WBC/WBA Champ Garcia Pounds Morales In Rematch

Last night, boxing debuted at the brand new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York and we saw some of the world’s best fighters compete with World championships on the line.

And, despite seeing mixed emotions during a couple of the weaker fights of the evening, overall, the event did not disappoint.

Some of the earlier non-televised contests saw former world champion Luis Callazo (32-5-0) outbrawl Steve Upsher (24-2-1) over eight rounds at welterweight to get what could very well be defined as the first solid win in his comeback.

Upsher dropped an outstanding eight year win streak, which is discouraging to the Philly-based contender.

Also on the non-televised bill, we saw Jewish-American welterweight contender Dmitry Salita (35-1-1) continue working his way back up to contention with a wide decision win over recently sunk prospect Brandon Hoskins (16-3-1) over eight rounds.

Opening the televised card on Showtime Extreme, we saw middleweight Danny Jacobs (23-1-0) return to the fight game after Cancer surgery. At one time, he was nearly crippled but still managed to get his career back on the move last night at Barclays with a real bang.

Jacobs brutally knocked out Josh Luteran (13-2-0) in one round. Afterword, Jacobs was humble and respectful, highly anticipating the next run he had set up.

Now we get to the main televised attractions, the quadruple-header.

In the first fight, we saw what was likely the only “rough patch” to deal with on the card. Devon Alexander (24-1-0) challenging the “KO King” Randall Bailey (43-8-0) over 12 rounds for the IBF welterweight title strap.

In very one sided fashion, Alexander outboxed Randall over 12 nearly unbearable rounds. Alexander boxed well, but just failed to excite the amped-up Brooklyn crowd even once in the fight. This wasn’t anything impressive but it got the job done to say the least.

The next bout was truly night and day for the enthusiastic Brooklyn crowd, seeing the first of two Brooklyn boxing stars that came out. Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (28-0-0) was challenging for his first title against tough France based Cameroon fighter Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (27-1-0), the WBO middleweight champion.

It did not come easy as both men, undefeated at 27-0 entering the arena, dug down further then ever. Hassan outfought Kid Chocolate Quillin for seven rounds on my card but that doesn’t title the entire story.

N’Dam was down six times from Quillin’s best shots, but rarely was he actually hurt. To me, it looked like six flash knockdowns, all spread out over three rounds. On virtually every ringside observer’s card going into the 12th round, even being down four times already, N’Dam would have won the fight if he wasn’t put down in the final seconds of round 12.

He was just too sloppy at times. And it is a shame that this is the way he had to lose his title and his flawless record. I would enjoy seeing a rematch.

Now we will discuss the controversial co-feature, which was also a lot of fun; WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4-0) verses Pablo Cesar Cano (25-2-1). Cano really did shock many. He looked way better than ever, attacking the seemingly faded Malignaggi and even scored a knockdown late, but still was eating a lot of jabs and right hands all night long from the superior boxer in Malignaggi and lost a razor thin Split Decision.

This was one of those one or two point fights. I had it 114-113 for Malignaggi due to his precise jab that made Pablo’s face a swollen, bloody and since Malignaggi is Italian-American, basically a pizza-like mess.

I just don’t understand why Paulie fully abandoned his excellent lateral movement and didn’t even try to defend himself against the more powerful, overweight Cano. This almost makes him deserve to lose, in my opinion. But it is what it is. Pretty good showing by both in various areas but also apparent flaws revealed as well.

Pablo should be too angry for his labor, though. He is already getting a career high payday likely and since he came in a pound over the 147lb Welterweight limit, he couldn’t take the WBA title anyway.

This respectable performance will at least get him a potential rematch and more major fights in the United States.

Now we move on to the main event, which for long time fight fans like myself, was unbearable; a legend has fallen. Over four rounds, Mexican legend Erik Morales (52-9-0) was dominated by hard hitting WBC/WBA champion Danny Garcia (25-0-0).

It was a crushing left hook that smashed one of boxing’s most praised warriors to the canvas, out hard between the ropes. This is a sad boxing moment comparable to Floyd Mayweather’s slaughter of Arturo Gatti years back. The good news is, I think this was the final nail in the coffin for the failed comeback of “El Terrible”. He said he will do a final goodbye fight in Mexico before retirement.

It’s a good win for Garcia, but it is time for bigger and better things now. Maybe a big fight with skilled counterpuncher Juan Manuel Marquez, the only Mexican legend that remains in his prime. Maybe one of the two hard hitting Argentinians such as Lucas Matthysse or Marcos ”El Chino” Maidana or a contender from America like Zab Judah, Devon Alexander or Vernon Paris?

Besides that, there are also two big fights soon between contenders Amir Khan and Carlos Molina plus undefeated contenders Joan Guzman and Khalib Allakhvierdev.

Bottom line? This is a packed division and Garcia has the WBC, WBA and Ring Title straps in his hands. Time for him to face prime guys again.

Thanks for reading our post fight for last night’s big boxing event. Keep visiting Saddoboxing for some of the most up to date boxing news.