Weight wasn’t an issue for Gilroy native Robert
”
The Ghost
”
Guerrero, who tipped the scales at 129.5 pounds during Friday’s
weigh-in at the Nokia Center in Los Angeles.
After spending 11 months out of the ring due to a contractual
dispute with his former promoter, Goossen Tutor, Guerrero (22-1-1,
15 KOs) will be facing Edel Ruiz (31-21-4, 22 KOs) in a super
featherweight bout Saturday at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The
pair will be fighting on a card headlined by Antonio Margarito
defending his WBA welterweight title against Shane Mosley.
LOS ANGELES – Weight wasn’t an issue for Gilroy native Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, who tipped the scales at 129.5 pounds during Friday’s weigh-in at the Nokia Center in Los Angeles.
After spending 11 months out of the ring due to a contractual dispute with his former promoter, Goossen Tutor, Guerrero (22-1-1, 15 KOs) will be facing Edel Ruiz (31-21-4, 22 KOs) in a super featherweight bout Saturday at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The pair will be fighting on a card headlined by Antonio Margarito defending his WBA welterweight title against Shane Mosley.
“It’s exciting that I just weighed-in and I know I’m fighting,” Guerrero said. “It really paid off signing with Oscar and making the move to go with a new promoter.”
Oscar De La Hoya, a world champion in six different divisions, founded Golden Boy Promotions, which signed Guerrero to a multi-year deal on Dec. 18, 2008.
Ruiz weighed in at 130 pounds.
Along with the difficulty of facing a southpaw in Guerrero, Ruiz, standing 5-foot-7, will be at a one-inch height disadvantage. He also gives up two inches in reach.
Other than standing side-by-side for a standard pre-fight photo, Guerrero and his opponent had little to no communication.
Guerrero has fought just once at Staples Center, but the memory is still fresh. He won the IBF featherweight title for the first time of his career by forcing Eric Aiken to quit after eight rounds on Sept. 2, 2006. Guerrero has fought just four times since, but during that time he lost and regained his title, defended it twice, and then relinquished the belt to move up a weight class.
Along with the excitement of returning to the ring, Guerrero, a fight fan in his own right, said he was looking forward to the main event. Having trained with Mosley over the last few years, Guerrero and the fellow Golden Boy fighter have formed a friendship. While his allegiance is with the nearly 3-to-1 underdog, Guerrero wasn’t so bold to make a prediction for either corner.
“I’m leaning toward Shane Mosley because he’s a good friend and he’s part of Golden Boy, but that Margarito is a tough character and the way he fights is brutal,” he said.
Mosley was forced to shed .2 pounds during the press conference after the scales jumped from 147 to 147.2 pounds on his first try. Margarito had no problems making weight.
From now until the first bell of his fight with Ruiz, which is likely to occur around 5:45 p.m., Guerrero said he will be mentally preparing.
“Basically, I’m going to visualize tomorrow’s fight,” he said. “When I hit the locker room, that’s when I get fired up and ready to go.”
Guerrero said he and his father/trainer, Ruben, have been studying film of Ruiz over the last two weeks to work out a gameplan.
“We sat down and we’ve seen some things, things that we can capitalize on,” he said.
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To find out how Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero performs in his first fight in almost a year, go to gilroydispatch.com/sports. Dispatch sports editor Josh Koehn will be blogging live from the event.
