As if a head butt, a short bout and a no-decision weren?t disappointing enough Saturday for Robert Guerrero in his eagerly anticipated junior lightweight fight in San Jose, now his detractors are saying he was a coward for not continuing.
As Guerrero occasionally is compared to Manny Pacquiao, a comparison of Guerrero?s situation Saturday with the scenario when Pacquiao suffered a more gruesome cut against Erik Morales in 2005 was particularly unkind. Writing for my friends at philboxing.com (dudes: you could have enlisted the Welterweight Champion here), Jason Aniel said:
?Manny Pacquiao?s eye was falling out of his socket against Erik Morales in 2005, but he finished the fight. If Guerrero wanted to get out of the fight, then you have to question whether Guerrero really has what it takes to be a major player in boxing. . .The unknown Yordan backed up his undefeated record by showing good boxing and landed some good shots on Guerrero in the first round. Guerrero seemed surprised by Yordan?s effectiveness.?
Whoa! Did he really write that Guerrero was so dismayed by Yordan?s prowess that a pissant cut caused by a head butt became a handy solution to his predicament? Whoa. Whoa!
First, Yordan was NOT better than Guerrero expected. He knew Yordan would be quick enough to hit him a few times, but Guerrero was confident a body attack would wear down the smaller man by the fifth or sixth round. Everything was going according to plan.
Still, the opponent wasn?t, well, wasn?t Manny Pacquiao. It was not important that Guerrero try to overcome the injury just to say he steamrolled a blown-up featherweight from Indonesia.
Because Guerrero sustained his injury from a head butt (well) before the end of the fourth round, it?s a no decision. A loss would have been a different matter altogether.
When Pacquiao suffered a telling eye injury in his loss to Morales, it was ruled unjustly that a punch, not a butt, had caused the injury. Quitting would have meant losing then and there. Pacquiao had no choice but to continue.
Guerrero did. By the way, before the stoppage but after he was cut, Guerrero went after Yordan for the first time in the fight and easily overwhelmed him. When Yordan was asked about a rematch with Guerrero, he muttered something about going back to 126 pounds to fight Steven Luevano.
When the time is right, you will see Guerrero fighting through adversity to show great fortitude. But the time was not right Saturday.
