PBC on NBC results: Robert Guerrero escapes with split decision win over Aron Martinez

Robert Guerrero had a terrible start today, or at least it appeared that way. According to judge Jerry Cantu, though, "The Ghost" was just fine all day, and Cantu's ridiculous 97-92 card for Guerrero sealed a split decision win over fast starting underdog Aron Martinez.

Guerrero (33-3-1, 18 KO) was booed pretty heavily when he was announced as the winner on scores of 97-92, 95-94, and 94-95. BLH had it 95-94 for Martinez, and the win for Guerrero is not itself a crime, as it could easily have been a win for Guerrero. The 95-94 score seemed right either way. But Cantu argued that Guerrero, who was dominated early and dropped hard in round four, won eight of these ten rounds. And that is simply not realistic at all. There's just no case for that to be a legitimate score.

Martinez (19-4-1, 4 KO) can in some respects only blame himself, though, as he did fade down the stretch pretty badly, and Guerrero as usual dug down deep to try and finish strong. But "The Ghost" was flat all through the fight -- there was no real heroics in the way he finished this, other than showing a strong will, but he was allowed to do that because Martinez found himself unable to get inside and continue doing the good work he did early, when Guerrero basically was allowing him to get in there, probably expecting he'd be the stronger man in the trenches.

But Guerrero was not the stronger man today, and he looked really empty in the ring. There wasn't much zip on his shots, he was beaten up inside, and though he showed his usual determination, even that was sort of lacking. He may have simply come back too soon from a pretty thorough beating against Keith Thurman in March, or he might be wearing down.

What did you think of the fight? How did you score it? Who R U Picking?