Pride at play in Robert Guerrero-Danny Garcia fight

Robert Guerrero can hear the doubters.

He has lost two of his last four fights. In the victories, he was battered in the face in one and knocked down in the other. He’s 32, and his next bout is a crossroads fight defined.

Guerrero, a welterweight, will meet unbeaten former junior-welterweight champion Danny Garcia on Jan. 23 in the main event of a Staples Center card that’ll be the first Premier Boxing Champions card on Fox.

“You don’t know what’s going on in people’s lives, what they’re thinking … and your mental state and your focus is the biggest thing beside being in shape,” Guerrero said.

The former two-division world champion from Gilroy, Calif., revealed in a Wednesday conversation with The Times that a female cousin died of a heart attack just before his June 6 split-decision victory over Aron Martinez of Los Angeles.

“I know my last fight was a rough one, rougher than I made it to be. I wasn’t 100% prepared, my mind wasn’t right,” said Guerrero (33-3-1, 18 knockouts), who said he was reeling during the early portion of training camp after the death of his grandmother.

“So it was not a good time to be doing what I do. Just looking at my last fight, him catching me with a good shot and putting me down, people think, ‘He’s at the tail end, time for him to hang it up … . ’ ”

Except, Guerrero is not ready to go.

Garcia (31-0, 18 KOs), from Philadelphia, said he recognizes “anybody who puts on gloves at this high level” is a threat and expects a battle stiffer than his last three fights, against Rod Salka, Lamont Peterson and Paulie Malignaggi, that have drawn criticism.

“I’ve got to worry about the task ahead,” Garcia said. “It’s going to be an exciting year for boxing and right now I’m satisfied with where I’m going. I’m at a good weight now. I feel stronger, fresher.

“I’m going to give a good fight, get the crowd on its feet. I’ll have an answer for everything. I’ll be a chameleon and adapt to whatever he brings to the table, make the adjustments it’ll take to win.”

A victory could propel Garcia to showdowns in PBC’s deep division, including the Keith Thurman-Shawn Porter winner or a rematch with Amir Khan.

His fight with Guerrero is full of intrigue because both are trained by their hot-button fathers, Ruben Guerrero and Angel Garcia.

At Wednesday’s news conference in L.A. to announce the fight, Ruben Guerrero said, “I wanted to behave today and be the good guy.

“It might heat up, but that guy doesn’t want any part of me.”

Ruben Guerrero said his son is aware “this is a big one, and in those big ones, Robert looks better. This will be a full training camp and a whole different Robert Guerrero, I promise you.”

After losing to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013, Guerrero said he seeks to return to the type of fighter-boxer who earned that bout in the first place.

“My heritage is I’m a Mexican and I’m going against a Puerto Rican, so there’s a lot of pride here,” Guerrero said. “I’m very excited for this fight. And if people think I’m easy pickings for Garcia, I know he and his dad know, ‘This guy can fight.’ ”