Rivera shines on Showtime
 By Benny Henderson Jr. (May 7, 2006)
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Photo © Tom Casino/SHOWTIME
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It was a brutal display of showmanship, discipline, skill and will this Saturday night on Showtime’s Championship Boxing when Jose Antonio Rivera, 38-4-1 (24), dropped the once beaten hard-hitting Alejandro Garcia, 25-2 (24), five times en route to a hard earned unanimous decision victory giving the thirty-three year old professional pugilist the WBA light middleweight title.
Opening up in the first round of the fight Rivera landed a hard left jab that dropped Garcia before catching the tough Mexican fighter with a right hand that put him down once more. The two then finished up the round battling it out toe to toe.
The slugfest continued in rounds two and three with the two trading off shots with frightening frequency. In the fourth round Rivera tasted a right hand bomb that dropped him for the fist time in forty-two fights.
Rounds five through eight were close at times but for the most part it was Rivera picking off Garcia to establish his dominance and dictate the fight. It was clear that Garcia still in the fight but the gutsy Mexican proved to be gullible at times, leaving himself open to Rivera’s attack. This was in evidence in the ninth and tenth rounds when Garcia tasted the canvas in both stanzas before being dropped for the fifth and final time in the closing seconds of the twelfth round.
It was clear the hometown hero hands down had owned and defeated Garcia, winning the bout with the scores of 114-107, 116-106 and 116-106, bringing the parochial the crowd into an uproar.
After the bout the newly crowned champ opened up the post fight interview by saying “I can’t explain it.” It was a moment the hard working professional pugilist had been waiting a long time for after injuries kept him out of the ring and cost him his. And when asked who was next, the humble warrior plainly stated, “I’ll fight anybody.”
It was not an upsetting loss, but a stone cold robbery!
To open up the night of fights the reigning IBF super flyweight champion Luis Perez, 24-1 (15), was awarded what can only be described as a ‘gift’ decision when he squeaked by the much busier, much more effective Russian born boxer Dimitri Kirilov, 28-3 (9), in a twelve round shocker of a bout.
Using a good defensive stance and stinging shots Kirilov was laying down the law to the Nicaraguan for the first half of the fight until he was caught by an unseen right hook that dropping the Russian in round eight.
The two traded shots the rest of the night banging out some close rounds but overall Kirilov was getting the better of the exchanges. It seemed to be in the bag when the judges’ scorecards came in, awarding a split decision victory to Perez by scores of 117-110, 115-113 and 114-113 that gave the champion the undeserved nod leaving the crowd and Kirilov wondering what just went down.
After the bout an understandable upset Kirilov spoke out clearly through a translator saying, “I was robbed, I clearly won the fight.” Of course Perez felt that he won the fight, saying that he landed the stronger punches. Any fighter would probably do the same in his position, and Perez did say he would offer up a rematch, something that would be fair considering the dubious outcome.
All and all it was a great showing in the main event, which overshadowed the controversial loss in the opener. Congrats to Jose Antonio Rivera, and to hi trainer John Scully, job well done.
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