In a battle of veteran welterweights who both desperately needed a win, Robert Guerrero edged by Victor Ortiz via unanimous decision, winning on three cards of 96-94 in his favor.
Bad Left Hook had the fight 95-95 on two separate cards, and it was a close, tightly-fought bout between the two throughout, with nobody ever gaining serious momentum or a truly clear upper hand.
The 38-year-old Guerrero (37-6-1, 20 KO) out-landed the 34-year-old Ortiz 142-127 overall, and really might have sealed the fight in the final two rounds. Guerrero also threw a good bit more, with Ortiz connecting at a better percentage, but nothing huge either way from either guy.
It wasn’t a bad fight, as the two were well-matched — both clearly past their prime years, both probably rusty having not fought since 2019 for Guerrero and 2018 for Ortiz. But the energy did sag after the halfway mark, and the Vegas crowd grew restless in the latter rounds, which was a bit unfair. Both fighters were still fighting as hard as they could on the inside, they just lacked the energy to do anything particularly flashy. In this case, a TV seat was better for the viewer, because you could see up close how hard both were still working.
The worry here is that Guerrero will now be pushed into a really bad idea, like a fight against Jaron Ennis or Eimantas Stanionis or somebody on the way up. Even someone with more energy left like an Abel Ramos might really do a number on “The Ghost” at this point, but Guerrero is still tough, still a warrior, and I’d expect him to go from here and keep giving it a shot.
We could see Ortiz back again, I suppose. He’s not that old, but he hasn’t won a meaningful fight in a decade at this point, either, and is 3-5-1 in his last nine fights.