By Allan Fox: Former two division world champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (32-3-1, 18 KOs) will be fighting next month on June 6th in a scheduled 10-round bout against 2nd tier welterweight Aaron Martinez (19-3-1, 4 KOs) on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC at the StubHub Center, in Carson, California, USA.
The 32-year-old Guerrero has lost two out of his last three fights and has been knocked out of the top 15 at 147 because of that. Guerrero needs to start accumulating victories even if it’s against 2nd tier fighters like the little known 33-year-old Martinez.
Also on the card is WBA regular featherweight champion Jesus Marcelo Andres Cuellar (26-1, 20 KOs) defending his title against 39-year-old former two division world champion Vic Darchinyan (40-7-1, 29 KOs). Cuellar, 28, was recently elevated from the interim WBA to the regular WBA featherweight champion. Nicholas Walters is the WBA Super World featherweight champion. The WBA is one of the sanctioning bodies that makes it confusing by having two world champions in each weight class instead of just one. They also have an interim champion. It’s a mess. Cuellar, who comes from Argentina, has beaten Ruben Tamayo and Juan Manuel Lopez in his last two fights. Cuellar is a good fighter, but probably not anywhere near the class of other featherweight champions like Nicholas Walters, Gary Russell Jr. and Vasyl Lomachenko.
Heavyweight Chris Arreola (36-4, 31 KOs) is on the card against an opponent that has yet to be determined. Also, former world title challenger junior middleweight Alfredo Angulo (22-5, 18 KOs) will be in action against an opponent still to be determined. Both Arreola and Angulo are trying to rebuild their careers after recent losses.
Guerrero looked good at times in his last fight in losing to WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman by a 12 round unanimous decision last March. Guerrero didn’t have the punching power to compete with Thurman though, and this resulted in Guerrero getting dominated in the 2nd half of the fight. He was knocked down by Thurman in the 9th. But considering that Guerrero started his career at super featherweight, he did a very good job against a guy that has been mowing down a lot of his opponents.
Guerrero at least forced Thurman to get on his bike and start using movement after he took some big shots from Guerrero in the early going. Before the fight, Thurman had talked about wanting to stand and trade with Guerrero for the first six rounds to show boxing fans that he could do that. But what we saw was Thurman trading for the first three rounds, and then choosing to move constantly from the 4th round on. Guerrero showed that Thurman doesn’t seem to do well when he stays stationary. He doesn’t react well when getting hit hard, and his defense isn’t that great.
“I’m very happy to be making a quick return to the ring, especially on NBC,” said Guerrero. “It’s an honor to be fighting at StubHub Center once again as the main event. I’m going to bring it like always and give the fans an exciting fight. I can’t wait for the bell to ring!”
Guerrero needs to go after one of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s soon to be vacated WBA, WBC and WBO welterweight titles. Guerrero will have a good chance of winning at least one of those belts if he’s matched against the right guy.
Guerrero doesn’t have the punching power to beat some of the top guys at 147, but if he were to move down to 140 or 135, he would likely do really well. But the money is at 147, so that’s a pretty good reason for Guerrero to stay at that weight. But he’s got the talent to be a world champion at light welterweight and lightweight.
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