Garcia KOs Rios in 9th; Benavidez decisions Gavril
By Ralph Rimpell
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 18 Feb 2018
At the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, former welterweight champion Danny ?Swift? Garcia (34-1, 20KOs) overcame a tough challenge from former Champion ?Bam Bam? Brandon Rios (34-4-1, 24KOs) to keep his hopes alive for rematch with unified champion Keith Thurman or any other of the 147lbs champions.
It was a close fight with many in attendance either having Rios winning by one point or Garcia winning by a point or two. Both fighters seem to have their moments in what can be described as a back and forth fight. Right when fans began feeling that Rios could pull the upset victory out of nowhere, Garcia lands what seems to be a perfect punch that puts Rios on the canvas and he was clearly hurt. Rios beats the count, but appeared unsteady on his feet at which time the Referee waves off the fight at 2:25 of the 9th round.
At the post fight interview in the ring, Garcia was challenged by former champion Sean Porter and the two fighters had a heated exchange and had to be separated. With the win Garcia appears to have multiple options. As for Brandon Rios he stated he would consult with his Advisor as to what?s next for his boxing career.
Danny Garcia back on track for another stab at world title.
David Benavidez connects with a right at Ronald Gavril.
In the Co main event WBC Supermiddleweight champion David Benavidez left no doubt as to who the better fighter is as he dominated Ronald Gavril from the sound of the first bell to the end in a rematch. Working behind a good stiff jab, he picked his shots and scored at will with combination punches. Gavril showed a lot of heart but just was unable to close the gap to land anything solid on his quicker opponent. Benavidez retained his WBC belt and improved his record to 20-0 17KOs while Gavril drops to 18-3, 14KOs. Judges scores were 119-109, 120-108 twice.
Undercard Bouts
In an IBF Welterweight elimination bout, Yordenis Ugas of Cuba upset Ray Robinson via TKO in 7 round. The determined Ugas set the pace. He knocked down Robinson in the 1st round and never stop applying pressure. Robinson was deducted a point for late punch at the end of round 4. Ugas scored another knockdown in round 7 and realizing he had Robison hurt, swarmed Robinson with a Barrage of punches closing the deal which caused the referee to wave the fight off at 1:05 in 7th. Ugas improves to 21-4, 10KOs, while Robinson drops to 24-3, 12KOs.
Lightheavyweight Edwin Rodriguez earned a hard fought 10 round decision over Lionel Thompson. Judges scores were 96-94, 97-93 twice.
In a lightweight bout Ladarius Miller now 15-1 (5KOs) made short work of Carlos Padilla who now drops to 16-7-1, 10KOs at 2:04 of the second round. Miller hit Padilla with a straight punch that sent him to the canvas. Padilla beat the count, but the referee elected to stop the fight.
In a lightweight bout Andres Cortes remained undefeated improving to 7-0, 4KOs by defeating the game Fatiou Fassinou who now drops below .500 with a record 8-9, 4KOs. All three judges had it Unanimously for Cortes scoring it 60-54.
In a battle of undefeated superfeatherweight fighters, Suliaman Segawa and Brian Gallegos engaged in toe to toe action for much of the fight. Segawa now 9-0, 3KOs was awarded a split decision victory. All judges scores were 58-56. Two Judges in favor of Segawa, and one for Gallegos who drops to 6-1, 4 KOs.
Jonathan Esquivel improves to 7-0, 5KOs by viciously battering Cameron Burroughs (4-3, 3KOs) for 2 one sided rounds. The Referee had seen enough and stopped the fight at 1:58 of round 2 much to the dismay of Burroughs who protested.
Junior middleweight Joe Spencer made a successful pro debut by outclassing Uriel Gonzalez within 2 rounds. Because of the punishment Gonzalez was receiving, the referee mercilessly halted the bout at 2:12 of the 2nd round before the corner could throw the towel in. Spencer gets his feet wet in the pro game and is now 1-0, 1KO. Gonzalez drops to 1-3-1, 1KO.
Contact Writer: RLuvsboxin@aol.com
About the Author:
***Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over fifteen years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events.It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history.
"I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.
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