LAS VEGAS—Say what you will about Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, but the Gilroy boxer put up one heckuva a fight against Keith “One Time” Thurman.
After being knocked down in Round 9, Guerrero stayed on his feet and kept fighting for the full 12 rounds. But a slow start cost “The Ghost” dearly and he ultimately lost by unanimous decision in Saturday’s welterweight fight at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in the inaugural bout of the Premier Boxing Champions series on NBC. The Tampa boxer remains undefeated with a 25-0-0 record.
The official score was 120-107, 118-109, 118-108.
“You come into fight, you come into to do your thing. (You) fight your heart out, put your heart and soul into it and the fans love it,” Guerrero said. “That’s what boxing is about and I’m going to come and do that every time I fight.”
While Thurman won the bout, Guerrero won the hearts of those watching. He received a standing ovation from the fans following his valiant effort against Thurman. Even his opponent had nothing but praise for “The Ghost” following the fight.
“You know Robert Guerrero was a tremendous warrior,” Thurman, who retains the WBC Welterweight title belt, said. “He’s a veteran, four-time world champion and he showed it today.”
The knockdown was the first of Guerrero’s career and it seemed to have woke him up. Even with blood streaming down his face from a cut above his right eye, he continued to fight.
“When I went down, he got me pretty good,” Guerrero said. “But I got back up and did what I had to do.”
Guerrero trapped Thurman up against the ropes for a solid minute in Round 10, delivering blow after blow to the Tampa boxer’s body.
Thurman went on the defensive for the remainder of the bout, moving around the ring to avoid any blows from Guerrero. The Gilroy boxer caught him late and the two boxers turned to brawlers in the final seconds before the bell rang.
“I know why they call him ‘One Time,’” Guerrero said. “I came to fight; I didn’t win, but I won the hearts of America.”
Thurman surged out of the gate while Guerrero struggled to keep up. Thurman used his speed and size to deliver damaging blows in the early rounds to which his opponent had no answer.
“I felt good, I know I was hurting him each and every round,” Thurman said. “I heard him breathing, but he’s a veteran and knew how to pace himself. He knew how to stay a little bit out of my range.”
An unintentional head butt from Guerrero at the end of Round 3 gave Thurman a sizable bump above his right eye; one that continued to swell as the match continued. But it didn’t seem to faze him much and he delivered back-to-back-to-back right punches to Guerrero right up until the bell of Round 4.
The loss was only the second in the last nine years for Guerrero, the other coming at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May 2013. It drops him to 32-3-1 overall.
