I’m hungry to be the best in the world. There is no other fighter hungrier than I am. This is my time this is Guzman time! After this fight people are going to say where they been hiding this guy?” said Guzman. These words were spoken by Joan Guzman in an interview conducted with him on January 27th. However Guzman will have to wait to satiate his hunger of staking his claim to being the best featherweight in the world. This comes off the heels of his upcoming title challenge against Scott Harrison being postponed. Harrison and his managing team have decided to make Guzman linger until late May due to the WBO champion suffering from a mouth infection.

“I feel bad; there is no way around it. My team and I have trained for two months; we have worked hard and have had a great camp. Now with the fight being three weeks away and all of a sudden you get word that the fights canceled, it’s a tough thing to handle. It’s just as tough mentally as it is physically”, said Guzman.

Guzman currently owns an unblemished record of 24-0 with 17 wins coming by way of knockout and is a former 122 pound WBO titlist. Having a fight being rescheduled has become unfortunately an all too familiar reoccurrence in Guzman’s career.

 “Regrettably to say this is boxing and its not the first time I’ve had a big fight fall through. God knows what he does and I am in Gods hands. I was a little pissed off when I originally got the news on Monday, but really I have lived out to my end of this fight deal and so there is nothing I can do about it right now. But like I said this is boxing, I can’t get upset over things that are out of my control,” stated Guzman.

The first time Guzman had a major bout re-scheduled was against former rival and fellow countryman the late Agapito Sanchez. Guzman states that he is in the best shape in his life. Currently the Dominican born slugger is weighing 128 pounds. The fact that Guzman is only 3 pounds over the featherweight limit is pretty impressive, considering that the proposed bout as of today was about 2 and half weeks away.
 
“I am back from Vegas, we had a great camp out there and now I am home again in New York. I will keep my same routine, maybe not as intense but I’ll be in the gym 6 days out of the week. I don’t know if we are going to go with their (Frank Warren) proposed date of late May for this bout. To be honest with I’d like to get back in the ring sooner. But if its not in the cards than I’m ready to punch my passport and head to Scotland again,” said Guzman. 

The postponement of a major encounter leaves a rippling effect through out the industry. Boxers don’t get paid if they do not fight. The same way most other professionals are not compensated if he or she does not work. A fighters training expenses, traveling expenses are all affected when an untimely cancellation occurs, not to mention none of this is refundable. Also of course the fans are left high dry as well; we have to wait to see a quality bout. This anticipated clash has been as unstable as any bout in recent memory. The original date for this WBO title bout was to have been November 2005. November 2005 then turned into February of 2006 then the of course most recent March 25th cancellation. Guzman however is still willing to give the Scottish champ the benefit of the doubt as he deals with this sudden dental dilemma.

“I have to take him on his word. I don’t know if it’s bogus or not. I don’t want to say that he does not have a legitimate excuse for not being able to fight on March 25th. I don’t want to go there or speculate on that. I respect him as a fighter. If he’s not able to fight, he can’t fight. He must have his valid reasons. I don’t want to talk bad about any boxer we are all pros. I hope he gets better and if it’s in God’s plans for me, I hope to get my title shot and I will take full advantage of that opportunity,” stated Guzman.

“The one positive coming out of this is that I can give my wife the attention that she deserves as she is due to give birth to our second child on March 17th,” said Guzman. 

BoxingTalk would like to thank Joan Guzman for his time and would like to wish him continued success in the future.

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