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Hector Garcia Drops & Shocks Chris Colbert
To Earn Decision
Victory
Photos: Stephanie Trapp - SHOWTIME
Late replacement Hector
Garcia performed like the world champion he was substituting
for on Saturday night, battering and dropping the highly
touted Chris Colbert to earn a unanimous decision win in a
12-round WBA Super Featherweight World Title Eliminator that
headlined a thrilling tripleheader live on SHOWTIME in a
Premier Boxing Champions event from The Chelsea inside The
Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Garcia (15-0, 10 KOs) stepped in for the WBA Super
Featherweight World Champion Roger Gutierrez less than three
weeks ago after Gutierrez was forced to withdraw due to a
positive COVID-19 test. Despite having little time to
prepare, the southpaw Garcia used his height and powerful
left hand to dominate Colbert (16-1, 6 KOs) by scores of
118-109, 118-109 and 119-108.
“I have to thank everyone in my corner, Ismael Salas and Bob
Santos, and everyone that worked with me,” said Garcia. “I
feel great. I definitely knew three weeks ago that my life
would change. My trainers gave me the confidence to win this
fight.”
“I’m sorry I let everyone down, today he was the better
man,” Colbert said afterward, his arm draped around Garcia
in an encouraging embrace. “I take my losses like I take my
wins. I want to run it back and hopefully we can do it
again. There’s no excuses. He was the better man today.”
Garcia was the aggressor throughout, dropping Colbert for
the first time in his career with a counter left in the
seventh round that caused Colbert to fall backwards, his
legs flying up in the air from the momentum. Colbert got to
his feet, but Garcia jumped on him again, stalking him
around the ring.
“In the ninth and 10th rounds I hit him so hard,” said
Garcia. “I knew I had him. I knew he wasn’t going to be able
to box anymore.”
Colbert could never get on track and showed little of the
aggression and skills that made him one of the most talked
about young fighters in the sport.
“Everyone puts pressure on me in the ring,” said Colbert.
“That’s nothing new. I want to get a rematch if I can.
Congratulations to Hector and his team. They deserved this
win tonight. I wasn’t feeling myself. At the end the day,
I’m still ‘Primetime’ on SHOWTIME.”
In the end it was Garcia, a 2016 Dominican Olympian, who
performed like the favored fighter, punishing Colbert and
pushing him back and potentially earning a title shot
against Gutierrez.
“I want to fight Gutierrez for the world championship,”
Garcia said. “I worked too hard to get into this position
today.”
A former valedictorian of his high school, Gary Antuanne
Russell (15-0, 15 KOs) passed the biggest test of his career
with flying colors, stopping the former world champion
Viktor Postol (31-4, 12 KOs) abruptly in the tenth and final
round of their super lightweight bout in the SHOWTIME
co-main event.
After pushing the action for most of the fight, Russell hurt
Postol with a left uppercut in the tenth and followed up
with a series of lefts and rights. With Postol against the
ropes absorbing combinations, referee Mike Ortega intervened
and waived it off at 2:31 of the tenth, much to Postol’s
surprise, who shrugged his shoulders and seemed miffed at
the stoppage. Russell kept his knockout streak alive while
Postol dropped his second straight contest.
Russell was a 2016 U.S. Olympian who owned a 3-1 amateur
record over current unbeaten welterweight Jaron Ennis, and
he fought like one of the top contenders at 140 pounds on
Saturday.
“The performance speaks for itself,” said Russell. “You see
(Postol) went the distance with Terence Crawford, and I just
stopped him. I believe I’m ready for another step-up fight.”
The two embraced in the ring when it was over, the respect
between the fighters on full display. Postol fought on
Saturday with his wife and their twin five-year old sons
back home in Brovary, Ukraine in harm’s way with the Russian
military invading the country.
“We’re in the hurt business,” Russell said of whether he
felt compassion for his opponent. “I take my hat off to him.
His country is literally at war but we’re in the squared
circle doing our jobs. This man is coming to hurt him and
I’m coming to hurt him.”
And Russell did that repeatedly on Saturday. Gary Russell
Jr., the former titleholder who lost his belt last month,
manned the corner on Saturday with their father Gary Sr.
relegated to ringside for health reasons, and he told his
younger brother to “break the will” of Postol throughout the
bout. Russell obliged, fighting aggressively and
continuously pinning Postol against the ropes.
Postol had some success with his right hand and his jab,
especially in the ninth when he landed a thudding right ,
but Russell showed a granite chin and countered effectively
and in the tenth he landed crisp combinations, showcasing
his hand speed, leading to the stoppage, the first time
Postol had ever been stopped. Russell led on the scorecards
at the time of the stoppage by scores of 89-82, 89-82 and
88-83.
"I just couldn't do what I wanted to do in the ring,” said
Postol. “My legs were not there and my arms were not there
like I needed them to be. I've fought much better fighters
than Gary Russell, but for some reason I wasn't able to
perform to my abilities. I came here to win tonight.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to achieve my goal."
With his promoter, the former two-division champion Marcos
Maidana urging him on from ringside, Argentina’s Fernando
Martinez punished Jerwin Ancajas over 12 rounds to wrest
away his IBF junior bantamweight title via a unanimous
decision in a star-making performance in the SHOWTIME
telecast opener.
After exchanging hugs, handshakes and pleasantries during
the final press conference on Thursday, Martinez (14-0, 8
KOs) and Ancajas (33-2-2, 22 KOs) dispensed with the
niceness and engaged in an action-packed thriller.
But it was Martinez, a fan of Mike Tyson growing up, who
delivered the heaviest blows, squaring up to Ancajas and
winging lefts and rights to win by scores of 117-11, 118-110
and 118-110.
Martinez, whose father died while he was in the amateurs and
helped introduce him to boxing, fought back tears as he
expressed what the win meant to him.
“This moment is so special to me,” said Martinez. “It hurts
so much that my father’s not here for this great moment in
my life, but I know that he oversaw this. I’m so happy for
my corner and for the people who supported me over the
years. I want to thank SHOWTIME for their support. I want to
thank Jerwin for giving me this opportunity. I am so
thankful for this.”
Martinez landed 421 power shots , a new division record and
427 total punches, forcing Ancajas to be taken to the
hospital as a precaution following the match.
“I am so thankful for team Martinez to give me this
opportunity to make this fight,” Ancajas said. “Yes, I want
the rematch and I’ll do everything to achieve my goal. I
learned a lot in this fight and he’s a great challenger.”
The two continuously walked through hellacious punches
throughout the action. But it was Martinez who hurt Ancajas
more than the champion and in between the ninth and tenth
rounds, Ancajas’ corner was asking him if he was okay to
continue. Ancajas responded by buckling Martinez in the 10th
round with a right hand, and he buzzed Martinez again with a
straight left only for Martinez to fire back with roundhouse
punches of his own in a snapshot of the non-stop action that
took place.
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