Mikey Garcia is a joy to watch

garcia1by Paul Strauss: Here’s a bucket of money. Now go out and hire a biological engineer and make known your wishes for the creation or design of a great boxer. If necessary, the lab rats will take a little DNA here and a little there, garnering the needed ingredients to come up with the desired result. It will be your job to give a detailed description of what you want. Don’t leave anything out. Make it known you want your boxer (not fighter) to have power in both hands. He must be technically sound, demonstrating the ability to block, slip, parry, duck under and counter each and every shot thrown at him.

Undoubtedly, you will want your fighter to be tough and not to get flustered when defending or attacking. Give your fighter great instincts, so he can read opponents’ tells. Go ahead and let the biologist know your man should not expel energy unnecessarily. He should be graceful and move well, but only at the right time and at the right distance, not wasting any motion or get himself out of position.

Tell the scientists, your boxer must always be on balance, ready to strike at any instant and with power. After supplying these instructions, chances are you will end up with a boxer closely resembling Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia.

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Mikey Garcia wins WBO Featherweight title

garcia2By Joseph Herron – After many months of eagerly anticipating his first world title opportunity, 25 year old Mikey Garcia (31-0, 26 KOs) captured the WBO Featherweight Championship by defeating the widely recognized number one ranked 126 pound fighter in the world, Orlando Salido (39-12-2, 27 KOs), by way of an eight round unanimous technical decision.

Unfortunately for those in attendance, the judges’ verdict was forced prematurely and the action was ceased after only eight stanzas had materialized because of an accidental headbutt that inadvertently broke the nose of Mikey Garcia.

During the closing seconds of the eighth round, Orlando Salido lunged in while attempting to land an overhand right, which was followed by a forehead shot that bludgeoned the snout of the young title challenger. Although the vicious butt was deemed unintentional, the fight was ultimately stopped after referee Benjee Esteves, Jr. followed the recommendation of the physician at ringside.

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Garcia tames Salido; Golovkin destroys brave Rosado and Martinez is lucky against Burgos

golovkin22By Peter Wells: After a great night of boxing on Friday night for all UK fans on Boxnation followed by one of the best Prizefighters to date, the whole world was treated to another great nights action to round off a superb weekend. Boxing 2013 has well and truly kicked off, after a triple-header full of explosive punchers.

To kick off the three world title fights was the fight of the night between pressure fighter Roman ‘Rocky’ Martinez and the powerful counter puncher Juan Carlos Burgos. It was to be another classic instalment to the Puerto Rico-Mexico rivalry.

The challenger for the WBO Super Featherweight title, Burgos, started the faster, but both fighters landed heavy blows in the first round. It was an exciting round where Burgos’ quick combinations won the round over Martinez’ single big right hands. The fight stayed relatively in the centre of the ring where Burgos had his most success but occasionally the champion would force his younger foe onto the ropes where he would later have huge success.

Four rounds gone and although the fight hadn’t quite caught fire, Burgos seemed to have taken all the rounds, which invoked a response from the champion in the fifth. Martinez started to force the pace more but Burgos had plenty of success too. Martinez banged his chest whenever Burgos landed a solid punch, calling for the challenger to engage in a brawl that would suit the champion down to the ground.

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Garcia defeats Salido; Golovkin stops Rosado

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By Bill Phanco: WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido (39-12-2, 27 KO’s) didn’t have it tonight as he was beaten by the young Mikey Garcia (31-0, 26 KO’s) by an 8 round technical decision at Madison Square Garden in New York. Garcia was able to knock Salido down four times in the first four rounds with superb power punching.

Unfortunately, the fight was stopped after the 8th round from a head-butt that broke Garcia’s nose. Mikey said he couldn’t breath through his nose. The crowd pretty much hated it with some boxing shouting at Mikey, wanting him to continue fighting. It did seem strange that Mikey didn’t want to keep fighting considering fighting with a broken nose seems to be a common thing. However, Mikey had built up a big lead by that point in the fight so he could afford to have it go to the scorecards.

The judges scored it 79-70, 79-69 and 79-69. Salido was fighting better from the 6th round on and getting to Mikey more and more at the time the fight was stopped. I don’t know if Salido would have won but he was definitely starting to land his shots from the 6th to the 8th. Mikey was stopping a lot of Salido’s attacks by shoving him while backing up. Since the referee allowed Garcia to do this, he was able to stop many of Salido’s attacks with this move.

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Garcia-Salido: Mikey faces his first test of his career on Saturday

garcia454By Bill Phanco: Mikey Garcia (30-0, 26 KO’s) comes from a big boxing family and he’s had a ton support all throughout his six-year pro career. Thus far Garcia has been matched carefully chosen opposition to the point where his resume may not really tell the true picture of how good or not so good he is as a fighter.

On Saturday night, Garcia will be taking on WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido (39-11-2, 27 KO’s) at Madison Square Garden in New York. Salido is the exact opposite of Garcia. He comes from Mexico, and he hasn’t been matched carefully.

Salido has faced the best fighters for years now in battles against Robert Guerrero, Juan Manuel Marquez, Juan Manuel Lopez, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Rogers Mtagwa. He’s been in tough and he’s done. Salido beat Guerrero and Lopez twice, although his win over Guerrero was later changed to a no contest after he tested positive for a banned substance. Mikey hasn’t faced anyone yet that you can call a good fighter. They’ve just been very careful with him to make sure he doesn’t have slip ups.

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Salido: I’m going to pressure Mikey Garcia until I KO him

By Kevin Chittenden: WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido (39-11-2, 27 KO’s) thinks unbeaten #1 WBO Mikey Garcia (30-0, 26 KO’s) has never been in with anyone like him before and that he’ll fold under the constant pressure from him when they meet up on January 19th at Madison Square Garden in New York.

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Mikey Garcia is ready for the world

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By Joseph Herron: Since turning pro at age 18, Oxnard, California based fighter Miguel “Mikey” Garcia (29-0, 25 KOs) has been cultivating his pugilistic skills for the single crowning achievement of becoming the Featherweight Champion of the World.

From the time Mr. Garcia made the fateful decision to become a prizefighter, the 24 year old boxer/puncher has been perfect; racking up an impressive record of 29 victories, no losses, and 25 wins coming by way of knock-out.

This Saturday night, at the Wynn Las Vegas, the talented young fighter will be gracing the airwaves of HBO once again in the co-main event of the evening, as he takes on tough Argentine Featherweight Jonathan Victor Barros (34-3-1, 18 KOs).

Although Mikey is currently fighting in an era in which network dates have become a more scarce and coveted commodity than any sanctioning body’s world title strap, the top ranked Featherweight claims that his ultimate goal will perpetually be to win a universally recognized world title.

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Mikey Garcia: “A fight with Yuriorkis Gamboa is ultimately the bout that I want”

Mikey Garcia: “A fight with Yuriorkis Gamboa is ultimately the bout that I want”By Joseph Herron: With an HBO date already scheduled for November 10th, and a big title fight with WBO Featherweight Champion Orlando Salido on the 2013 horizon, 126 pound contender Mikey Garcia (29-0, 25 KOs) is ready to make his mark in boxing.

The undefeated 24 year old fighter is slated to face tough Argentine Jonathan Victor Barros (34-3-1, 18 KOs) in the main event of a brilliant double header on HBO Boxing After Dark next month. His original assignment was supposed to be a title opportunity against the hard punching WBO champ, but Salido was sidelined after inadvertently slamming his index finger in a car door.

While some boxing pundits have questioned the decision of Top Rank and manager Cameron Dunkin to fulfill the November HBO date rather than wait for the championship opening, Mikey feels confident in his team and his abilities in the ring.

“Because we’ve already committed to fighting on November 10th, and we don’t know when Salido is going to be ready to get back in the ring, we decided to go ahead and fight Jonathan Victor Barros. I’m not too concerned with whether or not it’s a good or bad idea to take an interim fight with a title opportunity on hold; my primary concern is winning the fight on November 10th and getting a decisive victory.”

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Salido vs. Garcia and Lara vs. Martirosyan: A match made in boxing heaven

Salido vs. Garcia and Lara vs. Martirosyan: A match made in boxing heavenBy Joseph Herron – Top Rank has generated yet another big double headliner, featuring two of the most long awaited and fan friendly match-ups in boxing.

Current WBO Featherweight Champion Orlando Salido (39-11-2, 27 KOs) will put his title on the line against undefeated challenger Mikey Garcia (29-0, 25 KOs) in the main event of the evening, and Vanes Martirosyan (32-0, 20 KOs) will square off against crafty southpaw Erislandy Lara (17-1-1, 11 KOs) to finally decide the WBC Junior Middleweight mandatory challenger position in the highly anticipated co-main event.

This amazing fight card is slated to be held at the Wynn Las Vegas on November 10th, and will be broadcast on HBO “Boxing After Dark”.

Fight scribes and boxing fans alike have clamored to see the two proposed match-ups for quite some time, and the action in the ring should answer many questions surrounding all four combatants.

While most fans of the sport have been waiting for the Oxnard, California resident to compete for a major world title, boxing pundits are wondering if Garcia is truly ready for a fight of this magnitude.

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Mikey Garcia talks Donaire

By Vitali Shaposhnikov: Nonito Donaire (29-1-0) and Mikey Garcia (28-0-0) not only share a friendship, but also a trainer, Robert Garcia. Both are known to be great fighters, and both try to make the fights worth the while for the fans. In a recent interview , Garcia mentioned that he would favor a fight against Donaire if their paths happened to cross sometime in the future.

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