Bad Left Hook

Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero is still trying to talk his way into a big fight, and has now turned his attention to Victor Ortiz. Here's what Guerrero told Osman Rodriguez of BoxingScene.com about that potential scrap:

"The fans on Twitter asked me if I would be willing to step up and fight Ortiz. I responded to the fans challenge. I’m here to show the fans that I’m about making the biggest possible fights for them and I’m here to step up. Ortiz is considered one of the best young fighters in the sport and the fans want me to fight him, and I’m about giving the fans what they want. And hopefully Ortiz is too. We shall see. ... I think this fight is real easy to make."

I know I've taken some half-hearted stabs at Guerrero's campaigning to land fights that seem above his pay grade, so to speak, but the more he goes on, the more I just think, "You know, here's a fighter trying to do something special. What's wrong with that?"

Victor Ortiz needs a fight right now. Andre Berto isn't going to come back all that quickly from his bicep injury. Robert Guerrero needs a fight. Why not match them up?

In an ideal world, this would be a great co-feature for the Mayweather vs Cotto fight on May 5, but Canelo Alvarez is being put into that position and there probably just is not enough money to go around for all of that.

Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO) is a big, powerful welterweight. Guerrero (29-1-1, 18 KO) has won titles at 126 and 130 pounds, and while he's definitely talented, there are questions about his size going up in weight, even though he did look big and comfortable at 135 and a 138 catchweight against Joel Casamayor in 2010. Guerrero last fought in April 2011, beating Michael Katsidis pretty comfortably.

A scheduled August date with Marcos Maidana at 140 pounds was called off when Guerrero suffered a shoulder injury, and that has unfortunately been sort of the story of his career. He's been a bit snake-bitten when it comes to getting a potential breakthrough fight, for various reasons.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'm starting to really admire Guerrero's desire to get in there and just fight someone. He's 28 years old and knows what he can do at the previous level. He wants to find out what he can do at that next level, and is willing to move up in weight and face bigger, stronger men to prove his worth. I'm seeing no issue with that. I still find him showing up at celebrity events and standing by people kinda funny, but his pursuit of greatness is, I believe, very real. He just wants an opportunity.

Ortiz isn't busy right now and doesn't have a lot of intriguing options without Berto. Golden Boy promotes both fighters. It's worth finding out what Guerrero can do.