The Mayweather vs. Guerrero WBC welterweight title bout in Las Vegas, NV on Saturday night might not be exactly what fans expected. While the undefeated 36-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr . hopelessly outclassed 30-year-old Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero , he never delivered the knockout punch.
“He’s a little better than I thought,” Guerrero acknowledged after the 12 round fight was over. “I thought I’d catch him.”
Before the fight, which is Guerrero’s first loss since 2005, he thought he had a decent chance. Mayweather had been out of the ring for over the year and had served two months in jail on a domestic assault charge.
Some people, including Guerrero, thought that Mayweather’s so-called ring rust might give the challenger a chance.
And, in fact, the fighters didn’t seem very engaged in the early rounds. Some observers thought that Guerrero was actually setting the pace. Mayweather didn’t land the first significant blow until the fourth round.
After that, the more experienced Mayweather seemed to take control. Even though he couldn’t knockout Guerrero, he must have known that he was comfortably ahead on points.
But why couldn’t Mayweather close the deal with a knockout? He connected on 41 percent of his punches compared to Guerrero’s 19 percent. Sports Illustrated called the show “a boxing clinic by a fighter taking on an opponent nowherre near his level.”
Apparently, Mayweather injured his hand badly enough to stop him from hitting Guerrero hard enough for the KO. In the end, Mayweather vs. Guerrero was decided 117-111 by unanimous decision by all three judges.
Here’s the two-second Twitter summary of Mayweather vs. Guerrero:
@ miketowle34 @ chrismannixsi Mayweather jabs, retreats, waits, counters once then runs and clinches. Repeat for 12 rounds. Decision.
— Angel Hernandez (@dotcomdotph) May 5, 2013
Mayweather going for x-rays on his hand. Middle knuckle badly swollen. Can’t make a fist.
— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) May 5, 2013
[Floyd Mayweather photo by Ira Bostic / Shutterstock.com ]