Robert Guerrero salvaged a split decision victory Saturday over Aron Martinez in their 10-round welterweight bout on NBC, but ?The Ghost? from Gilroy did not offset the damage he incurred during the first four rounds at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.
Guerrero (33-3-1), a heavy favorite, arguably lost three of the first four rounds. Worse, he was knocked down by a series of smart blows near the end of the fourth round.
He shook off the damage enough to take control of the fight from the mid-point of the fifth round, boxing more crisply and elegantly than his rag-tag opponent. But after the knockdown, Guerrero needed a knockout to win from a promotional standpoint, and he didn?t get that.
The victory was in no way the resounding one Guerrero needed to offset the indignities to which Martinez subjected him in the first half of the fight.
Martinez (19-4-1) tried to stick and move early on, and landed several sneaky overhand rights during the first two rounds while Guerrero was trying to establish a body attack.
?He was coming head first, and that threw me off a little bit,? Guerrero said.
But while Martinez was whaling away at Guerrero in a corner, Guerrero landed a huge left, and it seemed during the next two rounds that Guerrero would get the better of it in a slugfest, which has become an unavoidable scenario for Guerrero in this welterweight era of the former featherweight?s career.
?This arena: It makes me want to stand there and trade.?
Guerrero had won the third round and was winning the fourth when Martinez suddenly landed a flurry that visibly stunned Guerrero and put him down.
That changed the Guerrero strategy. ?They wanted me to come off my jab, box a little bit more.?
At that point, it turned out Guerrero didn?t need a knockout to win the decision. He did win all six rounds on my scorecard from the fifth on. With his superior ring generalship, he simply looked better, seemed more pedigreed. I scored it 96-93 and was not taken aback by judge Jerry Cantu?s decisive scorecard favoring Guerrero 97-92. The other two judges split 95-94 verdicts.
But that?s all technical stuff.
The visceral impression left Saturday was that Guerrero lost.
