Having competed in five different weight classes over the span of 16 years, Robert Guerrero is now calling it a career.
The former four-division world titlist announced his retirement this afternoon, less than 48 hours removed from a third round TKO loss to Omar Figueroa.
“First, I want to thank God for allowing me to have a wonderful career,” said Guerrero in a statement. “I’m a kid from a small town in Gilroy, California, who made it to the mountain top of the boxing world. When I was a young kid growing up, I always believed in myself, but never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined a small-town kid like myself, would be fighting in front of millions of fans.”
Having competed as low as 122 pounds after turning pro in 2001, Guerrero won his first world title in 2006 by defeating Eric Aiken for the IBF featherweight strap. In 2009, he defeated Malcolm Klassen for the IBF super featherweight title. The Ghost would go on to pick up interim titles at lightweight and welterweight in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
“I competed at super-bantamweight and won world titles across multiple weight classes, closing my career at welterweight, fighting the big guys 25 pounds heavier,” Guerrero said. “A good friend always told me I was God’s warrior, born to fight. I enjoyed every minute of every war. I represented my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with the bible verse Acts 2:38 on my trunks. If I reached one person and brought that person closer to Christ, then it was all worth it.”
Guerrero was a part of several notable bouts over the last five years. He was the opponent for Floyd Mayweather’s first Showtime pay-per-view, the first main event for Premier Boxing Champions when he faced Keith Thurman, and engaged in two brutal Fight of the Year candidates against Yoshihiro Kamegai and Andre Berto.
He finishes with a record of 33-6-1 (18 KOs).
This is welcome news. There’s been a lot of jokes lately over all the PBC main events Guerrero has received in the last few years, but you can never question his effort in the ring. To go from 122 to 147 is an achievement in itself, and long-time fans will recall he went from a technician at the lower weights to a rugged brawler above 135.
Problem is, there’s only so much punishment you can take from naturally bigger men. The wars with Berto and Kamegai didn’t help, but the noticeable decline began with the Thurman beating in 2015. Danny Garcia accelerated it last year and Figueroa finished it over the weekend. Officially, Guerrero is 1-4 over his last five and hasn’t clearly won a fight since 2014.
The bad reaction to every landed Figueroa uppercut made the end inevitable. And yet, Guerrero kept fighting until nothing was left.
Robert Guerrero is 34 years old. Young outside the ring, but battle-weary inside. Here’s hoping that he’s getting out in time enough to enjoy a retirement with minimal long-term health issues.
FROM ONE TIME TO RUN TIME: Remember how Oscar De La Hoya thought he had big lead and coasted the final four rounds against Felix Trinidad? It wasn’t that ridiculous tonight, but Thurman clearly was nursing his lead. His punch output dropped and his feet picked up the slack. Outside of the 12th were Garcia landed some good, sustained body blow on the ropes, Thurman didn’t take much serious damage. However, rounds 10-12 clearly went to Garcia and added some drama to the scorecard announcement.
