Eating Your Way Out of Title Contention, Joan Guzman-Style

If it’s possible to eat yourself out of a job, Joan Guzman may have just done it.

Everything seemed to be looking up for the undefeated former 130-pound champion prior to the weekend of September 8. Coming off a lopsided victory over Humberto Soto in November 2007, the slick Dominican was scheduled to take on Nate Campbell for his lightweight titles in the main event of a Showtime card from Mississippi.

Whether Guzman deserved the title shot was debatable, given that he had yet to fight at 135. But it was a fight he clearly wanted, and his handlers must have felt confident he could win given the barrage of trash talk they lobbed at Campbell.

Rumors floated around that Guzman had entered his camp overweight, but there was no reason to think he wouldn’t be ready when September 13 rolled around. Surely, there was little cause for concern given that Guzman was coming up in weight for the bout. He even had a cautionary tale from which to learn back in the fall of 2006, when Jorge Rodrigo Barrios came in overweight for their championship fight.

Despite that, Guzman tipped the scales at 138 ½ pounds come weigh-in time. Boxers have a couple hours to try to drop the extra weight before stepping on the scales again. Guzman never returned for a second attempt.

Even though Campbell’s belts would no longer be at stake, early reports said that the fight would go on. Viewers tuning in for the bout would find out about five minutes before the telecast that it was cancelled. Campbell would later say that he only found out himself a few hours before they were scheduled to meet.

Guzman’s camp was quick to spin the withdrawal as a medical issue, claiming that their fighter had to be hospitalized for dehydration, and Steve Kim of MaxBoxing has reported that the doctor assigned by the Mississippi State Athletic Commission did indeed have reservations about letting him fight. Understandably, Campbell and his people were a little more skeptical.

Regardless, when the Showtime announcing team made it known that Guzman began his training more than 30 pounds overweight, it was clear that this was all on him. Making weight is part of the job, and he was simply unwilling to do what it took to get it done.

Aside from missing out on his most recent paycheck-and facing possible legal action, as Campbell’s promoters told Kim they’re already pursuing-Guzman threw away a host of future possibilities. The lightweight division is one of boxing’s deepest, but none of the champions or top contenders is likely to look in his direction in the near future. Campbell certainly won’t.

Showtime isn’t going to forget how Guzman forced it to scrap the main event it had promoted at the last minute, and smart money says HBO took notes as well. Add in the facts that Guzman is already 32-years old and doesn’t fight in a crowd-pleasing style and it’s hard to see exactly where he goes from here.

Since boxing is the sport that makes hell freeze over on an annual basis, it’s way too soon to say we won’t be hearing from Guzman again. Losing his battle with the dinner plate has cost his ring career dearly though, and he’s got no one to blame but himself.