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Spence Dominates Garcia
By William Trillo
Welterweights Errol Spence Jr (27-0, 21 KO’s) and Danny
Garcia (36-3, 21 KO’s) met in a bout that had the attention
of everyone in the boxing world. After an extended layoff
due to a much publicized auto accident, Spence was making
his return to the ring. Jumping right back into the line of
fire, Spence would face the solid former champion Garcia.
Could Spence hold his Pound4Pound status? Did that auto
wreck take something out of him? Would Garcia be too much of
a test? These were questions that would soon be answered.
In the opening round Spence looked as if he had not skipped
a beat. Throwing smooth jabs followed by accurate body
punches Spence looked comfortable right away. Garcia on the
other hand is a notoriously slow starting counter-puncher
who tends to hold his punches early in order to discover
cracks in his foes armor. As Garcia was about to find out,
those cracks were few and far between. Spence was dominant
in the early rounds and by the first half of the fight it
seemed Spence had things well in hand.
Garcia had a few moments, but with a piston like Spence jab
welting up “Swifts” eyes there began to be the look of
desperation in the Garcia corner. Whatever the game plan
was, Spence had nullified it. With no obvious Plan B in Team
Garcia’s pockets, Spence was able to stay in control until
the final bell rang after round twelve.
Any questions about whether Spence would or could return to
World Class form had been answered. With the other 147 pound
Champ Terrance Crawford in attendance it would be nice to
think that a title unifying matchup will happen sometime in
2021.
With final scores that read in the favor of Spence, 116-112
x 2 and 117-111, Errol left the building with his WBC & IBF
World titles intact.
Featherweight Eduardo Ramirez (24-2-3, 11 KO’s) was surgical
with the beating he applied to Miguel Flores (24-4, 12 KO’s)
in this battle of Mexican warriors. >From the onset Ramirez
was not only quicker to the punch but it was clear he
carried more power as well.
In the fifth round Flores came out and walked straight into
a right hand from Ramirez that sent him to the canvas. The
bloody Flores beat the ten count but with the blood
streaming down his face the ref saw fit to bring this one to
an end. Time of the stoppage was the 20 second mark of round
five.
With the victory Flores grabs the Vacant World Boxing
Council Continental Americas Featherweight Title, but more
importantly has made himself the # 1 contender for a shot at
a Featherweight world title.
On paper Welterweights Josesito Lopez (38-8, 21 KO’s) and
Francisco Santana (25-9-1, 12 KO’s) seemed to be a sure fire
war. But a new and improved Josesito Lopez put to rest any
thought of that as he systematically broke down Santana over
this scheduled ten round attraction.
In the opening round Lopez sent Santana to the deck with a
three punch combo that started downstairs and then a right
hand to the jaw. The fallen Santana arose and surprisingly
hurt Lopez, but that was going to be the last time Francisco
did any telling damage.
Over the next eight rounds Lopez worked like a patient
assassin who was slowly stalking and damaging his prey.
Santana was a tough foe but there was just no way he could
overcome the attack of Lopez. Down in round nine Santana
survived once again but as he stumbled back to his corner at
rounds end one wondered if he would come out for the final
round. Being the warrior that he is Santana gave it one more
shot but this time Lopez landed a barrage that closed the
show. The ref waved this one of at the 1:22 mark of the
tenth. It was an impressive victory for Lopez who remains a
viable opponent in the 147 pound division.
The six foot six inch Super Welterweight Sebastian Fundora
(16-0-1, 11 KO’s) was more than a tall order for Habib Ahmed
(27-2-1, 18 KO’s), pun intended. Landing lead uppercuts from
distance Fundora was a bit more than a problem for Ahmed who
just could not find any way to get inside to land any
punches of his own. After swarming in and throwing a bevy of
unanswered blows Fundora left the ref no choice but to jump
in and save Ahmed from further damage. Mark this one down as
a stoppage at the 1:30 mark of round two.
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