Robert Guerrero took a beating Saturday from Keith Thurman in NBC?s first feature boxing in a couple of decades. The Ghost lost by a lopsided unanimous decision. Yet he managed to improve his career arc with a memorably game performance in the late rounds.
It was a loss that made you wonder long before the end how viable Guerrero could ever be for a big fight again. He?s an outstanding but mortal fighter who was clearly overmatched against the gods, Floyd Mayweather, and now Thurman, whose performance was absolutely breathtaking and star-making.
By the end of the sixth round, Guerrero gestured as if to acknowledge how impressed you had to be by the show Thurman was putting on.
In the ninth, Guerrero hit the canvas from a combination, and took enough punishment afterward to tempt a stoppage by referee Kenny Bayliss. But Guerrero was saved by the bell.
And then he saved his career. Almost zombie-like, he stalked Thurman, landing some good shots but taking even harder ones. He may have won the 10th round, but by the 11th and 12th Thurman was still sort of maintaining control against Guerrero?s heroic onslaught.
The crowd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas was totally behind Guerrero in those final three rounds as he tried to set up the one good shot that could provide an even more breathtaking ending than Guerrero in fact provided. They cheered wildly long past the final bell.
?He was a tremendous warrior,? said Thurman (25-0) after winning 120-107, 118-108 and 118-109 on the scorecards.
It took Gilroy?s Guerrero a while to get on the war path. He tried to get accustomed to Thurman?s firepower by counter-punching in the early rounds the way the featherweight Guerrero used to do.
?I thought he was going to press more in the early rounds,? Thurman said after mostly peppering Guerrero from outside. There was almost no infighting, few clinches.
Only in the end was Guerrero truly aggressive. And it did matter.
Not that those final three rounds reflected poorly on Thurman. ?This was a tremendous fight and a true learning experience,? he said.
But Guerrero (32-3-1)made it even greater, an out-of-body experience. What a strange signature fight this becomes.
