By John G. Thompson – Josh Weaver with the Gilroy Dispatch has reported that Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (a native of Gilroy, California) will have to pull out of his potential March 27th match-up with the exciting Australian slugger Michael Katsidis. Guerrero sited his wife’s battle with Leukemia as the reason for his withdrawal. While fans will certainly be disappointed that this potentially thrilling fight will not take place, certainly no one can fault Guerrero for his reasons..
“Right now I’m going through a difficult time dealing with my wife Casey’s illness with Leukemia,” said Guerrero. “I’m asking everyone in the boxing community along with family, friends and the general public to keep Casey in their prayers… I want to thank my promoter Golden Boy Promotions for their understanding in this situation… I was ready to do battle with Katsidis but mentally my mind wouldn’t be at 100 percent, and to fight a warrior like him you have to be at your best psychologically.”
Guerrero certainly has a point that he must be at his best to face the dangerous Michael Katsidis 26-2 (21 KO’s). Katsidis is coming off a TKO win over Jesus Chavez and a twelve round split decision win over Vincente Escobedo to take the WBO Lightweight title. He only has two defeats to his name; a fairly close split decision loss to Juan Diaz and a stoppage loss to the great Joel Casamayor in an extraordinarily thrilling fight which saw Casamayor knocked out of the ring, before climbing back in to stop the game Katsidis.
Robert Guerrero 25-1-1 (17 KO’s) himself is no easy man to beat, having only lost once back in 2005 in a narrow split decision for the NABF Featherweight Title. His career was seemingly on the ropes in March of last year when he refused to continue after a clash of heads caused a cut over his right eye in the second round of his fight with Daud Yordan. Many fighters have fought through worse, and the fans questioned Guerrero’s heart after the No-Decision. “The Ghost” came back to life; however, sustaining a cut over his eye in his bout with Malcolm Klassen and continuing on to earn a unanimous twelve round decision for the IBF Super Featherweight Title.
Katsidis is still scheduled to fight on March 27th, though an opponent has yet to be named. I’m sure boxing fans everywhere are disappointed that this great match-up will not take place in March, though hopefully they will meet sometime in the future. Until then, the boxing community’s thoughts and prayers are with Robert and Casey Guerrero.