Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero is not the man expected to become a new breakout star in boxing when he steps in the ring on Saturday against Keith "One-Time" Thurman, an undefeated knockout artist with skill. Thurman will come into the fight with a 24-0-0 record that includes 21 knockouts, but Guerrero believes Thurman's chin will be inspected in Las Vegas.
"His strength is definitely in his power," Guerrero said to Ring TV. "Thurman has a high knockout ratio and he's the naturally bigger man, who's never fought under 147-pounds. I'm not going to talk about his weaknesses because that's confidential information. I will be testing his chin though; that you can count on."
Thurman is more than a puncher, however. In his last fight he heard some boos because he wasn't able to stop 40-year-old Leonard Bundu, but the unheralded fighter had underrated skill and Thurman employed surprising technique to dominate every round.
Thurman admitted post fight that Bundu slowed him down with some techniques he hadn't seen before, and it's unclear if Guerrero has the versatility to accomplish that. In Guerrero's last fight vs. Yoshihiro Kamegai he engaged in a fierce firefight. He'll have a tougher fight if he tries the same thing with Thurman, even though he doesn't believe he needs to improve on the Kamegai showing.
"I won and that's all that matters," Guerrero said.
In fact, Guerrero predicted another slugfest when he faces Thurman Saturday.
"Kamegai is a pressure fighter and sometimes in this sport, you're going to get hit. It just comes with the territory. It's not like I'm going into a fight wanting to get hit but sometimes the fight goes that way. I like to fight toe-to-toe and give the fans their money's worth. It will be more of the same against Thurman. There will be a lot of action."
[Ring]
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