Boxer vacates title to help wife fight cancer

Published Feb. 21, 2010 6:43 p.m. ET

foxsports

Robert Guerrero of the United States has vacated his IBF junior lightweight title to be with his wife, Casey, during the latest steps in her lengthy struggle with leukemia.

Guerrero announced his decision Tuesday, a week after he was forced to drop out of a prospective fight with Australia's Michael Katsidis.

Casey Guerrero is hospitalized while recovering from a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy.

Guerrero (25-1-1, 17 KOs) won a featherweight title before his wife was diagnosed with the disease in 2007. He vacated that title in 2008 and moved up to junior lightweight, dominating Malcolm Klassen last year to claim the IBF belt.

The Guerreros have two young children.