Saturday 24 November 2012

Robert Guerrero v Andre Berto

Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero (?-?) successfully defended his WBC Interim Welterweight title against Andre Berto (?-?) in a thoroughly sloppy, though equally entertaining bout that had controversy, action and an awful lot of wrestling.

The fight started well for Guerrero who knocked down Berto in both of the opening 2 rounds and really messed up Berto's right eye as "The Ghost" started fast and took advantage of Berto's wild shots and slow foot work. Whilst Guerrero took a clear lead, there was controversy over the first knockdown which seemed to come from a clear case of hitting and holding and the second seemed to also have a case of a thumb to the eye of Berto. It was clear after the first 3 rounds that Guerrero was 5 points up he had dominated the early action and with the knockdowns was in an almost unassailable lead.

Just as the fight appeared a lost cause Berto then managed to fight his way back into the bout and seemed to take a number of the middle rounds as the fight combined a lot of holding and wrestling  as well as numerous thunderous shots from both men. Whilst it looked like Guerrero was forcing Berto on to the ropes it was clear that Berto was having his success from them with thunderous uppercuts that seemed to snap Guerrero's head back time and time again.

As the rounds went on the fight seemed to be getting closer and closer with Berto's powerful uppercuts and hooks bouncing off Guerrero's head, bagging him several rounds. Sadly however the style of much of the bout wasn't fun to watch with a lot of holding and wrestling and little clear action as both men seemed to prefer a messy inside game rather than a true war. This left several rounds almost actionless as Lou Moretti was forced to repeatedly split the men with out anything notable landing.

In the later rounds both men appeared tired and the action slowed with fewer and fewer back and forths, though the bout heated up in an engaging 12th round that saw both men leaving it all on the line. Sadly it was the 12th round that left a sour taste in many peoples mouth with Guerrero landing 3 or 4 shots well after the bell, though by that point the round, and the fight was over.


When it came to the score cards, it was fair to say that you really could have had almost any scoreline with the best result for Berto likely being a 113-113 draw, however, rather surprisingly all three judges had it 116-110 to Guerrero, a rather odd scoreline considering just how many close rounds the bout had.

Guerrero, like he did after defeating Selcuk Aydin, called out Floyd Mayweather Jr, though in all honesty, Guerrero would get destroyed by Mayweather, however both men did seem to hint that a rematch may be possible and that may well be the best option for both.

1 comment:

  1. funny that they have dre listed as an inch taller than guerrero, cause guerrero looked like 2 to 3 inches taller than dre in the post fight interview. & he had no issue pushing dre into the ropes and keeping him there. dre has some muscle, however guerrero's larger frame negated much of it.

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