By James Slater: Earlier this week, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com how a fight between Marcos Maidana and Robert Guerrero was very close to being made for August 27th. Schaefer said he was “putting the finishing touches” on the fight that would take place in San Jose; and all that was needed was both fighters’ signatures on the contract.
Well, according to a new release on 3morerounds.com, the two fighters have now signed and the fight is a go. The web site reports how Team-Guerrero informed them that the two fighters singed on Friday night. It seems we can now look forward to a great fight as a result.
Maidana, the WBA interim champ at 140-pounds, is rarely in a bad fight; while Guerrero looked sensational in his last fight, when he dazzled against tough Australian warrior Michael Katsidis. The two men fought on the same bill back on April 9th – with Maidana having a way tougher time than was expected against Erik Morales – and now the two exciting performers will be going at one another on what will likely be a big fight card.
Guerrero will be moving up in weight again, but seeing as how he looked so big at lightweight last time out it’s unlikely to be anything like a step too far. And as strong and as powerful “The Ghost” looked against Katsidis, the most impressive aspect of his performance was his sheer skill. Guerrero looked fantastic in outclassing the always-game Katsidis; his variety of punches mesmerising his foe as well as his fans. In short, going by the last two showings of both the 28-year-old from California and the 27-year-old from Argentina, Guerrero has to be given a great chance of beating “El Chino.”
Maidana doesn’t figure to overly struggle with Guerrero’s southpaw stance (as he dealt with lefty Victor Ortiz in that thriller, even though he had to get off the floor to do it), but the often-crude slugger may well find himself getting soundly outboxed all the same. Morales found Maidana’s chin with relative ease, and “El Terrible” has nothing like the hand speed and engine the former IBF featherweight and super-featherweight and current interim WBA/WBO lightweight champ has. Maybe Maidana, 30-2(27) had an off-night against Morales. If he’s to beat Guerrero, he had better hope so.
Guerrero, 29-1-1(18) – his sole loss coming via split decision back in 2005 – looks to be a possible superstar of the future. Naturally talented and a very hard worker, the at-his-peak champ seems to have everything. Maidana has an edge in punching power, but does he have any other obvious advantage over Guerrero? I can envisage Guerrero putting on a showing not too unlike the dominant display he put on against Katsidis who, like Maidana, is easy to hit.
The lethal Argentine may not mark up as easily and as severely as “The Great,” but he figures to take plenty of punishment on August 27th. Schaefer spoke of how the winner of Guerrero-Maidana could well go on to face the winner of the July Amir Khan-Zab Judah encounter. I think it will be Guerrero who finds himself within range of these type of big fights.
A win over Maidana, which I feel he will get via points or maybe even late stoppage, could be the start of some massive things for a warrior who, like Kelly Pavlik, calls himself “The Ghost.” Up until now, the Youngstown hero has been the most famous, the most visible “Ghost,” but the way he’s going, fellow nice guy Guerrero could change that soon.