Photography by Tim Warner
Danny Garcia captured the WBC super
lightweight championship by a 12 round unanimous decision over Mexican legend
Erik Morales by scores of 117-110, 116-112, and 118-109 at the Reliant Arena in
Houston, Texas on Saturday night. The veteran Morales outworked Garcia with
jabs, effective counter punching and spots of precise combination punching.
Garcia’s youth and power appeared to derail Morales’s momentum in the third
with clean and hard hooks but Morales got back to his strategy in round 4. Garcia
and Morales traded the middle rounds by going back and forth between Morales’s jabbing
and counter punching to Garcia’s clean shots. Morales began to take the momentum
back until a Garcia shot dropped Morales. By the end of the twelfth round
Garcia was cut over the bridge of the nose and swelling over his left eye. When
the judges scores were rendered, it was Garcia on the winning end of a seemingly
closure fight then the scores provided but a deserving one none the less. Garcia
was the much busier fighter (throwing 779 to Morales’ 547) and the more accurate
(landing 238 to Morales’ 164). Garcia moves to 23-0 with 14 KO’s while Erik
Morales, pondering imminent retirement post-fight, fell to 52-8 with 36 KO’s.
James Kirkland retained his WBC title (go
ahead and pick one) with a highly controversial disqualification win over the rightfully
so discouraged Carlos Molina. Carlos Molina thoroughly dominated the Kirkland over
the first nine rounds by taking away Kirkland’s offense with hard shots and
combinations. Kirkland had moments in the 4th and 5th rounds but
Molina stayed tight in the pocket to avoid any serious damage. Molina
controlled the action in rounds six through nine throwing combinations and
constantly holding on the inside. Kirkland was urged by trainer Anne Wolfe to let
his hands go at the end of the eighth round but did not follow through until round
10. Kirkland caught Molina at that point and dropped him to create the
possibility of a late round come from behind victory. Molina quickly rose as the
bell sounded to end the round. Molina’s team believed the round was over and
entered the ring to attend to their fighter when referee Jon Schorle declared
the disqualification as a result of interference. Molina was deprived of a
clearly earned victory and if that was not enough insult two judges had Molina up
by scores of 88-83 and 87-84 while Judge Gale Van Hoy had Kirkland winning
86-85. Kirkland goes to 31-1 with 27 knockouts while hard luck Carlos Molina
drops to 19-5-2 with 6 KO’s. Prior to the fight James Kirkland was unable to “produce”
for required urine test. TDLR allowed the bout to go through the fight as long
as he agreed to a post-fight test. It will be interesting to see if a test was administered
after the fight and if so what the results were. We will keep you updated on
the situation.
Jermell Charlo (17-0, 8
knockouts) registered a surprising 3rd round knockout over highly
underated prospect Chris Chatman with a right hand in a scheduled 10-round
junior middleweight fight. Chatman out punched the taller Charler with solid
punching and aggression. Things were going the same in the 3rd when
Chatman rushed into a Charlo right hand. Chatman returned to his feet but
referee Gary Simmons waived the affair off. This was not a premature stoppage
as Chatman did not remember walking to the ring or what had happened 30 minutes
after the fight. It happens sometimes as it is boxing but do not write off Chatman
(10-2-1, 5 KOs) as he has upset 4 undefeated prospects and received a dubious
draw last year on a ESPN2 telecast.
Irish prospect Jamie Kavanagh
triumphed with a blood filled 5th round TKO of Cesar Cisneros to
move to 9-0-1, 4 Kos. Kavanagh dropped Cisneros in the first round and battering
him in the 5th until the fight was called at 2:28 into the round. Kavanagh
was cut near his right eye early on and Cisneros (3-4-2, 1 KO) suffered a gash around
left eye. Kavanagh’s technique made the difference.
In a battle of Texans, Lanard
Lane (Houston), impressively out skilled Milton Ramos (Waco) to gain an 8th
round TKO in the welterweight division. Lane (13-1, 8 KOs) dropped Ramos
(7-3-2) with a right in the 6th and closed the show in the 8th
with a brilliant display of angles and precision punching at 1:34 of the round.
The former Al Haymon charge looks to be a real prospect again as Ramos was a
tough and competent fighter despite taking the fight on 3 days notice.
Jermall Charlo moved to 9-0,
5 Kos over game but inexperienced Shawn Wilson. Charlo had Wilson down with an
uppercut in the 1st round and again twice in the 5th
round with body shots to end the contest. Wilson goes back to of La Vista, Nebbraska
with a record of 5-9 (1) KO.
Daquan Arnett of Florida
started the show with a bang and in the process moving to 2-0 (1 KO) by banging
Fabian Cancino (0-4) with an uppercut to end the fight at 1:51 of the 1st
round round.
The fight was held at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas and televised live on HBO. The event was presented by Golden Boy Promotions in a ssociation with DeWalt Tools and Corona. The estimated attendance for the event was 5,500 people.
