By Jake Donovan

The natural industry reaction to a fight pitting a boxer of Puerto Rican heritage versus a boxer whose roots trace back to Mexico is to automatically conjure up memories of the long-standing rivalry that exists in sports.

It has resurfaced as we get closer to fight night, when unbeaten former World super lightweight champ Danny Garcia faces former two-division champ Robert Guerrero. The two collide on January 23, with the bout to air live in primetime in the inaugural edition of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on free-to-air Fox, live from Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

Garcia (31-0, 18KOs) has always been a Philly fighter first, but one who takes tremendous pride in his Puerto Rican roots, with both of his parents born and raised on the island. However, it has always stopped short of his serving as the face of Boricua culture – something that normally comes by appointment, but not a label the boxer has gone out of his way to wear.

“The way I see it, I represent all Latinos,” Garcia said during a recent media conference call to discuss the upcoming event. “Whether Puerto Rican, Mexican… for anyone of Hispanic heritage born in the United States, we represent Latinos as a whole.”

The stance is in line with Garcia’s general demeanor as a boxer – fight who they put in front of him, let his team handle all of the sidebar stuff.

Guerrero shares that sentiment to a degree. Save for a year-long stretch where his close-knit team seemed to be sending daily alerts of demanding a showdown with Floyd Mayweather (a fight he’d eventually land a year or so after the aggressive campaign), the Bay Area boxer normally keeps his head down and willingly accepts any challenge with which he is presented.

It showed in the very first PBC event, where Guerrero braved the challenge of Keith Thurman, falling well short versus the unbeaten welterweight last March in their NBC-televised main event. Even on the heels of a shaky 10-round win over Aron Martinez and a seven-month break, he willingly runs towards the sound of gunfire in taking on the unbeaten Garcia, who is coming off of a 9th round knockout win over Paul Malignaggi last August.

While there’s plenty of motivation to be found in a must-win scenario versus an unbeaten boxer among the best in the world, Guerrero comes in with open arms in embracing the suggested rivalry.

“Absolutely, we’re talking about a rivalry that has been around in boxing, soccer and all sports for years,” Guerrero (33-3-1, 18KOs) notes, carrying the insistence that he bleeds red, white and green. “I’m pumped for this fight, taking place in Los Angeles, in an arena that will be filled with my Mexican fans, or my chicanos as we are known as.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox