ROBERT GUERRERO vs JOEL CASAMAYOR

Robert Guerrero goes into Saturday night’s 10-rounder against Joel Casamayor with a burden lifted from his mind. Guerrero has gone through a time of personal turmoil as his wife, Casey, battled leukaemia. A bone marrow transplant was successful and Casey is now cancer-free. A much-relieved Guerrero says he is now able to focus on his boxing career again.
 
The fight with Casamayor has been described as a junior welter contest, but I consider the boxers to be lightweights. The weights are what you would expect a lightweight to weigh for a non-title bout, with Guerrero coming in at 138 ½ pounds, Casamayor at 138. (Guerrero, though, looked the trimmer man at the scales.)
 
Guerrero opened a huge favourite, a staggering -1200 at one sportsbook, but money for Casamayor quickly knocked the odds right down to the -500 range.
 
I can see why players would feel it worthwhile to take a shot with Casamayor at big odds. He is a crafty veteran and he might be able to make Guerrero miss, pop him with quick counters and generally frustrate him in the all-southpaw fight.
 
However, Casamayor turned 39 this month and is having only his second bout in two years.  I was able to see him in his last appearance, when he boxed rings round the plucky but limited Jason Davis, who had been stopped in his last two fights. My notes reminded me that Casamayor “has a vulnerable look these days”.
 
Sometimes, ageing fighters have one more great fight left in them. I do feel, though, that Casamayor is at the end of a very long road. He was a long-serving, elite-level amateur (Olympic gold medallist in 1992) even before he turned professional 14 years ago.
 
Guerrero, 27, will, I think, enter the ring riding a surge of mental energy. As most of us know, when one has a difficult life-situation to deal with, even the simplest things can seem to be taxing, but when the cloud lifts, our spirits soar. His wife’s stable condition after months of concern should see a relieved Guerrero giving a zestful performance.
 
Despite the wide odds, this could be a tricky fight for Guerrero, because Casamayor, so smart and so seasoned, has the craftiness to mess him around and punish mistakes.  Guerrero, though, is younger, bigger, stronger and surely the more authoritative hitter. I think that he can win simply by being more consistent than his opponent, fighting briskly when Casamayor seeks to coast and forging ahead in the later rounds to take a well-earned points decision.