SPORTS SHORTS 14: DE LA HOYA SAYS GARCIA KO WIN SENDS NOTICE TO EVERYONE IN THE LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 04 Jan 2021
L-R: Golden Boys Eric Gomez, Bernard Hopkins, Ryan Garcia and Oscar de la Hoya.
It was an amazing victory for Ryan Garcia as he got off the canvas to outpoint Luke Campbell 77-51 in power shots, landing 43.8% of them. Garcia landed 32 of his 94 power shots to the body of Campbell including the thunderous blow that dropped him and stopped the fight.
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Garcia accepted his big mistake in the second round, by being too confident resulting in the knockdown. He was floored for the first time of his career. "I got too excited in the moment,” Garcia was quoted by Boxing Scene. "I felt I could just walk him down, but he ended up cracking me. So, I had to adjust and calm down. I was a little dizzy with the knockdown, but I wasn’t worried... But today I showed I can take it to somebody and knock them out. God told me that it would end with a body shot, and that’s what happened.”
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"Ryan did what every great champion does—he got right back up and closed the show,” promoter Oscar de la Hoya was quoted by Boxing Scene. “I was down several times at the same point in my career as Ryan is at now in his career. Just like he did (on Saturday night), I got up in those fights and came back to win. Watching Ryan get dropped, obviously you get a little worried. The fact that he got up right away and finished the way he did—he became a man in the ring at that very moment.”
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Campbell has all his appreciations for Garcia and believes the promising boxing star will have more success "Well I'm honestly heartbroken, I really wanted to bring the win back for you all [in the UK]. I'm sorry about that. I hope you all enjoyed the fight," Campbell said. "Have to take my hat off to Ryan Garcia, well done and a massive future ahead for him. I wish him all the best."
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De La Hoya, a former six division world champion and an Olympic gold medalist, was very elated with the knockout victory. He believes Garcia's feat calls for the topnotch champions in the lightweight class, including unified champion Teofimo Lopez, WBA regular champion Gervonta Davis and WBC champion Devin Haney. "Everyone in the lightweight division should consider themselves on notice. 2021 will be the year of Ryan Garcia,” De La Hoya said.
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BWAA Fighter of the Year 2020 nominee Joe Smith Jr., age 31, is from Long Island, New York, United States. He held the WBC International light heavyweight title. He became the first boxer to score a stoppage victory over former undisputed middleweight world champion Bernard Hopkins back in 2016, which became the final fight of Hopkins' long boxing career. Smith currently holds the WBO-NABO light heavyweight title.
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Smith (26-3, 21 KOs) has won two straight bouts this year after losing a unanimous decision to Dmitry Bivol in March 2019. He won a ninth-round knockout of Eleider Alvarez in August to earn a shot at the vacant WBO 175-pound title. Smith seemed to win every round of the fight before hitting Alvarez (25-2, 13 KOs) with a devastating right hand in the ninth round, decking the Colombian-Canadian to the canvas. Alvarez went down and tried to stand up, but the fight was waived by referee Tony Weeks.
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On January 11, 2020 before 3,415 fans at the Mark G. Etess Arena in Atlantic City’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Smith won a 10-round split-decision winning the fight over Jesse Hart of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Eugene Grant saw it 97-92 and Joseph Pasquale had it 98-91 both for Smith, while judge James Kinney scored it 95-94 for Hart (26-3, 21 KOs).
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Joe Smith Jr. will fight Maxim Vlasov in the main event of a card on February 13, 2021 for the vacant WBO light heavyweight title. The event will be held MGM Grand Conference Center, Paradise, Nevada. Vlasov (45-3, 26 KOs) had a 12-fight winning streak cut by Krzyzsztof Glowacki of Poland via unanimous decision in November 2018. The Russian fighter has won three straight after that, recently defeating Emmanuel Martey of Ghana by unanimous decision in November 2019. Vlasov, 34, is the current WBO global light heavyweight champion.
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Portland Trail Blazers star Carmelo Anthony is now the 14th-leading scorer in NBA history, scoring 18 points in Friday’s win over the Golden State Warriors to surpass San Antonio Spurs legend Tim Duncan in the total career points list. Anthony, 36, is averaging 23.5 points for his career in 1,126 games over 18 seasons. He passed Duncan with a guarded corner 3-pointer in the third quarter of Portland’s winning game. If he stays healthy and maintains his average, Anthony could surpass Hakeem Olajuwon, Oscar Robertson and Dominique Wilkins to grab 11th place at the end of the season.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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