Martin Honorio saw 21 punches thrown in his direction Saturday
night. It was punch number 22 that came out of nowhere.
Tucson, Ariz.
Martin Honorio saw 21 punches thrown in his direction Saturday night. It was punch number 22 that came out of nowhere.
Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero delivered an unseen straight-left to Honorio’s face after connecting with a short right jab, flooring the Mexico City-based boxer for a technical knockout 56 seconds into the first round of their IBF Featherweight title fight.
Honorio tried to gather himself from the canvas after referee Tony Weeks yelled “ocho” in his count to ten, but the challenger had no equilibrium as he trotted to the ropes on the other side of the ring. Weeks immediately shielded Honorio to stop the bout.
Guerrero, standing in the neutral corner, turned to climb the ropes before pointing to the crowd and then into a television camera, dedicating the victory to his wife and others battling cancer.
Guerrero’s wife, Casey, 23, was diagnosed with leukemia just eight days before the bout at Desert Diamond Casino in Tucson, Ariz.
“All the training, the emotions up and down, being mentally focused because of what’s going on with my wife,” Guerrero said by phone Saturday night, “you know what, all I can say is God is great. You couldn’t have planned it any better.”
The TKO improved the Gilroy native’s record (21-1-1, 13 KOs) while also giving him two career milestones: The quickest victory of his career and his first successful title defense. The 24-year-old’s win is expected to open doors to fights with bigger names, which in turn will mean bigger paydays.
Honorio’s record dropped to 24-4-1 with the defeat.
Just days earlier, Guerrero wasn’t even sure if he was going to go through with the fight. His camp had advised him to cancel the bout due to the stress he was under and the focus needed when entering the ring. Guerrero decided to go forward as planned after receiving his wife’s blessing.
“At first there was talk of canceling the fight, you gotta be 100 percent focused going into the ring at all times,” he said. “She told me, ‘I want you to go and fight. You’ve been training a long time. I want you to go out there and make it happen.’ And that’s what I did.”
The plan of luring Honorio into a straight-left also went as hoped for.
“Me and my father were practicing that a lot – take that half-step back and then just fire that tight straight left,” Guerrero said. “Right out of the gate, as soon as I walked up to him, the round started and I saw him lean when he threw his jab. And he was trying to throw his right hand leaning forward, and that counter came and I fired right back, straight down the pipe.”
“It was just being patient and timing it right,” he said. “Usually, I come out more busy than that.”
Perhaps the busiest Guerrero was all weekend was the day before the fight, when he flew into Tucson and then needed a couple hours to make the 126-pound weight limit.
Aside from that little inconvenience, Guerrero said the fight couldn’t have gone any better.
“Oh no, not at all,” he said. “I mean, I didn’t even get hit.”
Note: The main event also featured a successful title defense when Juan Manuel Marquez (48-3-1) retained his WBC Super Featherweight crown by defeating Rocky Juarez (27-4) in a unanimous decision. Juarez was Guerrero’s original opponent before replacing Jorge Barrios, which opened the door for Honorio to challenge The Ghost.
