Staying on course for his fourth world championship in a third
weight class, Robert
”
The Ghost
”
Guerrero will engage in a Pay Per View bout with 38-year-old and
former gold medalist, Joel Casamayor on July 31 from Mandalay Bay
in Las Vegas.
Staying on course for his fourth world championship in a third weight class, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero will engage in a Pay-Per-View bout with 38-year-old and former gold medalist, Joel Casamayor on July 31 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
“I’m excited about it,” Guerrero said. “Casamayor is a veteran and a well-rounded fighter. Like I always say, I want to fight the best and Casamayor is one of them. He is going to be a Hall of Famer. I’m going to be 100-percent ready.”
The fight is the second of three undercard events leading up to the night’s main attraction – Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz going toe-to-toe in a rematch.
“As a fight fan, and from a fan’s perspective, this fight has fireworks written all over it,” Oscar De La Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions, said of the Guerrero-Casamayor fight during a conference call Wednesday. “This fight, in my eyes, is evenly matched. It equals itself out with experience and youth, power, strength, speed, intelligence. You have all that bundled into one fight.”
The fight calls for 10 rounds at a maximum-contract weight of 139 pounds.
Casamayor (37-4-1, 22 KOs) last fought in November, defeating Jason Davis by unanimous decision.
Guerrero (26-1-1, 18 KOs) is two months removed from an eight-round win by technical knockout over Roberto Arrieta, giving him a victory in his first lightweight division fight.
With the move up another level to 139-pounds, Guerrero, a three-time world champion, is making a seemingly strategic move in chasing down a possible title fight at the 140-pound junior welterweight.
“Guerrero is training hard,” De La Hoya said. “He is a great warrior. He has his future ahead of him. He can do so many things in the boxing world, and he knows it and he’s ready for it.
“He is obviously trying to position himself to compete at the 140-pound weight division. This is not a do-or-die fight for him, but he is in the position right now where he can really open the eyes of boxing fans and boxing critics that he belongs at 140.”
Guerrero is well aware of what is at stake in the upcoming fight, knowing that he is primed to take advantage of not only his age but the opportunity to solidify his name with some of the greats.
“I’ll be right there at 140 pounds and also 135 pounds where I can shoot for a title at both,” Guerrero said.
“This fight is very important. I have to give it all I got and be ready for it.”
