The new deal Floyd Mayweather signed with Showtime offers him greater prosperity than ever before, but while the final six fights of his career are probably mostly about money for him, Robert Guerrero, his next opponent, is looking at this as more than an opportunity to earn his biggest payday ever.
This is the fight we’ve been looking for and training for. I’ll be 100 percent prepared. I’m ready for the fight. We’re getting that game plan together, me and my father. I can change gears and adapt. I’m pumped. I can’t wait to show the world why I am the best fighter in the world.
Guerrero, 29, has a record of 31 wins (18 by knockout), 1 loss, 1 draw and 2 no contests. Guerrero made his first impact on the world of boxing in 2006, winning the IBF Featherweight title, beating Eric Aiken. It’s been seven years since he lost a fight, to Gamaliel Diaz. Only in 2009 did Guerrero move up to Super Featherweight, eventually winning the title against Malcolm Klassen in 2009.
A busy 2010 (three fights) saw him win the WBO inter-continental Lightweight title, and a few months later he defeated Michael Katsidis for the interim WBA & WBO Lightweight titles. In 2012, he jumped straight to Welterweight, beating Selcuk Aydin for the vacant interim WBC title, and retaining it in a win against Andre Berto.
Throughout my career, I jumped through the weight classes because guys were ducking me, being right there and not being able to get the big fight because I was being avoided. So when you hear all the names coming up, Alexander, Timothy Bradley, you think, ‘Is this guy Mayweather going to duck me or what?’ So I was just relieved everything got signed and done and I can’t wait for the fight. Definitely, I’m ready for the spotlight.
What God has put me through to be prepared for this, not just physically but mentally, all the stuff inside the ring and outside the ring, prepared me for this. It’s time.
Guerrero should know this – Mayweather, according to his track record and those who used to be on his camp (50 Cent), handpicks his opponents, being obsessed with the 0 on his losses column, almost as much as he is with making money. Being the highest paid athlete in the world is important to Mayweather, who was looking for a deal (six fight deal) to keep him well in front of the competition. The closest boxer to him in recent years was Manny Pacquiao, but that ship has sailed anyway.
In any case Guerreo doesn’t see himself as some sort of charity case, ready to jump on the Mayweather money train and end his career with that, as many fighters tend to do. Guerrero feels it was him picking Mayweather just as much as it was the other way around, seeing it as a great opportunity to beat the number one p-4-p fighter in the world.
I see a lot of slippage. I see him slowing down as far as his legs not being as quick as they used to be. But he is sharp in the ring. He puts more pressure on guys. I think that has to do with him not being able to move as good on his legs, where people think, ‘Oh, he’s changed his style.’ But I just think that when you get older and your legs start to go, you have to change direction.
By the time the two step in the ring (May 4, 2013), it will be 364 days since Floyd Mayweather last stepped into a boxing ring for a PPV fight (beating Miguel Cotto). In the past, taking more than a year off, hasn’t hurt him one bit, although some say the Cotto fight, not his cleanest of victories, was proof that he’s less than perfect these days, and will just carry on slipping. Robert Guerrero is hoping that that is truly the case.