Guerrero wants rematch with Thurman

By Boxing News - 03/08/2015 - Comments

guerrero444688888By Dan Ambrose: Despite taking a punishing 12 round unanimous decision loss last Saturday night to WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (32-3-1, 18 KOs) says he would like to get a rematch against the hard-hitting 26-year-old Thurman if possible.

Guerrero, 31, thinks he could do things differently in the rematch to improve upon the way he fought last night, starting with using his jab more. Guerrero believes he made a mistake by abandoning his jab early on in the fight and just plodding into Thurman’s shots.

Guerrero also thinks he would need to put more pressure on Thurman in a rematch in order to have a chance of winning the fight. Guerrero did a good job of pressuring Thurman early in the first four rounds, and in the last part of the fight, but he didn’t pressure him enough in the middle of the fight.

YouTube video

This allowed Thurman to control the middle rounds and fight at a slow pace. Thurman was at his best when he wasn’t receiving any pressure, and he was able to pick his spots to land his pot shots.

“Most definitely, I want to get back in there with him [Thurman],” Guerrero said to Fighthype.com. “I think I do want to get back in there with him.”

Guerrero may want to get back in the ring with Thurman, but it’s doubtful that Thurman will bother going backwards to take that fight again. It’s a fight that likely wouldn’t sell tickets the second time around, and the ratings would also suffer.

The fight was too one-sided for Thurman and Guerrero to face each other again so soon. The only way a second fight could take place is if Guerrero beats some solid fighters and picks up one of the welterweight world titles. If he can beat a guy like IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, and then defend the title once or twice, Guerrero will increase his chances of getting a second fight against Thurman.

Guerrero would be better off in moving down to light welterweight and campaigning in that division. His lack of punching power wouldn’t hinder him as much at 140 as it does at 147, and he could prolong his career as a top fighter.

At welterweight, I think it’s pretty much over for Guerrero. He’s now been soundly beaten by Floyd Mayweather Jr and Thurman, and there’s really not much hope for Guerrero to defeat or even get fights against the other champions Brook and Manny Pacquiao.

You’ve got to give Guerrero a ton of credit in moving up in weight from the lightweight division in 2012 to fight in the welterweight division. Guerrero did reasonably well in moving up two entire divisions. Not too many fighters could do that and fight as well as Guerrero has.

Can you picture Thurman moving up two divisions over night to fight at middleweight against the likes of Gennady Golovkin? I don’t Thurman would do very well against a guy like Golovkin, even if Thurman chose to run from him for 12 rounds.

Golovkin would catch Thurman again and again to punish him against the ropes with head and body shots. The fact that Guerrero was willing to move up two entire divisions to fight guys that are natural welterweights, it says a lot about Guerrero’s courage. Until someone like Thurman moves up to middleweight to fight Golovkin, you’ve got to give Guerrero a ton of respect for what he did.

When asked what he’d do different the next time around to beat Thurman, Guerrero said “Use my jab more. I think I won a lot of fans. If Thurman would not have moved so much, it would have been a tremendous fight for the fans. As soon as he got that bump, he started moving really good. Yeah, I didn’t want to attack it [the bump on Thurman’s forehead], because it was swelling up really bad. He gave me a lot of movement. He was picking and poking. The power didn’t bother me. My rather said ‘you got to get in there and start putting pressure.’ I had to put the pressure, but that kind of played into Thurman’s hands though. He’s a great counter puncher, and he was catching me with shots.”



Comments are closed.