Robert Guerrero's soft-spoken exterior belies fierce in-ring determination
LOS ANGELES - The father-son boxing duo of Ruben and Robert Guerrero is a true study in contrasts.
Ruben, the father and trainer, comes across as something of an outlaw, looking on the surface like a member of a '70s California biker gang with the scraggly goatee, long hair pulled back into a pony tail, the ever-present sunglasses, and off-white fedora pulled down on his head.
The language is coarse and non-stop, with no governor on his motor mouth as he spews out F-bombs and challenges anyone who gets in his way. Most notably this week, his trainer/father counterpart, Angel Garcia, no slouch himself when it comes to ripping into the opponents of his undefeated son, Danny, who happens to be one of the world's top fighters.
The trainer dads turned the final news conference Thursday at the Conga Room into their personal trash-talking playground that could almost make you believe it was them fighting on Saturday night instead of their sons.
As the dads tried to destroy each other whenever an opportunity arose, the sons, who will fight for the vacant WBC welterweight title Saturday across the street at the Staples Center in the inaugural Premier Boxing Champions on Fox broadcast in prime time (8 p.m. ET), sat back looking uncomfortably amused by the spectacle.
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Robert Guerrero, 32, is anything but a chip off the old block. Short-cropped hair with a goatee, soft-spoken, a religious man who invokes God in nearly every conversation, but whose fierceness in the ring belies his gentle exterior. His Dad, he said, is who he is, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. But there's no denying the old man is proud of his warrior son.
"There's some people you just can't change. And you just pray to God that they get taken care of," Robert said. "My father, he gets a little hot and gets on the defense when it comes to his children. And that's the way fathers react most of the time."
Guerrero (33-3-1, 18 KOs), from Gilroy, Calif., once held the WBC welterweight title he will try to recapture on Saturday night, at least the interim title. He handed Turkish fighter Selcuk Aydin his first loss in 2012 by unanimous decision in a ring war in San Jose.
"Robert jumped up two weight classes to fight Aydin," Ruben said. "He was the underdog big-time, and what happened to Aydin?"
Four months later Robert knocked Andre Berto down in each of the first two rounds and won a unanimous decision that helped him gain the biggest fight of his career, against Floyd Mayweather in May 2013. Mayweather was coming off a year's absence, including a two-month jail term, and dominated Guerrero for 12 rounds. It was no contest. Guerrero didn't fight again for 13 months.
Two fights hence, Guerrero was knocked down and lost to another unbeaten rising star, Keith Thurman, in a near shutout in the PBC's inaugural bout on NBC last March. But Guerrero earned a lot of fans in the nationally televised event for his tenaciousness in the face of a beating and making the fight go the distance.
"The Ghost" defeated Aron Martinez in his most recent fight last June, a split decision that saw him knocked down by Martinez, a light puncher but tenacious fighter, much like Guerrero. Martinez is fighting on Saturday's co-feature against Sammy Vasquez.
Never one to duck any fighter, Guerrero has always fought the best opponents he could get and now finds himself facing Garcia, the fifth undefeated fighter (31-0, 18 KOs) he has faced in his career. Asked what concerns him about Garcia, Guerrero said without hesitation, "Nothing. I've done everything I had to do to get ready for this fight, and I'm ready."
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Guerrero has had plenty of practice being ready throughout a 15-year professional career that began at age 18. He has navigated deftly through the ups and downs, including his lowest point, dealing with his wife Casey's life-and-death battle with advanced leukemia, which took him out of circulation for an extended time in 2010 as he cared for her. A year later, a serious shoulder injury that required surgery sidelined him again for about 15 months.
Casey defeated cancer and has recovered from the grueling chemotherapy that can grind even the strongest man down.
"My wife's doing great," Guerrero said Thursday. "She's back at the hotel relaxing, and she will be there at the fight to support me."
Through it all, Guerrero has fallen back on his religion, along with physical and mental acuity, to get him through the toughest spots. And there have been many.
"You can't let all the hype get to you. You got to put God first," he said Thursday after the news conference. "That's what I told Danny up there. He goes, 'You're waking up the devil.' I said, 'Hey, let me tell you something: When God is for you, who can be against you?' I really feel spiritually strong right now.
"I always get in great shape. It's about having your mind right and putting God first and being, you know, sharp. Being sharp. That's what it's all about."
After Guerrero weighed in on Friday, coming in at 146.8, the same as Garcia, under the 147-pound limit, a little bit of Ruben's personality seeped into his interview.
"See that 0? It's gonna go!" he shouted to the crowd, referring to Garcia's unbeaten record. Then he stared down with Garcia, exchanging words with the pride of Philadelphia. "I come to fight, and he knows I come to fight. That's all that matters. Tomorrow night I'm going to take care of business."
Whatever happens, you can expect a Robert Guerrero-style fight - never letting up until the final bell, no matter how much of a beating he might be taking. Guerrero has never been stopped, other than once by injury that resulted in a no contest. He relishes the challenges Garcia brings.
"Going up against an undefeated fighter adds motivation to my drive. I want to defeat the undefeated guy, especially with this opportunity," he said.
"I want to raise everybody's eyebrows."
(Photo at top of Fuerrero and his father by Suzanne Teresa, PBC)