Kamegai: No More Language Barrier for Guerrero Fight

By Ryan Maquiñana

Yoshihiro Kamegai enters Saturday’s welterweight clash with Robert Guerrero hoping to erase the memory of his last trip to the StubHub Center in Carson, California one year ago.

Kamegai (24-1-1, 21 KOs) dropped a unanimous decision to Yohan Perez in a bout rife with issues in the corner. However, the 31-year-old from Tokyo believes he’s made the necessary adjustments to make sure the problems don’t resurface.

“I had some challenges communication-wise because my team and I did not speak the same language,” Kamegai said. “So coming back this time, I have a different team, we speak the same language now, and we’re in a lot better position than we were before.”

The Japanese slugger has also studied film on Guerrero (31-2-1, 18 KOs) of Gilroy, California, who is coming off the second-longest layoff of his career after a defeat to Floyd Mayweather in May of last year.

“We have a very interactive style,” Kamegai said. “Any time when you get into a top-level fighter like Robert Guerrero, to me, I look at it like a challenge. I haven’t gone into someone this high of a level.

“… As far as his ring rust, he’s had a long layoff before and I saw his fight after that (against Selcuk Aydin), and he came in good condition. I trained myself to put myself in the best condition to fight the best Guerrero that’s out there.”

Follow Ryan Maquiñana on Twitter @RMaq28 or email him at rmaquinana@gmail.com.