Late substitute Hector Garcia carried out just like the world champion he was substituting for on Saturday night time, battering and dropping the extremely touted Chris Colbert to earn a unanimous choice win in a 12-round WBA Tremendous Featherweight World Title Eliminator that headlined an exciting tripleheader stay on SHOWTIME in a Premier Boxing Champions occasion from The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Garcia (15-0, 10 KOs) stepped in for the WBA Tremendous Featherweight World Champion Roger Gutierrez lower than three weeks in the past after Gutierrez was pressured to withdraw as a result of a optimistic COVID-19 take a look at. Regardless of having little time to organize, the southpaw Garcia used his peak and highly effective left hand to dominate Colbert (16-1, 6 KOs) by scores of 118-109, 118-109 and 119-108.
“I’ve to thank everybody in my nook, Ismael Salas and Bob Santos, and everybody that labored with me,” stated Garcia. “I really feel nice. I positively knew three weeks in the past that my life would change. My trainers gave me the boldness to win this combat.”
“I’m sorry I let everybody down, immediately he was the higher man,” Colbert stated afterward, his arm draped round Garcia in an encouraging embrace. “I take my losses like I take my wins. I wish to run it again and hopefully we will do it once more. There’s no excuses. He was the higher man immediately.”
Garcia was the aggressor all through, dropping Colbert for the primary time in his profession with a counter left within the seventh spherical that brought about Colbert to fall backwards, his legs flying up within the air from the momentum. Colbert bought to his ft, however Garcia jumped on him once more, stalking him across the ring.
“Within the ninth and tenth rounds I hit him so exhausting,” stated Garcia. “I knew I had him. I knew he wasn’t going to have the ability to field anymore.”
Colbert might by no means get on monitor and confirmed little of the aggression and expertise that made him probably the most talked about younger fighters within the sport.
“Everybody places stress on me within the ring,” stated Colbert. “That’s nothing new. I wish to get a rematch if I can. Congratulations to Hector and his workforce. They deserved this win tonight. I wasn’t feeling myself. On the finish the day, I’m nonetheless ‘Primetime’ on SHOWTIME.”
Ultimately it was Garcia, a 2016 Dominican Olympian, who carried out just like the favored fighter, punishing Colbert and pushing him again and doubtlessly incomes a title shot towards Gutierrez.
“I wish to combat Gutierrez for the world championship,” Garcia stated. “I labored too exhausting to get into this place immediately.”
A former valedictorian of his highschool, Gary Antuanne Russell (15-0, 15 KOs) handed the largest take a look at of his profession with flying colours, stopping the previous world champion Viktor Postol (31-4, 12 KOs) abruptly within the tenth and closing spherical of their tremendous light-weight bout within the SHOWTIME co-main occasion.
After pushing the motion for a lot of the combat, Russell damage Postol with a left uppercut within the tenth and adopted up with a sequence of lefts and rights. With Postol towards the ropes absorbing mixtures, referee Mike Ortega intervened and waived it off at 2:31 of the tenth, a lot to Postol’s shock, who shrugged his shoulders and appeared miffed on the stoppage. Russell saved his knockout streak alive whereas Postol dropped his second straight contest.
Russell was a 2016 U.S. Olympian who owned a 3-1 newbie file over present unbeaten welterweight Jaron Ennis, and he fought like one of many prime contenders at 140 kilos on Saturday.
“The efficiency speaks for itself,” stated Russell. “You see (Postol) went the space with Terence Crawford, and I simply stopped him. I consider I’m prepared for one more step-up combat.”
The 2 embraced within the ring when it was over, the respect between the fighters on full show. Postol fought on Saturday along with his spouse and their twin five-year outdated sons again house in Brovary, Ukraine in hurt’s method with the Russian army invading the nation.
“We’re within the damage enterprise,” Russell stated of whether or not he felt compassion for his opponent. “I take my hat off to him. His nation is actually at conflict however we’re within the squared circle doing our jobs. This man is coming to harm him and I’m coming to harm him.”
And Russell did that repeatedly on Saturday. Gary Russell Jr., the previous titleholder who misplaced his belt final month, manned the nook on Saturday with their father Gary Sr. relegated to ringside for well being causes, and he advised his youthful brother to “break the need” of Postol all through the bout. Russell obliged, combating aggressively and repeatedly pinning Postol towards the ropes.
Postol had some success along with his proper hand and his jab, particularly within the ninth when he landed a thudding proper , however Russell confirmed a granite chin and countered successfully and within the tenth he landed crisp mixtures, showcasing his hand pace, resulting in the stoppage, the primary time Postol had ever been stopped. Russell led on the scorecards on the time of the stoppage by scores of 89-82, 89-82 and 88-83.
“I simply could not do what I needed to do within the ring,” stated Postol. “My legs weren’t there and my arms weren’t there like I wanted them to be. I’ve fought a lot better fighters than Gary Russell, however for some motive I wasn’t capable of carry out to my talents. I got here right here to win tonight. Sadly I wasn’t capable of obtain my objective.”
Together with his promoter, the previous 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 through a unanimous choice in a star-making efficiency within the SHOWTIME telecast opener.
After exchanging hugs, handshakes and pleasantries throughout the closing press convention on Thursday, Martinez (14-0, 8 KOs) and Ancajas (33-2-2, 22 KOs) disbursed with the niceness and engaged in an action-packed thriller.
But it surely was Martinez, a fan of Mike Tyson rising up, who delivered the heaviest blows, squaring as much as Ancajas and winging lefts and rights to win by scores of 117-11, 118-110 and 118-110.
Martinez, whose father died whereas he was within the amateurs and helped introduce him to boxing, fought again tears as he expressed what the win meant to him.
“This second is so particular to me,” stated Martinez. “It hurts a lot that my father’s not right here for this nice second in my life, however I do know that he oversaw this. I’m so completely happy for my nook and for the individuals who supported me over time. I wish to thank SHOWTIME for his or her assist. I wish to thank Jerwin for giving me this chance. I’m so grateful for this.”
Martinez landed 421 energy pictures , a brand new division file and 427 whole punches, forcing Ancajas to be taken to the hospital as a precaution following the match.
“I’m so grateful for workforce Martinez to provide me this chance to make this combat,” Ancajas stated. “Sure, I need the rematch and I’ll do every part to attain my objective. I realized rather a lot on this combat and he’s an excellent challenger.”
The 2 repeatedly walked by way of hellacious punches all through the motion. But it surely was Martinez who damage Ancajas greater than the champion and in between the ninth and tenth rounds, Ancajas’ nook was asking him if he was okay to proceed. Ancajas responded by buckling Martinez within the tenth spherical with a proper hand, and he buzzed Martinez once more with a straight left just for Martinez to fireplace again with roundhouse punches of his personal in a snapshot of the continuous motion that happened.
The occasion was promoted by TGB Promotions. The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING tripleheader will re-air on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME.
Veteran sportscaster Brian Custer hosted the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast whereas versatile fight sports activities voice Mauro Ranallo dealt with blow-by-blow motion alongside Corridor of Fame analyst Al Bernstein and three-division world champion Abner Mares. Three Corridor of Famers rounded out the SHOWTIME telecast workforce – Emmy® Award-winning reporter Jim Grey, unofficial scorer Steve Farhood and world-renowned ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. The manager producer was four-time Emmy award winner David Dinkins, Jr. Saturday’s telecast was produced by Ray Smaltz III and the director was Bob Dunphy, son of legendary Corridor of Famer Don Dunphy. Former junior middleweight world champion Raúl “El Diamante” Marquez and sportscaster Alejandro Luna served as professional analysts in Spanish on Secondary Audio Programming (SAP).
