By Jim Dower: Former two division world champion Robert Guerrero (29-1-1, 18 KO’s) will be moving up from the lightweight division to take on #1 WBC ranked welterweight contender Selcuk Aydin (23-0, 17 KO’s) on July 28th at the Shark Tank in San Jose, California.

Despite taking a big jump up in weight, Guerrero, 5’8″, will be sporting an inch height advantage over the 5’7″ and a huge five inch reach advantage over the short-armed 28-year-old Aydin. This is a very winnable fight for the 28-year-old Guerrero, who was scheduled to face light welterweight slugger Marcos Maidana late last year but Guerrero tore his left rotator cuff and has been out of action ever since. Guerrero hasn’t fought since beating lightweight Michael Katsidis by a lopsided 12 round decision last April in 2011.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN writer Dan Rafael “Just because people in the U.S. haven’t really seen him, Aydin is a very strong guy. He reminds me a little of Marcos Maidana. he will certainly be the biggest test for Robert…Beating Aydin would clearly establish Robert at 147 and open the doors to big fights with the win.”

I’m surprised Aydin’s promoters have agreed to this fight, because it’s a fight that would seem to favor the southpaw Guerrero in size, experience, talent and the venue. Aydin never got a title shot against former WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto despite being the mandatory challenger. Berto went in other directions instead of taking on the hard hitting but little known Aydin.

Aydin has beaten some quality fighters in the past, beating Ionut “Jo Jo Dan” Ion twice, and also defeating Jackson Osei Bobsu and Said Ouali. The fights with Ouali and Jo Jo Dan were very close for Aydin and he didn’t exactly impress against either of those guys.

Guerrero should beat Aydin but he’s going to take a lot of punishment because Aydin does punch hard and he’s got the short arms that enables him to punch with a ton of power from short distances. I don’t agree that this is Guerrero’s toughest test of his career, because he was pretty well handled by Orlando Salido earlier in his career in a 12 round decision loss that was overturned when Salido tested positive for a performance enhancing drug after the fight.