Robert Guerrero (32-3-1, 18 KOs) has a habit of making a fight unnecessarily difficult for him, and today was no exception as he scored a controversial split-decision win over a game Aron Martinez (19-3-1, 4 KOs) at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
The 10-round Welterweight fight was the main event of an afternoon edition of PBC on NBC.
Guerrero, a native of Gilroy, California, had trouble early as a determined Martinez pushed forward.
Instead of throwing straight punches and standing his ground to deter Martinez’ pressure, Guerrero allowed himself to be backed against the ropes where he spent a lot of time exchanging blows.
Guerrero’s “rope-a-dope” served him well in Round 2 as he wobbled Martinez with a left hand, but being on the ropes quickly backfired as he ate a barrage of punches that had him pretty much out on his feet in Round 4.
“When I got up off the canvas, I told myself…get up and win this fight,” said Guerrero, who got back to his feet and was allowed to continue.
The knockdown was caused by an accumulation of punches, and it was a bad sign that demonstrated that the 33-year-old southpaw is probably past the better days of his career.
In Round 5, Guerrero tried to stand his ground and landed hard shots to the body, but a left hook from Martinez sent him reeling back once again. Martinez was taking a strong lead by this point, and it would take a lot of offense in the later rounds for Guerrero to get back into the fight.
“Once I started boxing, I felt I started dominating the fight,” said Guerrero, who began using the ring a lot better in the later rounds.
Whenever Martinez had Guerrero at close range, he was about to land shots. Whenever Guerrero was on the outside–which was not often–he landed more shots.
Nevertheless, Guerrero won with a fair score of 95-94 and a questionable score by Jerry Cantu of 97-92, while one judge had it for Martinez with a score of 95-94.
“I though the scorecard was way out of line,” said Martinez, of Michoacan, Mexico, who said he hopes to get back in the ring soon.
As for Guerrero, who plans to fight a few more times this year, it remains in question if he will be able to be competitive with the top ten in his division.
Guerrero was a heavy favorite tonight, but it definitely did not look like it.
[slideshow_deploy id=’42618′] Photos by Ismael Gallardo/RBRBoxing
