By Keith Idec

Promoter Lou DiBella has high expectations for the Robert Guerrero-Omar Figueroa fight.

“Like Robert said, guys from Texas, they throw down,” DiBella said during a conference call Tuesday. “Guys from California, they also throw down. I expect this to be the kind of fight in the vein of Gatti-Ward or Salido-Vargas or Vargas-Miura. This is a must-win fight in a lot of ways for both Robert and for Omar. And I don’t see how this fight can miss. I’m expecting the main event of this show to be a ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate.”

Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward (2002), Orlando Salido-Francisco Vargas (2016) and Vargas-Takashi Miura (2015) each earned “Fight of the Year” recognition from the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Those are ambitious goals for Guerrero (33-5-1, 18 KOs, 2 NC), of Gilroy, California, and Figueroa (26-0-1, 18 KOs), of Weslaco, Texas, to meet in their 10-round welterweight bout, the main event of a FOX tripleheader. That didn’t stop Guerrero from adding Rafael Marquez-Israel Vazquez to the list of legendary fights DiBella mentioned.

“I’m ready to go,” Guerrero said. “I’m training very hard, been doing what I’ve gotta do, been studying a lot of film. Omar’s a tremendous fighter. He’s a barnburner. He comes to fight all the time and he’s very awkward. The way he switches positions, his footwork, the type of pressure he puts [on you] and the volume of punches he puts out. He’s one of the guys you’ve gotta be super ready for. If you’re not ready for him, he’s just gonna pound you down into the mat.

“That being said, I’m that same type of fighter. I’m the same type fighter that comes in very great shape, that throws a lot of punches and loves to throw fastballs all the way till the end. So it’s gonna be a barnburner. A lot of people are excited for this fight. I’m excited for it because I know Omar’s the type of guy that doesn’t run. Coming from where my family comes from, Texas, when guys come out of Texas they come to fight all the time. So it’s gonna be exciting.”

FOX’s tripleheader also will include a 10-round bout between Polish heavyweights Artur Szpilka (20-2, 15 KOs) and Adam Kownacki (15-0, 12 KOs) and a 10-round light heavyweight fight that’ll pit Long Island’s Sean Monaghan (28-0, 17 KOs) against Staten Island’s Marcus Browne (19-0, 14 KOs). 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.