By Ryan Maquiñana
Electrifying Guy Robb has signed with Goossen Tutor, according to an interview that the Sacramento native did with Norcalboxing.net last Saturday.
Fans worldwide caught a glimpse of the 23-year-old following his exciting war with Joel Diaz Jr. on “ShoBox: The New Generation,” a bout so entertaining ringside commentator Steve Farhood dubbed it an “instant classic.”
Of course, none of this fanfare is new to his home region. After all, Robb’s four-rounder with Manuel Morales last year in Fairfield, Calif., was unanimously voted by local media as Northern California Fight of the Year. Combined with his previous exploits as a fan favorite, the scrap was another performance that led the Southern California-based promotional outfit to seek him out.
“Actually I had signed with [Goossen Tutor] the day of the weigh-in (for the Diaz fight),” Robb (7-1, 3 KOs) said. “I lost. I assumed they were going to drop the contract. Then Dan Goossen called me the Sunday morning after the fight and said he liked me. He said to go back to the gym, work on what I need to work on, and we’d still be working together.”
Even though Robb would eventually incur a seventh-round stoppage defeat, he went down swinging, putting Diaz on the canvas earlier in the fight. In addition, Farhood’s colleague in the broadcast booth, unified super middleweight champion Andre Ward, had it tied heading into the final round. Now Robb looks ahead to a new challenge.
“They didn’t cut me loose,” he said. “As far as I know, I’m a Goossen fighter. If you look at their website, I’m one of their fighters. I’m waiting to hear from them next week to see what they got scheduled for me, and so I’m getting back in shape and ready to go. I’ll be hearing them in a week or so.”
In addition to tactical adjustments he vowed to make with trainer Ray Woods, Robb announced he would make one to his waistline, revealing that he will move down from junior lightweight to featherweight, where he won the Ringside World Championships as an amateur.
“I’m going down to 126 (pounds),” he said. “They’re looking to schedule an eight-rounder for me at 126,” he said. “Look, I’m a warrior and I’m still going to the top. I didn’t do nothing but learn from that fight. Stay tuned. I’ll be back real soon.
Ryan Maquiñana writes a weekly column for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area (CSNBayArea.com). He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and Ring Magazine’s Ratings Panel. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com, check out his blog at norcalboxing.net or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.