Matthew Hurley: At the Jacob Brown Auditorium in Brownsville, Texas junior middleweight Roberto Garcia, 24-2 with 17 KOs had to settle for a third round no-contest against Freddy Hernandez, 22-1 with 17 KOs. The fight started quickly with a brisk first round fought evenly. In the second round Garcia dropped Hernandez at the bell. A head butt, suffered by Hernandez before the knockdown, opened a gash above his right eye. Before the third round the doctor advised referee Lawrence Cole to stop the bout..
Also on the card former International Boxing Federation junior middleweight champion Yory Boy Campas, 91-10 with 73 KOs continued his endless career stopping Fernando Vela, 6-10-2 with 3 KOs by a fifth round stoppage. Campas, who reached the hundred-bout mark in his last ring appearance in August against Norberto Bravo, is looking to carry on as he approaches his thirty-seventh birthday.
In the ring after the fight the moon-faced fighter said, “I know I can probably go another four fights. I have a fight in May, Winky Wright has been mentioned, let’s see if it comes about.”
In a mild upset at the Westshore Doubletree Hotel in Tampa, Florida Demarcus “Chop Chop” Corley, 31-7-1 with 17 KOs lost by split decision to Dario Jose Esalas, 30-10 with 24 KOs. The scores were 76-75 twice for Esalas and 76-75 for Corley. It was the third straight loss for Corley who felt he had won the bout but seemed to resign himself to possible retirement.
After the cancellation of his scheduled bout with Kiko Martinez, which was to take place tonight, Wayne McCullough remains determined to continue his latest ring comeback.
“I’m gutted, totally gutted,” he told BBC Sport after Martinez failed to make weight. “It’s the third fight that’s fallen through in the last year.”
The bout was to be contested over ten rounds but Martinez’s European super bantamweight title was not on the line. It was to be McCullough’s first fight in nearly two-and-a-half years.
“The board gave him one hour to lose weight and he sits down and drinks a bottle of water,” a disgusted McCullough remarked in the aftermath of the cancellation. “He just didn’t want to fight.”
McCullough insists he will carry on and look for a fight as soon as possible. “The first thing you say is that it has put you off, but I love to fight. I just hope something good comes out of this.”