By Eric Thomas: Former two division world champion Roberto Guerrero (28-1-1, 18 KO’s) won a lopsided 10 round unanimous decision over former 2004 U.S. Olympian Escobedo (22-3, 14 KO’s) on Saturday night on the undercard of the Zab Judah vs. Lucas Matthysse bout at the Prudential Center, in Newark, New Jersey. The final judges’ scores were 100-90, 98-90 and 96-92.

Guerrero, 27, knocked the 29-year-old Escobedo down twice in the 10 round bout, but more important it put Guerrero in position to challenge the winner of the November 27th fight between WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Michael Katsidis.

Escobedo was cut on the scalp from a head butt in the 1st round. The cut caused blood to steam down Escobedo’s face. In the 3rd, Guerrero knocked Escobedo down big left and right hand. However, Escobedo fought well for the remainder of the round. Guerrero punished Escobedo with body shots and ripping hooks and uppercuts to the head in rounds four and five. In the 6th, Guerrero dropped Escobedo with a left uppercut to the head.

Guerrero, ranked #1 WBO and #2 WBA in the lightweight division, has previously captured world titles in the featherweight and super featherweight division. Guerrero is now looking for his third world title in as many divisions, but he’s going to have his hands full if he ends up having to face the 37-year-old Marquez in the future.

That might be a bit too much for Guerrero to be able to handle. Katsidis would be a far less formidable option, but even that fight would be asking a lot of the tall slender Guerrero. Katsidis is quite big for the lightweight division and very powerful.

Although Guerrero might eventually be able to wear Katsidis down, he would take huge punishment from the Australian in order to get a win. It’s unclear whether Marquez will agree to fight Guerrero or if he’ll instead go after a better named opponent. Guerrero is a good fighter, but he’s not the big money opponent that Marquez is looking for at this point in his career.

Marquez wants a fight with Manny Pacquiao, but he’s going to have to wait and see if the Filipino star and his promoter Bob Arum show interest in fighting him again.
Guerrero had this to say after the fight, “I feel great. I’m the mandatory for Marquez-Katsidis. I want Marquez. He’s the best in the division but if it’s Katsidis, it doesn’t matter. I’ll fight anyone.”