By Ryan Maquiñana
According to Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, if newly minted welterweight Robert Guerrero (29-1-1, 18 KOs) were to get by Selcuk Aydin (23-0, 17 KOs) July 28 in San Jose, the next step would be targeting Floyd Mayweather.
The Guerrero-Aydin winner will secure the WBC interim 147-pound belt, which is notable because Mayweather is the full-fledged holder of the title. However, with Mayweather serving a jail sentence for a domestic violence conviction, one can only speculate on his subsequent move upon his release in the fall.
“I’ve been told the WBC has sort of made Floyd, until he gets out of jail, their champion in recess, so I don’t really know what the legal solution or background is,” Schaefer told BoxingScene.com/CSNBayArea.com in a conference call Thursday. “But yes, I would pursue a fight for Robert with Floyd.”
However, Schaefer was quick to label the plan a tentative one.
“But again, I’m very hesitant to look and talk like that because believe me, Selcuk Aydin…the guy is really motivated and fired up, so it’s a very dangerous thing to even have these kind of conversations. Let Robert focus on this fight and focus on the next thing,” Schaefer added.
“I talked to Robert yesterday and I told him that. I said, ‘Don’t get carried away. Fight your fight. Don’t look forward. You know what happens when fighters look forward.’ ”
Schaefer cited recent events involving Golden Boy fighters to further his point.
“We saw that with Victor Ortiz a couple weeks ago. We saw that with Amir Khan a week ago, you know, all fighters which came in as heavy favorites, and look what happened. It’s a very dangerous thing having conversations and looking forward.”
Ryan Maquiñana writes a weekly boxing column for CSNBayArea.com. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Ratings Panel for Ring Magazine. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com, check out his blog at Norcalboxing.net, or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.
