The Sweet Science Special 08.31.09: The Student of The Month Is Robert Guerrero

Posted by Igor Frank on 08.31.2009

August's Sweet Science student of the Month Is Robert Guerrero. Igor Frank revisits his Saturday night performance.


Photo by Tom Hogan-Hoganphotos / Golden Boy Promotions

Last Saturday night at The Toyota Center in Houston Robert "The Ghost "Guerrero took a page out of Shane Mosley's and Bernard Hopkins handbook and dominated his very determined and aggressive opponent with lateral movement and combination punching that included a fair amount of body work. Arguably registering the best performance of his professional career, Guerrero took an IBF super featherweight title by a storm from the South African champion, Malcolm Klassen, who never stopped pressing the action.

They say that most fights are won and lost in the gym. Guerrero decided to move his training camp up to the high elevation of Big Bear Mountains and asked a Hall Of Famer Sugar Shane Mosley to help him. Mosley, being a part owner of Golden Boy, a promotional company that signed a contract with Guerrero last year, was happy to oblige. But besides opening his training facility for Robert, Shane sparred with him and gave him pointers." He's one of the best fighters in the world pound for pound," said Guerrero:" If anybody can teach me new things it's Shane." The blue print on how to fight an aggressive puncher was put together. The basic strategy is to not stand in front of a puncher; this way he does not have time to plant his feet to unload the power.

"His jab is going to be the key," said Mosley assessing Guerrero's advantages at the training camp. Guerrero was an excellent student and followed the script; he threw a lot of hard jabs, kept moving and unleashed powerful combinations. It wasn't all smooth sailing during the fight as determined champion had his moments landing counter right hands and serving up body shots on Guerrero's midsection against the ropes. But Klassen's high points in the fight were too few, for the most part Guerrero glided around the ring and unloaded fluid combinations, switching up speed and power of his blows and keeping his opponent guessing and off balance. Despite being a bigger and stronger man, Robert showed versatility to his game and completely out boxed his opponent.

Here are some of the comments that were made by other boxing reporters.

"Guerrero surprised me by using a "boxing ‘style to outpoint Klassen," said Graham Houston, the fight writer.

Ramon Aranda:" I think Guerrero had a game performance. In the face of a tough Klassen, he kept his poise and battled on despite another cut. It was by no means pretty but he got the job done and he should that he can dig deep. I do want to point out that he took one too many straight right hands and he needs to work on it but overall, it was one of his best performances."

Raymundo Dioses:" I thought Guerrero did great in his last fight. Like Max Kellerman said, he redeemed himself with this fight. He fought with a cut, fought a semi-awkward fighter who's hard to look good against, and still fought his own fight. He showed a slight lack of ability to fight on the inside, but Guerrero mostly an outside fighter to begin with. His combinations are excellent. Could use a little more power in his punches, but overall he has ring savvy and he also showed an ability to take a good punch and keep fighting. More big fights are in the future for the Ghost."

Jonathan Yaghoubi: "Like Max Kellerman said, it was Guerrero's best performance of his career. I was really impressed. Unlike Victor Ortiz, the Ghost stepped up big time and dug deep and knew he was in for a fight. It was not perfect but I am sure he will continue to improve his skills after that."

Patrick Mullin: "Guerrero showed resolve that I didn't think he had. He ate a lot of heavy right hand bombs from a game Malcolm Klassen, but he didn't quit and kept plugging away. He was constantly using good footwork to keep Klassen in his punching range and try to keep things at a distance. I didn't think he had it in him. I had him pegged as a guy who just didn't care due to his troubles outside the ring, and he proved me wrong."

Ryan "The Rhino": "My comment concerning Robert Guerrero is this: After his fight with Yordan, people called him a quitter. In both his subsequent fights he was cut and didn't quit. People don't realize that the question asked by the officials was "Can you see?" He was honest. Those who think he is a quitter are focused on three rounds on a fairly damn good career so far."

Congratulations to Robert "The Ghost "Guerrero for an inspired performance and being named Sweet Science student of the month.