Let’s welcome Hector Luis Garcia. He could possibly be round for some time.
The Dominican had his popping out on Saturday evening in Las Vegas, the place he dominated scorching, unbeaten junior light-weight prospect Chris Colbert en path to a surprising unanimous choice.
The scores had been 119-108, 118-109 and 118-109. Boxing Junkie additionally had it 118-109 for Garcia, who’s now in place to problem WBA titleholder Roger Gutierrez.
Garcia (15-0, 10 KOs) took the battle on three weeks discover after Colbert’s authentic opponent, Gutierrez, pulled out as a result of he examined optimistic for COVID-19.
The 30-year-old from San Juan de la Maguana competed within the 2016 Olympics however was largely a query mark going into the battle at The Cosmopolitan.
Now we all know what Garcia is all about. He walked down the fast, skillful Colbert (16-1, 6 KOs) from the start of the battle, touchdown exhausting, correct combos nearly at will and taking every little thing thrown again at him.
Colbert had some optimistic moments early within the battle, utilizing his pace and motion to attach on some eye-catching photographs. Nonetheless, that didn’t deter Garcia, who continued to march ahead and do injury spherical after spherical.
One among Colbert’s many issues was his relative lack of energy. A punishing blow or two at opportune occasions may’ve slowed Garcia down however Colbert isn’t an enormous puncher. Plus, it seems that Garcia has a rock-solid chin.
The most important shot of the evening got here in Spherical 7, when Colbert walked right into a counter left and fell flat on his again about two minutes into the motion. He survived however his mission turned that rather more tough.
Colbert, conscious that he wanted to ship one thing large to show the tide, tried to land that large shot over the following few rounds however failed. Then, clearly accepting his destiny, he danced within the ultimate few rounds to keep away from taking undue punishment.
Garcia had stated beforehand that he noticed nothing particular in Colbert. He seemed like a prophet after the very fact.
And he did it with out head coach Ismael Salas, who was in Scotland to work the nook of Robeisy Ramirez.
“Once I was instructed three weeks in the past that I used to be going to take this battle, I noticed that it was going to alter my life,” he stated by way of a translator. “So I wanted to come back in my greatest form.
“I need to give a number of credit score to the professor, Ismael Salas, who gave me the arrogance, ‘You possibly can win this battle.’”
The battle was billed as a title eliminator, which implies that Garcia is first in line to face Gutierrez. And that’s precisely what he needs.
“Positively, I need to battle Gutierrez for the world championship,” he stated. “I labored too exhausting to get into this place as we speak, so I positively need to battle Gutierrez.”
What may Colbert say afterward? Not a lot. He stated he doesn’t consider he was at his greatest however supplied no excuses.
“Tonight he was simply the higher man,” he stated. “I’m going to take my defeats the way in which I take my [victories], as a person. I’m going to maintain my head up. And I need to run it again. Let’s do it once more.”
He went on: “Everyone places stress on me. That was nothing new. As we speak I simply wasn’t myself.”
Colbert was additionally requested why he shifted into survival mode within the ultimate few rounds, which gave him no likelihood to attain a late knockout and protect his then-perfect file.
He noticed no level in taking the danger.
“Like I stated I wasn’t feeling myself tonight,” he stated. “So I wasn’t going to go in there and do one thing silly and get caught with no dumb shot.”
Colbert will probably be criticized for his late-fight actions by the followers, who count on their fighters to go down swinging. On the identical time, everybody who watched that bout will a minimum of have understood his thought course of.
This was Garcia’s evening.
