Photo: Vincent Ethier – After this victory, as emotional as it was explosive, Christopher Guerrero ensured that ‘this was just the beginning.’
Montreal’s Christopher ‘Machine Gun’ Guerrero defeated Julian Mendo Salmoran by referee stoppage in the 5th round of a fight presented by Eye of the Tiger (EOTTM) on Thursday night at the Casino du Lac-Leamy.
For Guerrero, who fights between 147 and 154 pounds, this marks his fifth victory in as many fights, but more importantly, his first win before the limit. A moment the 21-year-old boxer eagerly awaited.
“I was in tears… it was really [an] emotional [moment] for me because I worked very hard for this KO. I had immense pressure; everyone was asking, ‘when will you get a KO?’ and now I showed that I could do it,” he recounted, still on cloud nine after the fight.
The pressure falls away
This first knockout coincides precisely with Guerrero’s first time fighting in a six-round bout. While this step represents a significant challenge for some young boxers, for Guerrero, it’s the ‘best of both worlds.’
“I always needed one more round; it was just a matter of time, but it’s going to roll now… They’re going to start falling,” stated the Montreal native of Mexican descent in an interview in French, although he’s equally proficient in English, Spanish, and Italian.
Despite placing significant pressure on himself, Guerrero’s promoter, Camille Estephan, believes it was only a matter of time before his protégé demonstrated his punching power.
“He was relieved, as they say in English, he ‘got the monkey off his back.’ Before, he couldn’t ‘finish’ his opponents, but we knew he ‘hit hard,’ and tonight, he delivered his best performance,” affirmed the founder of EOTTM, highlighting seeing more ‘maturity’ in the young boxer’s technique.
Patience and hard work rewarded
The author of this ‘best performance’ owes it not to luck but to hard work, a fact his coach can attest to.
“We worked for it… we’ve been looking for that knockout for three fights. In every training camp, we’ve worked on it, and it paid off this fight,” said Giuseppe Moffa.
Additionally, Moffa emphasized that one of the things they worked on the most was his body attacks, a strategy that, although requiring maturity, proves to be a worthwhile investment as the fights extend.
“Chris is also a patient guy, a defensive guy, so the more rounds there will be, the better he will be,” adds the 23-year-old coach from the Ulysse Nation Sports Center, visibly as pleased as his boxer to transition from four to now six-round fights.
Towards rankings within two years?
Although he already has five victories, Christopher Guerrero, at 21, doesn’t want to rush things. However, when asked where he sees himself in the medium term, ‘Machine Gun’ doesn’t beat around the bush.
“In two years, I see myself with an NABF title and all the continental titles,” he spontaneously replies.
According to Camille Estephan, this goal is perfectly achievable for his protégé.
“He absolutely has the potential; he’s very young and has a lot to develop, but I think he has the talent for that, for sure,” he stated late in the evening.
A punch that changed everything
Born in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Christopher Guerrero grew up on a farm in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Regarding boxing, it all started due to an incident at elementary school.
“I was about 10 years old, and a guy at school hit me ‘in the face’ […]. When I got home and told my dad what happened, he immediately said, ‘Okay, let’s go to the boxing gym,'” he recounts.
Learning not only to defend himself, the boxer who eventually moved to Montreal with his family quickly developed a true passion for the sport. Making his amateur boxing debut at 15, success was almost immediate, notably winning the Canadian championship in 2017 and 2020.
As he entered his twenties, the arrival of the pandemic, pausing amateur boxing, prompted him to decide to turn to the professional ranks. Partnering with EOTTM in 2021, he immediately got the chance to have his first two fights in his native Mexico before fighting in Quebec for the next three, all in just under 20 months.
All in all, with the success he’s experiencing today, it would be an understatement to say that Christopher Guerrero doesn’t regret being ‘hit in the face’ more than a decade ago.
“I’m really happy to have found boxing… today, I don’t know what else I could do,” concluded the hungry young boxer, specifying that his secret is to ‘never be satisfied.’
