Robert Guerrero

Robert Guerrero
Data
Birth Name	Robert Joseph Guerrero
Fight name	The ghost
Weight class	lightweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	March 27, 1983
place of birth	Gilroy
style	Southpaw
size	1.73 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	45
Victories	36
Knockout victories	20th
Defeats	6th
draw	1
No value	2

Robert Joseph Guerrero (born March 27, 1983 in Gilroy , California ) is an American professional boxer of Mexican descent. He is a former, two-time IBF world champion in featherweight, former world champion of the IBF in super featherweight, former interim world champion of the WBA and WBO in lightweight, and former interim world champion of the WBC welterweight.

Boxing career

Robert Guerrero, named after one of his grandfathers, comes from a traditional family of boxers; so were not only his grandfather, but also his uncles and brothers boxing athletes. It was only 9 years old, he began boxing and still received the same age the nom de guerre "The Ghost" ( The Spirit ), because of its speed in the ring and the most unsuccessful attempts of his opponents to meet him.

As a 15-year-old he won the gold medal at the National Junior Olympics in light flyweight. A year later he was invited to the Olympic Trials, the national qualifying tournament for the 2000 Summer Olympics, as the youngest boxer in US history . There he was defeated, however, by the three-time US champion Clarence Vinson on points. Guerrero himself described this defeat as the most painful moment of his boxing career to date. Vinson was later also able to win the bronze medal at the Olympic Games.

In 2001 Guerrero started his professional career and won his first 11 fights in a row. In March 2004, his fight against the Mexican Julián Rodríguez (15 wins - 9 losses) ended after the first round with a technical draw, as Guerrero had sustained an injury that prevented him from continuing the fight. In his next fight in April 2004, he defeated the former IBF world champion Juan Polo Pérez by technical knockout (tKo) in the second round. He also defeated the former WBA world champion Enrique Sánchez (30-2) in June 2004 by tKo in the eighth round.

On December 9, 2004 he was in Temecula North American champion of the NABF in featherweight; he defeated the Mexican César Figueroa (28-4) by knockout in the fourth round. Then he defended the title through tKo in round 12 against the Mexican champion Adrián Valdez (16-3) and through knockout in the first round against the former Mundo Hispano champion Sammy Ventura.

In his third title defense on December 2, 2005 in Lemoore , he lost just on points against the Mexican Gamaliel Díaz, but won the rematch by knockout in round 6.

On September 2, 2006, he became the new IBF featherweight champion in Los Angeles with a tKo victory in round 8 against the American Eric Aiken . His first title defense against Orlando Salido on November 4, 2006 he lost on points, but Salido was tested positive for steroids shortly after the fight , whereupon the fight was annulled with a no-contest result . Salido was stripped of the IBF title.

On February 23, 2007 in Copenhagen Guerrero again got the chance to win the now vacant title against Spend Abazi (35-1), which he was able to win back through tKo in the ninth round. He also defeated Martín Honorio (24-3) by tKo in the first round and Jason Litzau (23-1) by knockout in the eighth round in the following title defenses. On June 23, 2008, Guerrero voluntarily resigned the IBF title to move up to super featherweight.

There he boxed on March 7, 2009 in San José against the undefeated Indonesian Daud Yordan (23-0) for the vacant North American championship title of NABO . The fight ended already in the second round, because Guerrero was injured in the eye by an unintentional headbutt and the referee then ended the duel on the advice of the ring doctor.

On August 22, 2009, he defeated the South African Malcolm Klassen (24-4) unanimously on points in Houston and thus won his IBF world title in super featherweight, which he resigned in February 2010 to take care of his wife, the has leukemia .

In April 2010 he started his comeback in the lightweight. After following victories against the South American champion Roberto David Arrieta (35-15) and ex-world champion Joel Casamayor (37-4), he won on November 6, 2010 in Newark unanimously on points against Vicente Escobedo (22-2) and received the vacant, intercontinental championship title of the WBO.

On April 9, 2011, he won the interim WBA and WBO lightweight titles in Las Vegas. He beat the Australian Michael Katsidis (27-3) unanimously on points. However, he put the title down again in August and September of the same year to prepare for a July 2012 WBC welterweight title fight against Selçuk Aydın (23-0). He finally defeated the Turks unanimously on July 28th.

He defended the interim welterweight championship title of the WBC on November 24, 2012 in California unanimously on points against Andre Berto (28-1). He was thus world championship challenger to Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0), against whom he lost on points on May 4, 2013 in Las Vegas.

On June 21, 2014 he won on points against the Japanese Yoshihiro Kamegai (24-1). In March 2015 he lost on points to Keith Thurman (24-0). In January 2016 he failed in a WBC title fight in Los Angeles against Danny García (31-0).

After losing to David Emanuel Peralta (25-2) on points in August 2016, he lost to Omar Figueroa (26-0) in July 2017 by technical knockout . After the fight, he announced his retirement from boxing.

predecessor	Office	successor
Eric Aiken	Featherweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) September 2, 2006 - November 4, 2006	Orlando Salido

predecessor	Office	successor
Orlando Salido	Featherweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) February 23, 2007 - June 23, 2008	Cristobal Cruz

predecessor	Office	successor
Malcolm classes	Super featherweight boxing champion ( IBF ) August 22, 2009 - February 16, 2010	Mzonke Fana

Web links

• Profile at BoxRec
• US Olympic Trials 2000, Boxing-Strefa
• Interview at Eastsideboxing
• Interview at Boxinginsider