Current IBF Junior Lightweight World Title holder Robert
”
The Ghost
”
Guerrero announced today that he is vacating his title in order
to continue to care for his wife Casey, who is battling
leukemia
PALO ALTO — With his head held high but a softness in his voice, three-time world champion boxer Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero stood outside the entrance of Stanford Medical Center describing the condition of his wife, Casey, who received a bone marrow transplant four weeks ago.
“She’s doing well. She’s doing better,” the Gilroy native said of his wife, whom he met 11 years ago when the two of them were in middle school. “She’s making good progress. It’s a slow process and she’s fighting through it. Only time will tell how everything comes out at the end.”
The small news conference Wednesday afternoon came one day after he vacated his IBF Junior Lightweight title to fully dedicate his time to caring for Casey. Casey was diagnosed with leukemia in Nov. 2007, and Robert has been by her side, spending half of every day at the hospital recently.
Yet, Robert said he had no hesitation in his recent decisions to put his flourishing boxing career on hold.
“You don’t want to have the stress of having to worry about defending it or getting it stripped, so just vacate it and give someone else a shot,” Guerrero said.
His decision came a week after he withdrew from a March 27 bout with Michael Katsidis. In that fight, Robert, 26, would have had the opportunity to lay claim to his fourth world championship in a third weight class.
With the uncertainty surrounding Casey’s health in these crucial weeks after the transplant -– doctors do not know whether her body will reject the new bone marrow –- Robert’s main focus shifted to the well-being of his wife.
He said that boxing immediately took a back seat despite the fact that he was approaching the biggest and most lucrative fight of his career. His attention is now on helping Casey fight for her life.
“(Her doctors) are taking good care of her. Stanford is one of the best hospitals in the world,” Robert said.
Casey has been kept in an isolated room to protect her from infection while her immune system is weakened from surgery.
“She’s doing well. She’s doing better,” Guerrero said. “She’s making good progress. It’s a slow process and she’s fighting through it. Only time will tell how everything comes out at the end.”
Anytime Robert visits he wife, he must thoroughly wash his hands and wear a mask and gown.
The Guerreros have a 2-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter. The two children saw their mom Tuesday for the first time since her Jan. 25 transplant.
“They were excited about that and so was she,” Robert said, cracking a rare smile. “That really lifted her spirits being able to see her kids.
“They are pretty sharp kids. They know what’s going on. They know she’s sick, and when she goes to the hospital the doctors are taking care of her.”
Robert would not set a time table for his return to the ring but made it clear he is confident he will get another shot at a title.
“I’ll be back,” he said, raising his fists as if squaring up with an opponent. “Right now I’m not sure when, but I know I’ll be back in the ring.”
