Guerrero vacates IBF featherweight strap, moving to 130

The 130-pound ranks are about to get a shot of life after finding the top ten a bit barren with the impending departures of Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez and Joan Guzman, as IBF featherweight titleholder Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero has decided to vacate his position and move up a weight class.

His team issued a statement that said, in effect, that Guerrero feels the four pounds will just add more power to his game. I'd have to think he might be feeling the pressures of making weight, too, since he's 25 now and has been fighting at featherweight his entire career.

Buuut...

There's another angle.

Guerrero was coming up on due time for a mandatory defense against Orlando Salido, the guy that beat him 2006, the result changed to a no-decision after Salido failed a post-fight drug test. Salido won on scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 115-113 that night, and just plain had Guerrero's number. Maybe "The Ghost" simply doesn't want that fight again. Since then, he's been a wrecking ball, knocking out Spend Abazi, Martin Honorio and Jason Litzau.

I'm not trying to say Guerrero is ducking Salido, but it's a thought to consider.

Either way, he'll make more money at 130 since there are still a couple of big fights to make there. Guerrero could fight Edwin Valero eventually, or he could fight Humberto Soto, or whatever. At 126, he wasn't going to get any crack at Chris John, and a fight with Steven Luevano didn't seem too likely, either.

I'm really a big Guerrero fan and considered him to be, right now, arguably the best featherweight in the world. John's resume is not impressive, and I'd rank him behind both Guerrero and Luevano. Not that any of that really matters, especially now. I wish Guerrero nothing but the best.