Undefeated Fernando Guerrero will be gunning for his fourth win on ShoBox: The New Generation when he faces veteran Ishe Smith (21-4, 9 KOs) in a 10-round middleweight main event bout of a tripleheader telecast on Friday, July 16, live on SHOWTIME® at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).
“I have to keep my winning streak on SHOWTIME going,” the 23-year-old Guerrero (18-0, 15 KOs) said. “I’ve had three wins on SHOWTIME and I think I belong there.”
The fight will take place at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, Miss., and is being promoted by Prize Fight. Just days away from celebrating nine years on the air, the tripleheader will be the 143rd ShoBox telecast since the series began on July 21, 2001.
Also scheduled, promising, unbeaten knockout artist Shawn Porter (15-0, 12 KOs), of Cleveland, Ohio, will face fellow prospect Ray Robinson (11-1, 4 KOs), of Philadelphia, Pa., in a 10-round junior middleweight (catch weight 150 lbs) bout. Philadelphia’s Lanard Lane (12-0, 7 KOs), another talented, undefeated prospect, will put his perfect record up against Mike Dallas, Jr., (14-0-1, 5 KOs), of Bakersfield, Calif., in an eight-round welterweight bout.
The power-punching Guerrero, of Salisbury, Md., by way of the Dominican Republic, has scored all 15 of his knockouts inside of four rounds. He says he is eyeing a shot at a world title. “One thing that my parents and everyone else I’ve ever been involved with in boxing have said to never set your eyes on a person but on the prize. That prize is the belt,” he said, answering the question of who he would like to face next. “Whoever has that championship belt is the one I want. I think I’ll get my championship shot at the end of this year or the beginning of next year.”
Guerrero recently answered six questions.
Question: Do you have a different approach to the fight when it’s not in your hometown of Salisbury, Md.? Does it make a difference fighting at home?
Guerrero: “Fighting in Salisbury is icing on the cake but I didn’t start out there. I had nine fights on the road before we got to bring it home and four others on the road including a main event on SHOWTIME in Minnesota. I love fighting in my hometown for my fans but it makes no difference where I fight. I look at this as an opportunity to win some new fans in a different place, so it’s all good.”
Question: You are so active in the community. What drives you to volunteer so much of your time to others?
Guerrero: “I do a lot of community service and help out the kids. If there is a race for cancer or anything else I try to help them out. I don’t live for myself, I live for others. I would like to have a little bit more money and give that away but right now what I can give is my time. As soon as I’m done training or get out of the gym I go to the schools to see the kids. It makes me feel good.”
Question: We hear your golf game may need some work?
Guerrero: “(Laughing) Yeah. I just finished 18 holes with my manager Hal Chernoff. He beat me. I’m really not that good. I can’t even break 100. I’m now sneaking to the golf course by myself so I can get some practice in without him knowing. I’m going to surprise him.”
Question: What can you beat him at?
Guerrero: “I beat him in everything he taught me except golf and swimming. We bet on everything we do and I’ve got him in chess, racquetball and basketball and I think I beat him at Ping-Pong. In underwater swimming he went from one side to the other without taking a breath and I couldn’t do it.”
Question: Living so close to Washington D.C., have you taken in all the sites?
Guerrero: “I have. I’ve been to the Smithsonian and a lot of the other monuments. I love it. I get to meet a lot of interesting people living here. I started my own running club called the Potomac Runners and I run with senators and doctors and lawyers. I’m a people person and some of them have come to my fights. I’m just loving my life right now.”
Question: Maybe you could get the President out for a jog?
Guerrero: “(Laughing) Yeah. I haven’t been invited to the White House yet but I hope to someday. I think (Barack Obama) is the man and he’s doing a great job. It’s been a great change for us. He offers hope to a lot of kids who now say, ‘Hey, I can do that now too.’ “
