On Saturday, August 27, 2016, David Peralta (26-2-1, 14 KOs) scored a split decision victory against Robert Guerrero (33-5-1, 14 KOs) at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
The 12-round Welterweight fight headlined a three-fight PBC on Spike TV telecast.
Guerrero, a 33-year-old native of Gilroy, California, sought to remain within the upper-echelon of the division with a showcase fight, but instead, he was in tough against a literal cab driver.
Peralta, 33, of Argentina, was relatively unknown and had only fight in Argentina before tonight. Now, he’ll at least be remembered as the man who upset Guerrero in his home country.
Guerrero, it seems, wanted to box more during this fight because he had gained nothing from brawling so many times in previous fights, the best example being his close with against Aron Martinez last year.
However, the game plan back fired as Peralta’s height and reached posed trouble for Guerrero. In fact, Guerrero was susceptible to right hands and left hooks all night as he attempted to close the distance.
As the fight progressed, Peralta grew more accurate, and evidently did enough to win the fight on two judges, with scores of 115-113 and 116-112. One judge, however, scored it 113-115 for Guerrero.
“I thought I clearly won the fight. For the judge to say I lost 8 rounds sounds crazy to me,” said Guerrero.
“Peralta was very awkward but I felt I won. I won the rounds when I boxed,” said Guerrero.
While Guerrero expressed disappointment at his loss, Peralta, who was headed for retirement before his big chance, hoped for the possibility of fighting yet another high-level opponent
“I was a cab driver, driving cabs in Argentina. I was offered a chance to fight in the U.S. & came away victorious,” said Peralta.
“Yes, I want to fight bigger names now, no way I’m going to retire now,” said Peralta.
With a tough loss against an unknown fighter–a literal cab driver–will Guerrero be able to bounce back? Will Peralta get another chance to fight a well-known opponent? Let us know in the comments section below.
Highlights from Guerrero-Peralta:
[slideshow_deploy id=’67145′] Photos by Andy Sameulson/PBC
