By Rick Reeno

Bob Santos, the manager of interim-WBO/WBA lightweight champion Robert Guerrero (29-1-1, 18KOs), sat down with BoxingScene.com to discuss his fighter's injury, the various possibilities once his fighter gets back in the ring, and the timeline for when Guerrero is expected to return. Guerrero was scheduled to move up to 140-pounds to challenge WBA "regular" champion Marcos Maidana on Saturday night in San Jose, California. But last week, Guerrero injured his left shoulder during a sparring session and was forced to withdraw from the fight.

After his most recent examination with Dr. Michael Dillingham, Guerrero was advised  to have surgery next Tuesday to repair an injured rotator cuff in his left shoulder.

On Guerrero's Injury

It looks like when he used to be a running back in his [high school] football days, he had a partial tear of his rotator cuff. He never fixed it and obviously he never had insurance or anything back then. He just shaked it off. When the doctor looked at it [on Wednesday], the entire shoulder is incredible other than that one area that has scar tissue. That it not going to happen in seven days. Robert told him that when he was a running back in football, he stuck his arm out a certain way and hurt his arm and even through his amateurs he would have to warm the shoulder up and fight.

And even in an amateur fight, he was warming the shoulder up and went to go fight, the exact same thing happened where the arm went dead. He took a year off. Obviously he had no surgery, no nothing and came back and didn't really have those problems. Looking back now, he said that every now and then he had pain in that area of his arm but he was always able to suck it up. Finally it just got to a point, over the years, that it tore a little bit more.

On When Guerrero Can Return

The doctor said 'you can have rehab and probably be ready to fight in three or four months but why not just go in there with an orthopedic surgery and fix it and also stuff that may not show up in the MRI, we can go in there and clean that up. Either way it's beneficial to you and you just take three more months out of your career. You can rehab it and it may not give you a problem for three of four more years, but then again it can happen any time in a fight.'

He would be able to fight within six months. The doctor said that after two or three weeks of being in a sling, he can start his shadowboxing and stuff like that. After four months he can do his sparring and all that kind of stuff. He can be back in a fight in six months and that's being precautious. The doctor said that its better to take the six months and address the problem that never got addressed.

At the end of the day, it's better that we're doing this than putting him in a big fight like that, shooting him up with cortisone and risking his entire career for one fight.

Reaction To Amir Khan's Immediate Comments on The Injury, Which Khan Initially Doubted and Claimed Guerrero Was Paid To Step Aside By Maidana

The thing with Amir Khan, and you can print this. Don't look at what he said but look at what he does. He says Zab Judah is old, Judah is a runner and he would rather fight Robert Guerrero. But during that time he thought for sure [Timothy] Bradley was going to fight him. He was going to hold the 50% of the UK [pay-per-view] buys over Bradley's head. He though for sure Bradley would take it and when he didn't - everyone said 'the easiest fight to make is you and Robert Guerrero' - because you have the same promoter, HBO already approved it. So let's go and then he says 'now I'm going to fight Zab Judah." So like I said, don't look at what he says but look at what he does. To Robert's credit, he could have fought Erik Morales for more money. But he said 'no, why do I want to fight the guy who just lost to Maidana when I can fight Maidana.'

Rumors That Injury Was Suffered During a Sparring Session With Top Prospect Frankie Gomez

No, the injury came before that. We actually sparred with Frankie Gomez after he was already injured. He actually hurt it with this kid Juan who is fighting at the Nokia Center. He was throwing a punch and slipped it to the side and that's when he felt it. That's when he initially injured it.

The Weight Division For Guerrero's Planned Return 

There are people who don't think that he'll stay at this weight [140] for much longer. Even Frankie Gomez was saying 'how the hell does he make 140?' We'll see what takes place. Obviously Amir Khan, Maidana, what happens with Morales, [Juan Manuel] Marquez after he fights [Manny] Pacquiao. There are a lot of fights around those weight classes and his body can carry 147 easily too. There should be some great opportunities when he gets back. Robert has always wanted to fight Marquez. If that fight can be made at 135, and its worth it, I think its something that maybe we would look at.