By Keith Idec
Robert Guerrero realizes most boxing fans think he is finished at the championship level.
The 34-year-old Guerrero is 2-4 in his past four fights and is 4½ years removed from owning a version of a welterweight title. Three of those four defeats came against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia, but the fourth and most recent loss was the most damaging to Guerrero’s reputation.
David Peralta (26-3-1, 14 KOs), who beat Guerrero by split decision in a 12-rounder August 27 in Anaheim, California, is a part-time cab driver in his native Argentina.
As Guerrero heads toward a certain welterweight brawl with Omar Figueroa on July 15 in Uniondale, New York, he is determined to prove he is more than a “gatekeeper” or a “steppingstone” for younger fighters.
“It gives me a lot of motivation,” Guerrero said during a conference call Tuesday. “You wanna be known as one of the top fighters in the division and one of the best. To be there and be categorized as a gatekeeper or, you know, the steppingstone for this guy – ‘If he can get past this test, he’s on his way’ – no, you wanna be the guy that they’re on their way to. So it does motivate you. It gets you excited, gets you out there to work hard and really look back at everything and think about what you’ve been doing in the ring and being smart about things. So it really does light a fire under you.”
Guerrero, who has won world titles in four weight classes, feels he became complacent while fighting elite welterweights regularly. His loss to Peralta made the tough southpaw reassess how he had been preparing for fights.
“You get a lot of fighters that go out there,” Guerrero said, “and say, ‘Oh, I had the best camp ever and this and that. I’ve been doing this and blah, blah, blah.’ But 90 percent of the time, when a guy’s doing really good and that adversity’s not there, they don’t change anything. They just keep going about their thing.
“When your back’s against the wall and you’ve gotta fight your way out, you know, that’s when you’ve gotta use your head. You’ve gotta be smart. You’ve gotta say, ‘Hey, you know what? Let’s see what’s going on. Let’s see why we’re in this corner and let’s take care of business.’ ”
The 10-round bout between Guerrero (33-5-1, 18 KOs, 2 NC), of Gilroy, California, and the 27-year-old Figueroa (26-0-1, 18 KOs), of Weslaco, Texas, will headline a FOX tripleheader at the newly renovated Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Earlier July 15, Long Island’s Sean Monaghan (28-0, 17 KOs) is set to face Staten Island’s Marcus Browne (19-0, 14 KOs) in a 10-round light heavyweight fight. The third televised fight that night, also scheduled for 10 rounds, will match Polish heavyweights Artur Szpilka (20-2, 15 KOs) and Adam Kownacki (15-0, 12 KOs) against each other.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.