Gilroy’s ‘Ghost’ Guerrero announces he’s retiring
Gilroy boxer Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, 34, a three-time world champion in two divisions, announced his retirement Monday, two days after a one-sided loss to Omar Figueroa Jr.
Guerrero, who began his professional career in 2001, had a lifetime record of 336-1 with 18 knockouts.
“First, I want to thank God for allowing me to have a wonderful career,” Guerrero said in a statement. “I’m a kid from a small town in Gilroy, California, who made it to the mountain top of the boxing world. When I was a young kid growing up, I always believed in myself, but never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined a small-town kid like myself, would be fighting in front of millions of fans.”
Guerrero won the IBF featherweight title for the first time with an eighthround TKO over Eric Aiken on Sept. 2, 2006 in Los Angeles. He lost the title to Orlando Salido in Las Vegas, but Salido was stripped of the belt after testing positive for steroids.
Guerrero defeated Albanian fighter Spend Abazi on Feb. 23, 2007 in Copenhagen by a ninth-round TKO to win back the title. In 2009, Guerrero moved up to the super-feather class and on Aug. 22 defeated Malcolm Klassen by unanimous decision to win the championship.
But early in 2010, Guerrero vacated the title to take care of his wife, Casey, who was battling leukemia. After Casey’s condition improved after a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy, Guerrero returned to the ring in April of that year and moved up to the lightweight class.
Guerrero’s biggest fight came as a welterweight in 2013 when he squared off against Floyd Mayweather Jr. for the WBC title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Mayweather won a unanimous decision.
Last Saturday at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, Guerrero was soundly beaten by Figueroa and suffered a third-round knockout. Guerrero was sent to the canvas five times in the fight.
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