By Rick Reeno
Bob Santos, co-manager of former champion Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero (32-2-1, 18 KOs), says Keith Thurman (23-0, 21KOs) must go out there and do something special in order to secure a fight with his boxer.
On Saturday night at the StubHub Center in Carson, Guerrero took part in a "Fight of The Year" candidate when he staged a twelve round war with Yoshihiro Kamegai of Japan. Fighting with a badly swollen, and cut, left eye - Guerrero fought his way to a unanimous decision win.
Santos is not impressed with Thurman's streak of wins at welterweight and says the hard-punching boxer needs to go the extra mile in order to get the big fights.
When Guerrero was unable to get the big names at 130 and 135, he moved up by two divisions to secure name opponents at 147. Santos feels confident that Guerrero's record at 147 is superior to the level of opposition which Thurman faced in the division.
Considering that most of the name fighters at 147 are refusing to face Thurman, Santos would like to see the hard-punching fighter move up in weight and get a significant win at 154.
"He needs to do something like what we've done. We were in the same boat that he was in. Nobody wanted to fight us. And what we had to do was something dramatic. We jumped up from 135 to 147 to make us viable. Keith Thurman has to do something like we did. I'm not even talking about jumping up two weight classes. Jump up one weight class, the weight class where you were at, and fight Erislandy Lara. Beat him and you are guaranteed a shot at Robert Guerrero..period," Santos told BoxingScene.com.
