Guzman to return at 140lb

Guzman: Ambitions at 140lb

Talent-wise he's up there with them all. He'll fight next at 140lbs and we'll see what we can get after that. I think he's the perfect size for 140, he's got a real strong core and he's really strong.

Lee Beard on Joan Guzman
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Former two-weight world champion Joan Guzman will be gunning for the best light-welterweights around when he returns to the ring later this year.

The New York-based veteran remains undefeated in a 34-fight career after beating South African Ali Funeka in March, a bout that should have been for the IBF lightweight title.

However, the strap was not on the line for the man from the Dominican Republic, after he failed to make the 135lb limit by a remarkable nine pounds.

Manchester-based trainer Lee Beard helped prepare the 34-year-old for the fight and despite the controversial circumstances surrounding it, is expecting to continue to look after the former WBO super-bantam and super-featherweight champion.

"Everything's fine with Guzman," Beard told skysports.com. "He should be coming over any week now. His manager is working on a fight now and he's definitely going to move up in weight.

"He was already thinking about moving up after the Funeka fight anyway."

On schedule

The stocky Guzman has had weight problems throughout his career and although he was some way above his fighting weight a week before the March 27 contest, Beard fully expected him to shed the excess lbs.

"Everything was fine, he was big before training started, I only had six hard weeks with him," he explained.

"He was on schedule, I wrote down where he needed to be, when he needed to lose the weight.

"He needed to be 10lb off a week before the fight and he was, and I didn't check his weight on the Monday because (conditioning coach) Kerry Kayes was coming over (to Las Vegas) on the Tuesday, and it turns out he'd put four or five pounds on!

"Kerry was going to bring him back down, but Guzman only has to look at food and he puts weight on. He has to be very strict on himself and if he had one bad meal and the wrong drink there was no chance he was going to make it.

"By the morning of the weigh-in he'd put all the weight back on.

"As far as I'm concerned it was on schedule and it doesn't reflect badly on me. He'd been inactive and at his age it's obviously not coming off him so easily.

"It's very easy to say I should have checked his weight every day but in reality that doesn't happen. At the end of the day he's a 33-year-old man and only he knows how he's put on four to five pounds before the fight. It's down to the fighter at the end of the day."

Faith

However, Beard retains faith in his fighter's ability and believes most of the top fighters will look to avoid him - as they always have - as he steps up to a light-welterweight division packed with young talent.

Devon Alexander currently holds the WBC and IBF titles, while Timothy Bradley is the WBO champion and Amir Khan holds the WBA version.

"Guzman's a big risk with little reward," said Beard, who was part of Ricky Hatton's team for much of his career.

"Remember he chased (Manny) Pacquiao all the way up from super-bantamweight and after he beat Humberto Soto he was promised the fight after that. He's a two-weight champion but he can't get the bigger fights.

"Talent-wise he's up there with them all. He'll fight next at 140lbs and we'll see what we can get after that. I think he's the perfect size for 140, he's got a real strong core and he's really strong.

"Guzman likes people to come forward and he's extremely fast, he's got great footwork and he's very difficult to hit.

"Kerry says he's a bigger bloke than Ricky. He's a big lad, he was always thick built with strong arms and legs. He never made the weight for the (Nate) Campbell fight and that set him back.

"He wanted the (Tim) Bradley fight but it goes back to who wants to fight him? He's capable of beating all those guys and there's not a lot of people with Guzman's talent, he knows how to make people miss and he's very explosive with his punches."

If Beard is right and Guzman finally gets his big break, the unbeaten veteran may yet prove himself to be one the best fighters of his generation.