Danny Garcia (32-0 18 KO) defeated Robert Guerrero (33-4-1 18 KO) by unanimous decision on Saturday night but it wasn’t easy. All three judges had it 116-112.
Guerrero came out boxing better than he has in recent memory. Since he moved to the welterweight division, his boxing has decreased while he has slowly morphed into more of a one demensional brawler. He has gotten away from the reasons he earned “The Ghost” moniker.
Lightning quick and fluid south of the welters, it was said Guerrero was like fighting a ghost. When an opponent reacted to counter, he was gone.
Robert ‘s father and trainer Ruben was on record saying his son needs to go back to his roots and box more. For the first third of this fight Robert did just that.
From the opening bell, Guerrero boxed beautifully with a calculated approach and brought the fight to Garcia.
Guerrero’s tactics forced Garcia to fight off his back foot. The Philly fighter was clearly out of his comfort zone in doing so.
Guerrero had success early employing this tactic but fell back into the brawling style we’ve all come to know and love which ultimately lead to his demise.
Midway through the fight, Garcia began to take over and began landing huge straight rights and his trademark left hook. It was less about what Garcia was able to do and more about what Guerrero allowed him to do once he stopped boxing and began brawling.
Guerrero had moments over the course of the second half of the fight but they were few and far between.
Yes, we got the warrior from Gilroy that we always get, the relentless attacker with the granite chin who absorbs punishment while landing his own, but it wasn’t enough. Boxing was the key to the puzzle, he was successful early but unable to sustain it.
Garcia to his credit used Guerrero’s aggressiveness against him to land counter after counter and start to take the lead in an otherwise close fight.
Both men closed the show as they gave it all in the 12th with Guerrero getting the better of it.
Standing-8 had it 115-113 Garcia. There were a lot of close rounds. Guerrero was the aggressor throughout but only at times effective enough to win the round. Guerrero comes forward aggressively and throws flurries of punches with one significant scoring blow while getting countered with two, thus most likely the diffrence in the judges minds in the close rounds.
With the win Garcia captured the WBC World welterweight strap vacated by Floyd Mayweather upon his retirement.
Rumors that Garcia-Amir Khan 2 could be next or Garcia vs. the Keith Thurman v. Shawn Porter winner.
Garcia is in a lot of close fights but always does enough to get the victory. As he moves up the division, he might not be as fortunate.
Guerrero showed he is no gatekeeper; however, if he continues to be one-dimensional, depending on the opponent he will most likely be on the short end of the cards. If Guerrero can sustain his beautiful boxing throughout combined with his aggression, we may see a resurgence of the former multiple division world champion.
Standing-8 