"Keith Thurman, he's a great fighter. He's quick on his feet, quick hands, has power. You have to respect that. My whole idea is to come ready for whatever's going to happen in that ring. Whether it's inside, outside, whatever happens...One thing I got to say is, Keith hasn't fought nobody like me. He's fought tough guys, guys with experience, but he hasn't fought nobody like me. So, we're going to be 100 percent prepared and, you see me in the gym. We're determined and we get it...We're breaking down film on Keith and we've got something in store for him," stated former world champion Robert Guerrero, who talked about his upcoming March 7 clash with WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman during a recent conference call. Check out what else he had to say!
ROBERT GUERRERO
Robert Guerrero: Hi, everybody out there. I'm excited to be on this card, first one to open up the fights on NBC.
Q: One question real quick, Robert. You've called him, I guess, 'The Running Man.' Is that based off of his last fight? I know he can box, he can punch, but is it your belief that he's going to try to box you and 'run' as you said?
R. Guerrero: No, I didn't call him that. My father called him that. I respect every party that comes in the ring with me. Keith Thurman, he's a great fighter. He's quick on his feet, quick hands, has power. You have to respect that. My whole idea is to come ready for whatever's going to happen in that ring. Whether it's inside, outside, whatever happens. He gets on the move, you have to be ready for it. It's being well prepared for the fight and we're professionals and that's what we do is we get well prepared to be in that ring.
Q: The fact that you fought Floyd Mayweather and you were part of a pay-per-view event, a major-a big promotion, how much of that have you've given that experience and the fact that you fought on such a high level against the number one pound for pound fighter in the world?
R. Guerrero: It's an experience. Especially everything that comes around, the whole circus with Floyd and with All Access and all that stuff in your camp, following you around day to day. It's a big deal. It's a big deal and you got to be well prepared for it. It could be a distraction if you let it and you got to be 100 percent focused and I think this is going to be even bigger, with the viewing audience that comes along with NBC. It's going to be even bigger so, I'm excited about it and very focused and ready to go.
Q: And for Robert, I understand you're going to be on your sparring for this fight. What are you looking for out of your sparring partners to get ready for Keith?
R. Guerrero: Just guys I can box, to punch. Guys that are inside, outside. Pretty much we're bringing a variety of sparring. You've got to prepare for everything. One thing I got to say is, Keith hasn't fought nobody like me. He's fought tough guys, guys with experience, but he hasn't fought nobody like me. So, we're going to be 100 percent prepared and, you see me in the gym. We're determined and we get it. We're determined to get it and we work hard.
Q: Well, Keith, thank you for your time and we'll be seeing you in Vegas. Robert, I just wanted to know what do you feel has changed, or what's different between the Robert Guerrero from the Joel Casamayor fight up until the Katsidis fight, because it seems like once you stepped up in weight, you've thrown away your boxing ability. Why did you change your style when it was so effective in the past?
R. Guerrero: It's that hunger. It's that hunger to get in there and fight. As John John Molina Jr. said earlier in his interview, "Hey, we're here to fight. We're here to make it happen. Were here to give the fans a treat." Moving up to weight class into a hundred forty seven pounds people thought I was crazy. People looked at me and laughed, this guy's nuts. What is he doing? He's going to end his career. It's suicide. So I had to show everybody in the world like hey, you know what? I'm here. I'm going to come and take it. I'm going to come and get this weight class. I'm going to come and destroy whoever gets in my way.
And what you asked Keith earlier about the last guy that he fought, that he is like the best step toward Mayweather, similar style, that guy was the slowest guy on his feet ever. Mayweather is fast. I've been in there with him. He is fast on his feet and with his hands. That guy was no comparison at all.
K. Thurman: It was his accomplishments, not his style. It was just his accomplishments. Being an Olympian and being undefeated. That's where I made the comparison.
R. Guerrero: Oh man. If you're comparing the stuff like that it's laughable.
Q: Well, I love the animosity between you guys, so listen, Robert. Obviously, Thurman feels that Bundu was some sort of comparison, barometer towards the style similar to Mayweather, being as though Keith has that style and more power than Mayweather, what are you going to do differently?
R. Guerrero: Hey, you learn from experiences. Mayweather was a big experience for me. You go down. You break down tape and you work off your game plan and that's what we're going to do. We're going to work off our game plan. We're breaking down film on Keith and we've got something in store for him.
Q: Hey, guys, thanks for taking the time. Appreciate it. Robert, we spoke last week and you were unsparing in your comments. You had your game face on. You said "March 7th the talk is over. I plan on leaving Keith Thurman's face worse than Bertos". I'm wondering, is there an extra special hunger and anger and desire to put a hurting on Thurman this time around as compared to maybe some other fights?
R. Guerrero: There isn't any anger or anything. It's just coming out and fighting. Coming out and doing your job and doing it to the best you can and this is a big deal. NBC? We have to come out and show the fans. People that are not boxing fans that are going to be watching also. You have to come and get them, and win their hearts and show them hey, we're here to fight.
Q: Robert, so you had the fight with Kamegai that was this past June, but you only had the one fight in 2014. You have obviously a huge fight in 2013 with Mayweather. I'm wondering why the long layoff? Did you look to fight a second play last year? Did you have an injury? What was going on that you only had the one fight last year? And really, only one fight in 2011 also. It's really only been one year out of the past few that you had two bouts in a year, which was 2012. Any particular thing going on with the long layoffs?
R. Guerrero: No. Just take a little time. I had the fight with Berto. I had with fight with Aydin and then Mayweather, so making the jump two weight classes takes a lot out of you, getting in with the bigger guys and you know all the hard training and then the types of fights that I was fighting too. I was coming in and going to war. So it takes a lot of your body and you need time to recover so I took a little time to recover, spent a little family and got back in with Kamegai and now we're in it with Thurman so focusing on Thurman and we're going to be ready for it.
Q: Other question I have for you, Robert, is this. You mentioned that you did move up a couple of weight classes, and you took the time off after Kamegai because you're getting used to the weight division, but this fight with Keith has been talked about. I guess I remember it being brought up by Golden Boy sometime in the early part of last year that there was some discussion about trying to make. Is this a fight that you been interested in all along and it's just sort of now was the time when it made the most sense from a business point of view? Or was this something that you wanted all along and others were not looking to make the fight? Can you, it seems like you guys have been on a collision course for a little while.
R. Guerrero: You know me. I fight anybody. I do things that a lot of fighters don't do. Move weight classes. Jump up in weight class. And the challenge is always, I'm always up for the challenge and everybody's on my radar looking for the best, looking to fight the best because if you want to be the best you got to fight the best so Keith Thurman is one of the best fighters in the world right now and that's who we've got March 7 and we're going to go out there and do what we got to do.
Q: Was there something specific about Keith that made you want him more than some other particular opponent? You fight a deep weight class where you guys have a lot of options.
R. Guerrero: Just fighting the best. That's it; fighting the best and Keith Thurman, I mean, look what they call him. One time. He's been taking everybody out, and it's a great challenge for me.
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PBC on NBC, will take place Saturday, March 7 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and is promoted by Goossen Promotions. The event will air live on NBC (8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT).
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