Gilroy
– With a fourth round knockout of Cesar Figueroa on Dec. 9,
Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero won the NABF featherweight belt,
unveiled a complete set of boxing skills and took a major step
towards a world title.
Gilroy – With a fourth round knockout of Cesar Figueroa on Dec. 9, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero won the NABF featherweight belt, unveiled a complete set of boxing skills and took a major step towards a world title.
Sounds like an unqualified success.
Not so fast, says Guerrero’s manager, Bob Santos. There’s no question the Figueroa fight was an unqualified success from a ring standpoint. It’s in the politics of boxing where it gets a little tricky.
The problem is that Guerrero didn’t just beat Figueroa, he dismantled him. The knockout was the work of a fighter in complete control of the ring, coolly forcing his opponent into mistakes, taking advantages of openings and then striking quickly and mercilessly.
Guerrero became a complete boxer that night at the Pechanga Casino and Resort. And that scares the managers of other fighters, says Santos.
“When people see this fight, they’re going to see a Robert Guerrero they’ve never seen before,” the manager said. “Most managers are not going to want to put their fighters in the ring against this guy.”
Because the fight game makes the college football BCS selection process look like a model of transparency, the prosect of fighters ducking Guerrero – and thus prolonging that road to a WBC or WBA title bout – is very real.
The upshot, though, is that a couple of factors should help Guerrero get his title shot, according to Santos. First, there are the new rankings coming out soon. “They come out in a month,” Santos said, “And (Guerrero) will be Top 10 across the board, Top 5 in some places.”
What that means is that boxing commissions will force the hands of fighters who’d like to duck Guerrero, by demanding mandatory fights in keeping with the rankings.
A second, and perhaps more important factor is Guerrero’s growing popularity. The Ghost “looks great on TV” said Santos, meaning the ratings seekers at Showtime and Fox Sports will be applying pressure to reluctant managers for fights as well. Big paydays in the ring are temptations that are tough to turn down.
Last week, Showtime boxing division executives voted Guerrero the “Best Young Featherweight in Boxing” and the NABF named him “Boxer of the Month” for December. The buzz is building.
The Guerrero team plans to capitalize on that buzz in 2005. Santos said they’ll be looking for “three to four fights,” with a title bout a possibility next year.
