By Keith Idec
A nice, long break was exactly what Robert Guerrero needed following arguably the worst loss of his 16-year pro boxing career.
By the time the 34-year-old Guerrero gets back in the ring to meet Omar Figueroa on July 15 in Uniondale, New York, 10½ months will have passed since his split-decision defeat to huge underdog David Peralta. The Argentine cab driver was supposed to be a tune-up opponent for Guerrero in first fight after losing a WBC welterweight title fight to Danny Garcia in January 2016.
When Peralta upset Guerrero on August 27 in Anaheim, California, it forced Guerrero to take a long, hard look at his career. The former four-division champion said during a conference call Tuesday that this lengthy layoff was exactly what he needed after suffering the fourth defeat in his past six fights.
“It helped me a lot,” Guerrero said. “It helped me a great deal, being able to regroup and rest your body. I’m in my 30s now. You’ve gotta be smart about things and take care of your body. Before, I would just go all-out, training hard, and do things that you push over the boundaries. It’s being smart about things and also, too, being able to look back at everything and regroup.
“What I was doing wrong, you know, the right preparation and really assessing everything in my career and what took that left turn and get right back on path, where I’m supposed to be. It’s really helped out a lot in being ready for this next fight. I’ve had a great camp so far. I’m excited. I feel great. My body feels good. I’m doing a lot of things I haven’t been doing in a long time, so I’m gonna be ready for this fight and I’m excited for it.”
Guerrero (33-5-1, 18 KOs, 2 NC) admits that he had been relying too much on his toughness and not enough on his boxing ability, a formula for failure when you’re facing one elite welterweight after another (Floyd Mayweather Jr., Keith Thurman, Garcia). Tuning out his father/trainer, Ruben Guerrero, didn’t help his cause, either, according to Guerrero.
“[It’s about] using my head in the ring,” Guerrero said. “[I was] not being smart about things, not listening in the corner, just wanting to mow people down. Getting out there and trying to prove a point to everybody that I can fight at 147 pounds and pretty much, excuse my language, but my d*ck’s bigger than yours, pretty much.
“That’s the type of mentality you’re going out there with and it’s one of those things where in this game, with all the talent out there, guys like Danny, guys like Porter, you’ve got Keith Thurman, you’ve got Errol Spence, you’ve got all these guys, everybody’s putting their skills to work. And you’re the one that’s just coming and trying to mow guys down. It doesn’t work with the type of talent that’s at 147 pounds right now.”
The southpaw from Gilroy, California, will try to turn his career around against Figueroa (26-0-1, 18 KOs), a relentless brawler from Weslaco, Texas. Their 10-round welterweight bout will be the main event of FOX tripleheader July 15 from the newly renovated Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.