Robert Joseph Guerrero
(born March 27, 1983 in Gilroy, California) is a professional boxer. He is the current IBF Super Featherweight champion and a former two-time IBF featherweight champion of the world. Nicknamed The Ghost
, Guerrero's current record is 25 wins, 1 losses, and 1 draw, and 2 no contest with 17 of his wins coming by way of knockout.
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Boxing career
After an impressive amateur career begun at a very young age, Guerrero turned professional, at the age of 18, on
May 22,
2001 with a four-round unanimous decision win against
Alejandro Cruz. After several impressive wins and only a single draw later, Guerrero won the
WBC NABF Featherweight title against Cesar Figueroa on
December 9,
2004. Defending his NABF title twice, Guerrero was seen as a rising, premier prospect, until meeting Gamaliel Diaz in a bout televised on
ShoBox, on the
Showtime channel, on
December 12 2005. A surprisingly aggressive Diaz upset Guerrero, winning by split decision and taking the NABF belt in the process.
Guerrero rebounded from his first loss by defeating
Sandros Marcos via third-round technical knock-out, setting up a rematch against Diaz, again on Showtime. Guerrero came out aggressive, knocking down Diaz in the first round, and eventually knocking out Diaz early in the sixth round. The win set him up to face IBF champion
Eric Aiken.
Featherweight title
In his first world championship fight on
September 2 2006, Guerrero shined as he defeated Aiken by eight-round technical knockout in
Los Angeles. Guerrero used inside fighting, neutralizing Aiken's power, and eventually making Aiken quit on his stool after the eighth round to earn his first world title belt.
Guerrero lost the belt in his next fight in a mandatory defense to unheralded
Orlando Salido in
Las Vegas. Salido dominated the majority of the bout and pulled off an upset decision win with scores of 115-113, 117-111, 118-110 . However, Salido would subsequently be stripped of the IBF title after testing positive for steroids, thus vacating the belt; the result of the bout would also be changed to a twelve-round no decision by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
The IBF subsequently gave Guerrero the shot at the vacant featherweight title, which he won by ninth-round technical knockout in
Copenhagen, Denmark on February 23, 2007, against local Spend Abazi.
Guerrero's first defense of his second title was to be against
Rocky Juarez (27-3, 19 KOs); however, Juarez chose to meet WBC Super Featherweight Champion
Juan Manuel Márquez in a money fight instead. Guerrero's first defense was scheduled to be against Martin Honorio (24-3-1) on November 3, 2007, and was televised on Showtime, on the undercard of the Marquez-Juarez match. Guerrero was unable to attend the final press conference before the match after his wife was diagnosed with
leukemia. Guerrero defeated Honorio in a first round knock-out.
On
February 29,
2008, Guerrero defeated
Jason Litzau via an eighth round knock out.
[1] Guerrero then vacated the title to move up in weight.
Move to Super Featherweight
On March 7, 2009, Guerrero fought Daud Yordan in his
HBO debut. The fight ended in a second round "no contest" decision after Guerrero suffered a headbutt resulting in a gash above his eye. The Media then started to "question his heart" after he indicated to the ringside doctor that he could not see properly.
On June 12, 2009, Guerrero faced Efren Hinojosa (30-5-1). He suffered another deep cut near his left eye from a head-butt in the seventh round, but this time it didn't slow his progress as he scored an 8th round tko victory. After the bout, the media described him as having redeemed himself for his previous lackluster effort.
[2] [3]
On August 22, 2009, Guerrero challenged
Malcolm Klassen for his IBF Super Featherweight title. Guerrero won the fight by a comfortable unanimous decision. The scores were 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113 in his favor.
[4]
Guerrero's coaches are Rubin Guerrero and Bob Santos.
References
- AFP: Guerrero stops Litzau to retain IBF featherweight title
- http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2009-06-13-1352584633_x.htm
- http://www.talkingboxing.com/articles/2009/blakejune15.html
- http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12183_5508902,00.html