Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, Danny Garcia decisioned Robert Guerrero to win the WBC World welterweight title?
Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, in a PBC fight televised live on FOX, Danny ?Swift? Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs), from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, decisioned Robert ?The Ghost? Guerrero (33-4-1, 18 KOs), the southpaw from Gilroy, California, after 12 rounds of action to win the WBC World welterweight title vacated by Floyd Mayweather upon his retirement.
All three judges saw the fight 116-112.
Fighting out of the blue corner in pink leopard skin trunks, Garcia was a 10-1 favorite coming in. He was undefeated. He was the WBC/WBA super lightweight champion for three years. He was also, at 27 years of age, five years younger than his opponent and a formidable fighting machine.
But Guerrero, fighting out of the red corner in red and white trunks, even though he had lost two of his last four fights, to Floyd Mayweather in 2013 and Keith Thurman in 2015, has held titles at featherweight, super featherweight, lightweight and welterweight. He also always comes to fight.
The bout was one of the more evenly matched title fights in recent memory. The winner may have never been in doubt, but the match was competitive and the action nonstop.
No sooner had the bell sounded to commence hostilities than both fighters let ?er rip. Guerrero was busier than Garcia in round one. He applied incessant pressure. He was getting off first. Garcia countered effectively and landed some shots to the head and body, but Guerrero had done enough to win the round.
Round two was closer than the first. Guerrero landed a hook from the southpaw stance. Garcia landed a straight right. ?The Ghost? connected with an uppercut. A solid right forced Garcia to retreat. Garcia landed a hook of his own, followed by two right hands. They were trading hard shots at the bell. Garcia won the round by a hair.
Garcia continued to fight while moving backward in the third. It was less a strategy than a reaction to Guerrero?s pressure. He was bringing the fight to Garcia, boxing and rumbling in equal measure. Guerrero?s defensive liabilities are a given and Garcia began timing his rushes with right to the head. There was no shortage of inside fighting, with Guerrero outworking his somewhat tentative opponent. Garcia landed a nice left hook as they broke from a clinch. Guerrero was more aggressive, but the effective aggression belonged to Garcia, who seemed to be gaining control of the fight.
If patience is a virtue, Garcia was virtuous in round four. He was the matador to Guerrero?s bull, taking his time and methodically picking his shots. But Guerrero was not to be deterred. His lefts were finding the mark. He was on Garcia like white is on rice. Fighting off the back foot, Garcia connected with rights to the head and body. He launched a couple of combinations. Guerrero landed a beautiful uppercut followed by a right. It was a close round, but Guerrero edged it.
Garcia won the next five rounds. Fighting smart, fighting sophisticated, he let his hands go and was landing almost at will to the head and body. But there was no quit in Robert Guerrero. He ate punches, plenty of hard punches, but never stopped throwing and landing punches of his own. Garcia was less instinctual that Guerrero. He was also considerably more composed.
Guerrero won round 10. He was unrelenting.
Garcia won the 11th. Big right hands and a big uppercut staggered Guerrero, but he was flurrying at the bell to end the round.
Both fighters were giving as good as they got and Garcia found the strength to win the final round.
After the fight Garcia said, ?It was what I expected. I knew I would win at least eight or nine rounds. I was throwing my combinations, using my legs like my dad told me to do. I knew he was going to come to fight. Guerrero is tough. He?s a rugged warrior. No one has ever stopped him. He came to fight. He was in shape. I?m taking nothing away from him. I am glad it went the way it went. I?m back where I belong. I am now a two-division world champion.?
Not surprisingly, Garcia felt otherwise.
?I thought I won the fight,? he said. ?The crowd thought I won the fight. It was a great fight. But not one person out there thought Danny won, but his team. I pressured him, I nailed him, busted his body up, out-jabbed him. I want a rematch and that?s it. I will be back.?
Guerrero?s not done, not by a long shot. But Garcia fought one helluva fight.
