CARSON — All eyes were on Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero as he made his return to the ring—and he didn’t disappoint.
Guerrero (32-2, 18 KOs) brought his A-game, winning by unanimous decision (116-112, 117-111, 117-111) over Japan’s Yoshihiro Kamegai (24-2, 21 KOs) in a 12-round welterweight bout of SHOWTIME Championship Boxing’s main event at the StubHub Center Saturday in Carson.
Despite a 13-month layoff—not having fought since losing to Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 4, 2013—Guerrero showed no signs of ring rust. Though it was his goal to not fall into Kamegai’s style of fighting, that’s exactly what happened. The bout quickly turned into a good old fashioned brawl.
“I’m not a runner, man,” Guerrero said. “I got in there and banged it out with him. He was a tough guy, man. He hits hard.”
It was the first time Kamegai had gone 12 rounds, but Guerrero said he expected nothing but the best from his opponent. Though the Gilroy boxer landed 411 power punches of his own, he was met by 278 from Kamegai.
“They come 110 percent better than what you see them on tape,” Guerrero said. “This is their opportunity. This is their opportunity to come out and do something in the world and shine on SHOWTIME main event of championship boxing. He gave me his all.”
Kamegai put up an exciting performance of his own, staying on his feet despite devastating blows from Guerrero—especially in rounds 8 and 12. The Japanese fighter shined at close range, but lacked defense when Guerrero was able to create distance.
Kamegai had Guerrero against the ropes several times in the bout, but the Gilroy boxer didn’t seem phased. Kamegai said prior to the fight that he was training for the best version of Guerrero and it paid off with an electric performance in front of an amped up crowd, but had little to say after the fight.
“I lost the fight, there’s not much more I can say right now,” Kamegai said via a translator.
Guerrero suffered a cut above his left eye in Round 6, the result of hard blow—followed by two more—by Kamegai, which quickly began to swell. Despite his eye almost closing up, Guerrero hung tough to finish the fight and seemed mostly unaffected by it.
“It closed up, I was having trouble a little bit, but that’s no excuse,” he said. “You’ve gotta still keep fighting; that’s the name of the game. You can’t cry about swollen eyes or anything or (a) busted nose—you’ve gotta keep going.”
Guerrero and his team hopes the win is the start of a comeback and they have their eyes set on bigger opponents. But for now, the Gilroy boxer just wants to revel in his victory.
“There’s a lot of fights out there. We’re going to sit back and enjoy the win,” Guerrero said. “There’s a lot of big ones out there and I’m going to let my management take care of that and see what’s next for us. We’re ready to go.”
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