
The only thing between Guerrero and his dream of winning a world title belt is Japan’s Takashi Koshimoto, the reigning WBC featherweight champion.
Guerrero is expected to fight Koshimoto by the end of this year.
“I hardly know anything about him. We’ll be getting film of him soon and we’ll go off of that. We are going to get into negotiations soon,” Guerrero said. “He still has to fight one more time in defense of his title before he fights me. And even if he loses that fight, then I’ll fight the winner. I’m almost in disbelief to think that my next fight is for a world title.”
If Koshimoto successfully defends his title, the championship fight against Guerrero is expected to take place in either Japan or in the Bay Area. Guerrero hopes it’s the latter.
“It will probably be in Japan, but with my promoters and management team anything is possible,” he said. “I’d love to have all of my fights in the Bay Area.”
Fortunately for Guerrero, the next fight is coming quicker than expected. In December, Guerrero, 18-1-1, suffered his first loss as a professional and could have waited even longer for his dream fight had things not gone his way. But the path to the top for the 23-year-old was repaved in his favor after Diaz agreed to a rematch.
What expedited the much-anticipated rematch faster was the fact that Great Britain’s Nicky Cook, the former No. 1 contender, backed out of three scheduled fights with Diaz. Cook’s decision forced the WBC to drop him, which brought a rematch with Guerrero to the forefront.
Heading into the fight with Guerrero, Diaz was ranked No. 4 by the WBC. Guerrero was ranked No. 6. But that all changed quickly after the southpaw from Gilroy landed a devastating left uppercut to the body that sent Diaz to the canvas.
“He hit the deck and never got up,” Guerrero said. “It feels great. I went out there and put the pressure on him.”
Prior to the fight with Guerrero, Diaz had never been sent to the canvass. Guerrero knocked him down three times.
In knocking out Diaz, Guerrero also reclaimed his NABF title and proved that his one-point loss to the fighter from Mexico the first go around was a fluke.
“This proves that I’m willing to fight anyone, anywhere,” “The Ghost” said. “Ducking a fight is not my nature. The fans deserve to watch fights like this where there is a lot of hitting and action.”
During the fight it was clear that the Bay Area now has a new favorite son.
“I don’t think anybody out there even sat down,” Guerrero said. “Every time I would land a shot the crowd was yelling louder and louder.”
After the fight, Diaz approached the new champion and shook his hand.
“He didn’t say anything. He gave me the same respect that I gave him the first time he beat me,” said Guerrero, who graduated from Gilroy High in 2001.
Although Guerrero is young and has had only 20 professional fights, his road to the top of the pro ranks was expected based on his speed, superior technique and stellar amateur record.
As an amateur Guerrero posted an impressive 120-18 won-lost record. At the age of 16, he won a National Junior Olympic gold medal and later that year became the youngest qualifier ever to compete at the 2000 Olympic trials where he fought against seasoned adults. At those trials he wound up losing to Clarence Vincent, who went on to take the bronze medal that summer at the Olympic games in Sydney, Australia.
“No one will ever be younger than he was when he qualified for the Olympic trials,” Guerrero’s Publicist Mario Serrano said. “His birthday fell exactly on the cutoff date. You can’t be any younger than he was.”
With a title fight now staring him in the face, Guerrero can’t help but reflect back on all of the years and long hours that he spend in the gym at the corner of Railroad Avenue and Sixth Street in Gilroy to get to this point.
He remembers fighting outside in 100-plus degree temperatures, all the tournaments, the traveling, and the hours and hours of training.
“Boxing has basically been my job my whole life,” he said.
Now he’s up for a major promotion.
