The Ghost honored by Boxing Writers’ Association of America
Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero received the Bill Crawford Courage Award at the 86th annual Boxing Writers’ Association of America awards dinner held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Friday night.
Given to those who demonstrate “Courage in Overcoming Adversity,” the distinction was first awarded in 2005 and past recipients include, Kassim Ouma (2005), Muhammad Ali (2006), Anthony and Lamont Peterson (2007), Genaro Hernandez and George Kimball (2008) and Nick Charles and George Chuvalo (2009).
Guerrero’s decision to vacate his IBF lightweight title to care for wife Casey, who was diagnosed with leukemia in 2007, while she recovered from a bone marrow transplant in February 2010 has been highly publicized. Since then, The Ghost is 4-0 and received due praise after a convincing unanimous decision victory over Michael Katsidis to earn the interim WBO and WBA lightweight world titles on April 9.
“First I want to thank God. He’s blessed me a lot and my wife is here with me today. She’s been a year in remission and she’s cancer free,” Guerrero said during his acceptance speech.
“I just want to thank Golden Boy for being by my side every step of the way when I vacated my title and had to take care of my wife. I’m thankful to the writers for recognizing my courage outside the ring. I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support. I’m back now and coming to fight hard for all the fans.”
The accolade’s namesake, Bill Crawford, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in World War II. He died in 2000.
n “Robert Guerrero Day” is May 15 from Non to 6 p.m. on Fifth Street between Monterey Road and Eigleberry Street in Downtown Gilroy.
