Robert Guerrero Wants Juan Manuel Marquez-Michael Katsidis Winner
In a dominant, Nov. 6 decision over 2004 Olympian Vicente Escobedo, southpaw lightweight (135 pounds) Robert Guerrero displayed punching power in scoring two knockdowns, as well as the fortitude to finish the fight despite suffering a broken left hand. Guerrero had similarly boxed his way to July's unanimous decision rout of former four-time world champion and Cuban Olympic gold medalist Joel Casamayor, surviving a final round knockdown in that fight.
The wins over Escobedo (22-3, 14 knockouts) and Casamayor (37-5-1, 22 KOs) ran the 27-year-old Guerrero's winning streak to 12 fights with nine stoppages during that run, having last suffered defeat by a December, 2005 split-decision to Gamaliel Diaz, whom Guerrero stopped in the sixth round of their June, 2006 rematch.
A former two-time IBF featherweight (126 pounds) and one-time IBF super featherweight (130 pounds) titlist, Guerrero (28-1-1, 18 KOs) will be at ringside for Saturday night's HBO televised, Golden Boy Promotions clash between WBO and WBA champion Juan Manuel Marquez (51-5-1, 37 KOs) of Mexico, and, Australia's WBO interim king Michael Katsidis (27-2, 22 KOs).
Nicknamed "The Ghost," Guerrero, of Gilroy, Calif., chose to pull out of a scheduled clash March 27 fight with Katsidis to care for his wife, Casey Guerrero, who was at ringside for his bouts with Escobedo and Casamayor after having recently recovered from a life-threatening battle with leukemia thanks to a bone marrow transplant. Guerrero is the WBO's designated mandatory challenger to the winner of Marquez-Katsidis -- the latter of whom was knocked by Casamayor -- and shared his thoughts with FanHouse in this Q&A.
FanHouse: How is everything with your hand, Robert?
Robert Guerrero: Well, everything is alright. It's my left hand, and I'm wearing a cast on it. I bruised some tendons and the bone in my wrist. So I've got a cast on it so that I won't be moving it around, and I've got to let it heal.
From what the doctor said, I'm supposed to lay off of it for four weeks, and then they'll do another MRI, you know, and then we'll see where we're at. I'm sort of playing it by ear.
I'll be jogging and maintaining and staying in shape. You know, doing some shadow boxing. I can shadow box, so I'll be doing that. I'll be working my right hand, too.
Can you discuss what you believed that you displayed in your past two fights, such as the ability to be patient against a crafty, dangerous veteran like Joel Casamayor, and the capability of taking a fight to a solid fighter like Vicente Escobedo in your next one?
Yeah, I mean, I've just been putting a lot of things together. I'm still learning. You know, you never stop learning in boxing. My dad's been working on a lot of different aspects of the sport with me.
You know, changing styles up and adjusting to every fighter like you're supposed to and coming up with and working the appropriate game plans. It's just been a matter of putting everything together.
How significant was it to defeat a guy like Joel Casamayor, who is a southpaw with knockout wins over Michael Katsidis and Diego Corrales, and quality opposition like Juan Manuel Marquez and Acelino Freitas?
Yeah, I mean, that was a really big fight for me. To get in there and to come out with a win over a guy like Joel Casamayor, you know, he's a dangerous fighter no matter who he gets in with and whoever he fights.
They either come out of that fight pretty beat up or knocked out, so I learned a lot out of that fight and I took that as a huge learning experience and a situation where I really bettered myself as a fighter.
I knew going into the fight that I was blessed with a lot of talent, and that fight just tells me that if I put them to work, that I can beat anybody in the world. That's what it showed me, as well as the fact that I can get up off of the canvas.
In that last round, I got caught with a shot, I got up, and it was a learning experience for me.
Can you similarly discuss the fight with Vicente Escobedo, who had lost a split-decision to Michael Katsidis?
The plan is always to go in there and to dominate the fight. I don't want to leave people wandering, 'Oh, man, that was a really close fight.' I want to go in there and dominate and to win these fights convincingly.
That was the plan, and we worked hard. In my fight with Escobedo, I was really able to step it up and show my talents off.
How beneficial has it been, mentally, and, spiritually, that your wife, Casey, is doing well in her recovery?
Well, you know, yeah, that's been a big part of it also. My wife's health getting a lot better, so, you know, I've been able to just focus more on boxing and I've really been able to zero in on getting ready for fights.
Not just mentally and physically, but also, spiritually. So that helps out a lot to, being able to just work out and to focus on a lot of different things.
Like I said, with my wife's health getting better, I'm able to focus more in the gym and to really study these fighters and really put together the game plan, me and my father, and not have to worry about what's going on with my wife.
You know, the doctors' appointments and going back and forth and having to have that always on my mind and to have that taking up a lot of the time. We've been able to have true training camps where it's been 100 percent boxing.
Now that she's doing a lot better, I'm able to just focus on training and getting prepared the way that you're supposed to for these top 10 fighters and these champions. It really is a big difference in my fighting, as everybody has seen.
Given that Juan Manuel is considering a move to fight Manny Pacquiao or rising to junior welterweight (140 pounds) if he defeats Michael Katsidis, do you believe that you will get a shot to face him?
I know that Juan Marquez is focusing on winning the Michael Katsidis fight, but he's a good champion and I would love to fight him. I feel as though I've earned the right and I've earned this spot as the mandatory.
Those fights, the 140-pounders and the Manny Pacquiao fights, those are big fights for him. So, you know, of course he's going to talk about them.
But I know that Marquez is one of the great champions and that he will fight anybody, you know, whoever and whenever. I really feel that he's going to give me the fight. I think that he will give me the shot.
I know that he's the type of guy that is like myself and who cares about the sport and that he loves to put on great fights. I think that he's going to give me the fight.
Marquez was in my shoes at one time where everybody was ducking him and nobody wanted to fight him. You know, but he got that shot and he took advantage of it.
I'm an exciting fighter, Marquez is an exciting fighter, so it would be a fight that the fans would want to see. We're both champions. He's on the verge of being a Hall of Famer and he's one of the best. You name it, he's done it.
He's fought Pacquiao, he's fought Floyd Mayweather. So, you know, I think that he will give me that shot also. Being the mandatory and earning the spot to be right there to fight the mandatory against the winner of him or Katsidis, I'm excited that I'm in that position.
I really, really feel that if Marquez wins that he is going to pick me and fight me. Like I said, he was in my shoes once before where nobody wanted to fight him. He had to get into the mandatory spot and got the shot.
I'm in the same shoes that he was in. He knows where I'm coming from and he's been there and he's done that, and now, I'm the younger fighter. He's one of the guys who cares about the sport a lot and is willing to make those big fights.
Like he did with Katsidis, he honored the mandatory, and gave Katsidis the fight. Saturday night, they will have a great fight, and I'll be there to watch and enjoy it. We'll see on Saturday night how everything goes.
