Edition No. 1 of a weekly check-in with Robert Guerrero as he
trains for his Aug. 27 fight with Marcos Maidana
Just ask Michael Katsidis how important a full-fledged on-location training camp is to five-time world champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero.
Prior to his April 9 bout versus the Aussie, Guerrero picked up shop and headed to Las Vegas for his most vigorous training effort in three years. It paid dividends as The Ghost looked bigger, stronger and down right meaner in a unanimous decision victory.
The location is different this time around, but the work isn’t.
Guerrero and company arrived in Big Bear Lake last week, to kick off a six-week extensive training session in preparation for Guerrero’s next “biggest fight of his career” – a WBA interim super lightweight world title fight against Marcos Maidana on Aug. 27 at HP Pavilion in San Jose.
Gilroy Dispatch sports editor Josh Weaver caught up with Guerrero for the first of what will be a weekly chat with the Gilroy native leading up to the big bout.
Josh Weaver: What has the feedback been like since you officially announced your Aug. 27 world title fight with Marcos Maidana?
Robert Guerrero: Everyone’s excited for this fight. Pretty much, it’s a fans’ fight. Our styles match up. I throw a lot of punches, he throws a lot of punches.
It’s one of those fights where the boxing world is going crazy because it’s a fight everyone wants to see.
JW: How was your first week of training camp?
RG: I’ve been getting
acclimated to the elevation and altitude. Doing the jog, getting in the gym. Monday was the first day of sparring, just light sparring – four rounds. I work out about five hours a day – run in the morning for an hour and a half then hit the gym after that. I’ve been breaking in slow, but I’m going to start picking it up as the weeks go on.
JW: So what is Big Bear like?
RG: It’s pretty much San Martin with a big lake.
JW: Who do you have out there with you?
RG: Right now it’s just my father (trainer, Ruben Guerrero), my manager, Bob Santos, and my little brother Eric, who is my dad’s assistant. We are all out here doing our job. Eric is watching my exercises and making sure I’m not leaving anything out. Bob is watching my diet. My dad, well, you know him. He’s waking me up every morning, coming up with the regimen for the day. We are all out here working as a team and putting in the hours.
JW: How are you setting up your sparring schedule?
RG: I’ll be sparring Mondays, Wednesday’s and Fridays. I’ll spar six to eight rounds, working on different things. I’m always in good shape, so out here it’s about working in this elevation so when I get back it’s going to be like nothing.
JW: Are you doing any study sessions and watching film on Maidana while you’re up there, or is it all about training?
RG: We do a lot of studying out here. There isn’t anything else out here to do. It’s nothing but boxing. We will sit down for like an hour or two and watch film and see what we can get out of it. The more you watch, the more you pick up. His style starts getting ingrained in your head. You start visualizing how he moves, how he punches and little habits he has. All of that starts coming into play in your game plan.
JW: Amir Khan and Zab Judah fight (a unification 140-pound world title match) Saturday, do you have any interest in that at all or are you just concentrated on your fight?
RG: I’m going to watch it. I could be fighting the winner, but that’s the last thing on my mind. I have to get past Maidana before I think about anything else. I’m just out here focusing on Maidana and improving so I’m ready for him. I’m out here, sacrificing, training hard so I can come out and but on the best performance I can.
JW: What do say to people who might be on the fence about going to the fight?
RG: It’s a fight that’s worth going to. There are people all over the world who wish they could be at this fight. Maidana doesn’t back down. I won’t back down. It’s going to be an explosive fight.
It’s going to be one of those fights where if you don’t make it out, you will miss out on something special.
