Seeking experience above everything else right now, Randy Guerrero, brother of two-time IBF Featherweight champ Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero, feels ring battles with the best opponents is the only way he's going to improve as a boxer.
Taking the nickname "The Most" from promoter Rick Mello, Guerrero headlined The North/Central Amateur Championships Saturday night in front of a near-capacity crowd at the Elk's Lodge in Gilroy.
Although he fell to opponent Andy Denecse, 17, of San Jose, Guerrero, 16, lost by just two points on the decision.
"It's experience for me," said Guerrero (5-2) after the fight. "I fought an open fighter with 14 fights.
"I'm basically the only fighter around who fights open."
As the score card eventually read, the match between the 133-pound Guerrero and Denecse was practically split.
While Denecse, who weighed in at 131 pounds, appeared to be the aggressor in the second round, Guerrero managed to defend most of his opponent's punches. In the third round, though, after the fight was briefly stopped when Denecse hit Guerrero in the back of the head, Guerrero responded with perhaps his best combo of the night, connecting on a flurry of jabs to the head.
Guerrero's father and trainer, Ruben, felt his son did great in the ring Saturday.
"These guys are a different type of fighter, more moving around the ring, more jumping around," Ruben said. "Randy had to catch him a little. But either one could have won. It was a close fight."
Randy Guerrero said he needed to improve upon his footwork and his jab, but he didn't feel discouraged at all by the close two-point decision.
Ruben, noting Randy's need for experience, felt there was no need to feel disappointed by the close outcome.
"The more he fights, the better he'll get," Ruben said. "The ones you want to win are the big, national fights. Those are the ones that count."
On the 11-fight undercard Saturday, Hollister's Tony Corrales, 17, won by a unanimous decision against Luis Villagomez, who fought unattached out of Fresno.
Although Villagomez, 20, landed a few hooks to the head in the first and second rounds, they usually came in defense of an attacking Corrales.
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The road to nationals
