Boxing Challenge: Upset of the Millenium?

  Larry Merchant used to call boxing "The Theatre of the Absurd" when crazy things would happen on HBO's broadcasts and what he meant was anything can happen in our nutty sport.

Saturday night in Fresno, California, some may have recalled Merchant's phrase and yet others may have preferred the phrase from childhood "Whatever comes around goes around" when you saw someone get their comeuppance.

By all accounts, Mikey Garcia had a great career in winning titles in three divisions but he often was his own worst enemy outside the ring in refusing to budge in order to make career-defining fights, several long layoffs between fights, promotional disputes, and a refusal to see that one doesn't become an A-side until you compromise a little to defeat an A-side fighter or two.

Add to that what seemed to be an almost disdain for the sport and one could easily see Mikey Garcia being upset by a lesser fighter sooner or later.

What no one saw as Spaniard Sandor Martin, who had lost to the only name fighter on his record in former title challenger Anthony Yigit, and was a more than prohibitive underdog to be overwhelmed by Garcia in yet another Garcia "need to get the rust off" after a self-enforced inactive period, take advantage of an unprepared and unmotivated Garcia to win a shocking majority decision in arguably the biggest upset in years.

The fight was slow and lacked a lot of action, so Martin did the one thing that he could do to win, even against a dull Garcia- stick, move, and pray for help on the scorecards.

Martin controlled through his boxing from outside with Garcia throwing just one punch at a time and the big question was this- Would the unknown fighter get the close decision that he deserved against the hometown big name?

To my surprise, he did with two scores of 96-94 (same as mine) and a third of a 98-92 for a majority decision that was as big of a surprise as any fight in recent years.

Matchroom CEO Eddie Hearn stated that there was not a rematch clause for the two but really a rematch will be the largest financial option for Martin and for Garcia, he almost will have to defeat Martin in order to return to contender status.

Mikey Garcia always talked about how much he never liked boxing and with his behavior towards the business of boxing Garcia showed that out.

However, it is not unfair to consider that Mikey Garcia may have already given boxing the best that the sport will see and what boxing historians and fans could eventually decide about Mikey Garcia for all of his accomplishments that boxing never saw the best that he could have offered.

In the co-feature, mandatory challenger Jonathan Gonzalez spoiled the plans for a light flyweight unification fight as Gonzalez won the WBO title via split decision over Elwin Soto.

In many ways, Gonzalez's win was very much like the victory that would follow later in the evening by Sandor Martin- Gonzalez used the stick and move method and held off the weak aggression of Soto that probably deserved a unanimous decision rather than a split nod.

Gonzalez winning two cards (and mine) at 116-112 with a pretty bad 116-112 card for Soto in opposition was the fair result and ruined a unification fight with Soto and WBA champion Hiroto Kyoguchi that was planned for next year.

The best fighter of the weekend won his showcase bout in his home country as Mairis Bredis kept his IBF cruiserweight belt with a third-round knockout of Germany's Artur Mann in Riga, Latvia.

Breidis knocked Mann down in the second round before adding two more in the third to finish the outmatched Mann.

Breidis did announce his intention to face the second-best fighter in the division, England's Lawrence Okolie, and unify the IBF and WBO titles before both fighters would move to the heavyweight division.

It's the best fight that can be made with the cruiserweight and hopefully can be signed for the first half of 2021.

In Newcastle, England, Hughie Fury defeated Christian Hammer vis TKO when Hammer was unable to continue after the fifth round.

I thought Fury won all five rounds but the fifth round did see several exchanges between the two and the injury to Hammer's bicep that forced the ending in the corner was ill-timed as it occurred just as the fight was starting to open up.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored three points to move the total to 140-120.

Boxing Challenge: Jacobs nips Rosado

 The boxing challenge started on a rare Friday with two of the worst fights that you can imagine.

In all honesty, these fights would be good programming to show someone if you didn't want to them to become a boxing fan.

In the early evening (or late afternoon, it's dark here at this time of year either way), ESPN+ attempted to build an attraction with 2016 Olympic gold medalist in the (super) heavyweight division Tony Yoka of France, who recently signed a promotional partnership with ESPN's boxing provider, Top Rank.

Yoka, who defeated fellow prospect Joe Joyce of Great Britain to win the gold medal in London, stands 6'7 and while well-built, lacks the body beautiful look of Anthony Joshua and the defensive end frame of Tyson Fury, instead looks more like a power forward that needs to fill out a bit.

Veteran Christian Hammer did what he could against a bigger and more talented opponent, which was to land an occasional right hand and do what veterans do- rough the prospect up and see if they can intimidate them or change their game plan.

Yoka certainly stuck to his strategy of staying on the outside, using his jab, and outboxing the Romanian that now fights out of Germany, but he did get a bit frustrated with the tactics of Hammer and despite an easy win (99-90, Hammer was deducted one point),  Yoka didn't shine in a fight with little action.

Then we moved to DAZN with Matchroom Boxing from Hollywood, Florida for what was considered to be a mismatch between former two-time middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs and tough, but limited Gabriel Rosado.

I've never been much of a Daniel Jacobs fan, he really only has two major wins of note, yet he continues to be paid and treated like he is a star and must-see viewing.

Jacobs didn't wow anyone in his first fight at 168 in a win that saw Julio Cesar Chavez Jr quit in his corner and he was thought to be a prohibitive favorite against the charging Rosado.

Rosado always comes to fight, but his tender skin often haunts him and he is a natural junior middleweight, so against the larger Jacobs, he seemed to be overmatched.

Always isn't always anymore as Rosado didn't cut, but he also didn't land many punches and had a listless Jacobs on the hook for what would have been a massive upset in a fight that looked more like a limited sparring session instead of a fight involving a former world champion.

Instead, Rosado fell to Jacobs level and fought without energy in a match that normally would call for a rematch in a fight as close as this one.

Only in any of the twelve rounds did either fighter land double-digit punches in a round (Rosado landed ten in round eight) and while the decision was in doubt, what wasn't in doubt was not wanting to see these two guys against each other again.

The ending was worse when ring announcer Jeremiah Gallegos after announcing the scores of 115-113 on all three cards for a split decision, called the winner "from Philadelphia" sending Rosado into the air with emotion, and then calling it for Jacobs, who is from Brooklyn, not Philadelphia where Rosado resides. 

I scored it 114-114, so I have no problems with a close verdict either way but neither fighter seemed overly interested in winning it.

Just an awful two fights and I've written more than either fight deserves.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica 3-2 to boost my lead to 161-150.

Boxing Challenge: Lara and Castano even at the end

The Barclays Center may have been generously listed as half-filled and only may have been actually attended by half of that number, but the main event on Showtime was a pretty solid fight as former WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara battled Argentina's Brian Castano to a draw for Castano's minor title.

Lara won most of the early rounds on my card, three of the first four before Castano won four of the next six with a solid body attack and didn't allow Lara to move away from Castano's swarming attack, although Lara had his moments as well.
The fight was even after ten rounds and could have easily gone either way in both the eleventh and twelfth rounds with both fighters scoring well.
I gave Lara both rounds by a close margin and as a result the fight at 115-113.
The scores were very fair with each fighter earning a winning card of 7-5 in rounds with the deciding card scoring the fight even at 6-6.
The once-thoroughbred like legs of Lara have slowed from his prime and the resulting fighter is a more exciting fighter to watch, but one that currently allows opponents that previously would not have been competitive against Lara to suddenly have success against him.
Castano may not be an elite fighter, but he certainly proved himself to be qualified and I might even lean his way in a possible rematch against the 35-year-old Lara.

The other fight didn't prove anything that we didn't know as heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz dominated Christian Hammer in winning a unanimous decision.
Ortiz won on my card 99-91 and other than Ortiz staying busy and Hammer showing a strong chin, very little was accomplished in what appears to be the last Showtime Championship Boxing card for a while, although the network does have a few ShoBox cards scheduled.

Ramon Malpica and I earned one point in the boxing challenge, where Ramon keeps a one point lead at 42-41.