Robert
”
The Ghost
”
Guerrero barely had a chance to break in his gloves Saturday
night at The Tank in San Jose, as his NABO junior lightweight title
fight with Daud Yordan was ruled a no contest 1:47 into the second
round after Guerrero developed a cut over his right eye
SAN JOSE — Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero barely had a chance to break in his gloves Saturday night at The Tank in San Jose, as his NABO junior lightweight title fight with Daud Yordan was ruled a no contest 1:47 into the second round after Guerrero developed a cut over his right eye.
“I’m so disappointed,” Guerrero said. “This is bad luck. I wanted to please the crowd.”
Fighting just half an hour from his hometown of Gilroy, Guerrero was the crowd favorite and busier fighter in the first round, throwing most of his shots to Yordan’s body. Yordan had a couple good moments of his own, connecting on a straight right a minute into the round and a left hook in the final 30 seconds.
Both fighters were still getting comfortable in the second round when Guerrero, a lefty, threw a left hook to the body, followed by a straight right that missed Yordan. The Indonesian leaned in while shedding the punch and butted the right eye of Guerrero (23-1-1, 16 KOs). The head butt was ruled accidental.
“I’m really sorry about the head butt,” said Yordan, who remains 17-0 with 12 KOs. “But this is what happens when a southpaw fights against a right-hander.”
The cut spiraled over the middle of Guerrero’s eyebrow, and was ruled too deep to let the fight continue, drawing a torrent of boos and a singular chant of “bull-(expletive)” from the 6,765 in attendance.
Guerrero’s co-managers, Shelly Finkel and Bob Santos, estimated the Gilroy fighter will be out three to four months. Immediately after the bout, Guerrero was scheduled to have a plastic surgeon stitch the cut.
Finkel said Guerrero would be back in the ring as soon as his eye heals, possibly for a rematch against Yordan.
With the fight ruled a no contest, Yordan’s most notable career accomplishment remains winning the vacant WBO Asia-Pacific Youth featherweight title in 2007. The Indonesian entered the fight ranked fourth in the world amongst junior lightweights by the WBO.
Guerrero, a former two-time IBF featherweight champ who relinquished his title to move up a weight class, had hoped to be busy in the first half of 2009 after fighting just once last year. Guerrero beat Jason Litzau with an eighth-round knockout on Feb. 29, 2008, and had only fought once since then going into Saturday.
Guerrero recorded a 43-second knockout of Edel Ruiz six weeks ago at Staples Center in Los Angeles, and the bout was viewed as a tune-up for Saturday’s fight.
Notes: Victor Ortiz (24-1-1, 19 KOs) won the second co-main event with a TKO of Mike Arnaoutis in the second round, giving Ortiz the NABO and USBA junior welterweight titles. Junior middleweight James Kirkland (25-0, 22 KOs) won a TKO over Joel Julio (34-3, 31 KOs) in the final fight of the night, as Julio was forced to quit before the start of the seventh round due to a cut over his right eye.
On the undercard, Salinas’ Eloy Perez improved to 13-0-2 (3 KOs) by dropping Gabe Garcia in the fourth round. It was the second time Garcia hit the canvas in the fight, earning Perez a TKO as the referee was forced to step in and stop the action.
Other local fighters taking part in the 11-bout card included San Francisco natives Karim Mayfield and Ashanti Jordan. Mayfield (8-0-1, 5 KOs), a welterweight, beat Mario Lozano by unanimous decision (56-55, 56-55, 57-54). Jordan (8-0 , 7 KOs), fighting in the last bout before Guerrero and Yordan kicked off the co-main events, delivered a crushing straight left to the chin of Willie Perryman (10-18, 7 KOs) to floor the Mississippi native with 1:10 left in the third round.
