Manhattan,
NY---New York City is the city of dreams. If you can make it here, you can make
it anywhere. New York is where it’s at, which is why it’s only fitting that the
first “big” fight of 2013 be held in the Big Apple. A crowd of 4,850 filled the
Theater at Madison Square Garden. There were Russians, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans
and Americans in the house in full effect. 7th Avenue looked like
the United Nations with all of the flags waving.
In the main event, featherweight Mikey
Garcia, 125.5, of Oxnard, California improved to 31-0 (26), showing that all
roads in the 126 pound division lead to him. Garcia dethroned WBO featherweight
champion Orlando “Siri” Salido, 126, of Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, 39-12-2 (27),
via eight-round technical decision on Saturday night.
“If
I could breathe better, I would have continued to fight,” said Garcia. “We were
clearly ahead by just sticking to the game plan.” Garcia dropped Salido twice
in the first round and again in the third and fourth frames. The bout was
stopped after Garcia’s nose was broken by a headbutt, ruled as accidental, in
the eighth.
“I
want the rematch,” boasted a dejected Salido. “I didn't headbutt him on
purpose. I was losing.”
Scores
were 79-70 and 79-69 (twice) for Garcia. The fight failed to live up to the
expectations of all the fight pundits. In actuality, the fight was a snoozer.
The
last time undefeated WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin was in
the squared circle, the 160-pound beast of Karaganda, Kazakhstan turned the
Turning Stone Casino out. Golovkin left fans salivating, yearning for more. That
said, Golovkin took his act to the big stage under the big lights on Broadway
as he defended his strap against the always tough Gabriel Rosado, 159, of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Did
Golovkin deliver? Well, it depends who you ask The Kazakhs in the crowd would
say yes. But most ringside observers would say no. “This was not a statement
fight,” said Golovkin, now 25-0, (22). “It was true that I was sick but that’s
no excuse.”
Golovkin
overwhelmed Rosado, now 21-6 (13), for six-and-a-half rounds and eventually got
the stoppage victory at the 2:46 of the seventh round. “I wore him down with my
power shots of the course of six or seven rounds,” said Golovkin. “Gabe is a
tough fighter but we were able to stop him.
Golovkin
cut Rosado over the left eye in the second and from that point on, Golovkin pressured
Rosado relentlessly. By the sixth round Rosado, looked as if he had bathed in
blood. “Gabe came over to me after the fight to ask for a rematch," said
Golovkin. “I said yes but after I told him to come to the gym to train with me.”
Rosado’s
corner threw in the towel in the seventh in order to protect him from
sustaining further damage.
Golovkin appeared slow, flat-footed and
very hittable. Golovkin might be able to beat Peter Quillin but a fighter of
Sergio Martinez's capability would box circles around him. The southpaw angles
would pose a lot of problems for Golovkin. If I were Martinez, I would
fight Golovkin ASAP.
New
Year, new tricks? Normally, the New York State Athletic Commission gets it
right just about 99.9% of the time. The panel of judges typically renders fair
decisions on a regular basis. Unfortunately, last night fell into the .1
percentile category. Flat-out, the NYSAC dropped the ball after declaring the
contest between Juan Carlos Burgos and Roman “Rocky” Martinez a draw.
Scores
were 117-111 for Burgos, 116-112 for Martinez and 114-114. Maxboxing had it
117-111 as did HBO. Burgos, 129, of Tijuana, Mexico was robbed of the
opportunity of becoming a world champion due to the judges’ lack of vision and
inability to score an easy fight to judge.
Martinez,
129.5, of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico did not have an answer for Burgos’ body assault.
Burgos outworked Martinez and his investment in body punches consistently hurt
the slightly bigger Martinez, 129.5, over the course of 12 rounds.
“[Juan
Carlos] Burgos is a big, strong, and difficult fighter,” said Martinez. “I was
in trouble in the last three rounds. He bothered me with a lot of overhand rights.”
However, when the smoke cleared, Martinez survived and was able to hold on to
the WBO super featherweight title a little longer. This has rematch written all
over it.
Martinez
now sports a record of 26-1-2, (16) while Burgos' gets the first draw of his
career. His résumé now stands at 30-1-1 (20).
Long
Island's own Sean Monaghan earned a rough and tough eight-round unanimous
decision over Roger Cantrell, who, at 15-3 (8), was formidable threat to the
light heavyweight prospect.
Scores were 79-73, 78-74,
and 77-75 in favor of the Long Beach native improving to 17-0 (10).
Monaghan,
177.5, hammered Cantrell, 184.5, with straight shots and hooks to both the head
and body of the native of Puyallup, Washington. However, it does take two to
tango because Monaghan was bloody and bruised up as well. Monaghan looked as if
he had been in a fight. Go figure...
Puerto
Rican lightweight Felix Verdejo, 130.5, upped his record to 2-0 (1) by simply
throwing two punches in 21 seconds to obliterate Tomi Archambault, 129.5,
of Bismarck, North Dakota. Archambault dropped to 1-4, (1). Here is a recap of
the punches Verdejo landed: Left hook, straight right.
Junior
middleweight prospect Glen Tapia, 153.5, of Passaic, New Jersey made easy work
of Ayi Bruce, stopping him in the second round. Bruce, of Albany, New York, 22-9
(14), was dropped with a body shot in the second round. The left hook to the
liver sealed the deal.
A
flurry of punches from Tapia prompted the referee to call a halt to the bout at
the 2:33 mark of the round. With the victory, Tapia improved to 17-0 (10).
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania native Anthony Ferrante, 196, body-bagged the previously
undefeated Isa Akberbayev in the final frame of their scheduled 10-rounder. The
spectacular ending came at the 1:19 mark via a right hook from the orthodox
position. Both men traded knockdowns in the first round. Both guys were getting
real rough and rugged with a lot of infighting, resulting in Akberbayev
sustaining a cut on his left cheek.
With
the victory, Ferrante improved to 13-4 (8) while Akberbayev, a native of
Almaty, Kazakhstan suffered the first blemish on his résumé as he now stands at
10-1 (7).
Welterweight
Mikael Zewski, 149.5, of Trois-Rivieres, Canada improved to 18-0 with 14
knockouts after stopping Brandon Hoskins within four frames.
Hoskins,
146.5, 16-4-1 (8), ate a vicious right/left hook combination that dropped him
twice in the fourth. As Zewski continued the onslaught of punches, the referee
decided to close the curtains on the native of Hannibal, Missouri at the 1:42
mark of the same frame.
In the opening bout of the evening,
super middleweight Ronald Ellis, 168.5, of Lynn, Massachusetts, pounded out a
four-round unanimous decision over journeyman Steve Tyner by scores of 40-36
across the board. Ellis, who remains undefeated at 7-0 (5), went to work by
jabbing upstairs as well as working the body of his overmatched foe throughout
the course of the bout.
With
the loss, Tyner, 170, who hails from LeBron James’ neck of the woods in Akron,
Ohio dropped to 3-10-2 (2).
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