Boxing: Garcia Vs. Burgos — Don’t Be A Minute Late For The Fireworks Tonight

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Can Mickey Garcia, shown right hammering Salido, fend off determined Burgos?

[BoxingGlove Notes]

The New Year Return of Fight Times at the Garden

Tonight, January 25, the fight fans will bear witness to the return of quality and exciting boxing to the historic mecca, Madison Square Garden’s Theatre.

Bob Arum’s Top Rank will play host to well-matched fights headlining the undefeated W.B.O. Super Featherweight Champion, Miguel Angel “Mickey” Garcia, 33-0, 28 knockouts,  defending his crown against his number 1 challenger, Juan Carlos Burgos, 30-1-2, 20 k.o.’s.

Juan Burgos feels that he is possibly fortunate to get a second opportunity for a world title he felt that he had already won because when he fought former 130 pound champ, Rocky Martinez, Saturday, January 19, 2013, the consensus was that he was the victor;  the fight was called a draw.

Burgos feels as he stated to me that this is “redemption” time. He also said since he “was robbed” in New York it would be poetic justice to “re-win” his title in Madison Square Garden. He is determined not to lose again by decision nor by a knockout.

On the other hand, Mickey Garcia the “quiet destroyer” says he is ready for whatever Burgos brings to the table. He worked hard in training camp for almost 3 months to retain his title. He felt upset that he could no longer stay at the 126 pound level to defend it but was fortunate to get a title shot at the 130 pounds.  At this weight he feels stronger, and hopefully will remain here, “clean up” the division and then move up to the Lightweight level. He wants to win world titles in consecutive fashion just like Manny Pacquiao did winning 8 world titles in a row.

These are two quiet but charismatic young men are on a fistic mission that will be on display for the world to see on Saturday in Madison Square Garden.

Who is Mickey Garcia?: At the present he is being “tagged” for boxing super stardom by Bob Arum’s Top Rank because of his impressive undefeated record, 33 victories, scoring 28 knockouts, and winning several  world titles such as his present W.B.O. Junior Lightweight Crown which he will defend against Burgos. Additionally, while an amateur fighter, he was a 2004 Gold Medalist in the 132 pound division of the National Golden Gloves Championships, Cadet Division, and in the following year 2005, he was the 132 pound Gold Medalist in the National P.A.L. Championships. He had a total of 56 amateur fights.

Mickey Garcia actually has an amateur fight victory over current W.B.A., W.B.C. Super Lightweight & Ring Magazine Light Welterweight Champion, Danny Garcia. Ironically, Danny Garcia has been mentioned as possible opponent for Mickey Garcia in the future as Mickey continues to add weight. In July 14, 2006 he made his professional debut defeating Domingo Mendoza in a 4 round decision.

Throughout his fighting career to the present time which began when he was just 14 years of age, Garcia the youngest of a fighting family dynasty always displayed good skills, speed , and movement with counter-punching and hard hitting abilities. He is a “gym rat” that is always in fighting condition, and is trained by his brother Robert a former world champion.

And as for Juan Carlos Burgos?  Well, he actually started boxing at the age of 9 when he would go to the gym in his home town of Puebla, Mexico, to see his uncle Victor Burgos train for fights, and as he got older he knew that, that was what he wanted to do, box. He entered many tournaments accumulating an impressive amateur record of 29 fights with only 5 losses. He then made his pro debut in December 10, 2004, winning the Latino Jr. Lightweight Title, the W.B.C. Silver super Featherweight Title, and the N.A.B.O. Jr. Lightweight Crown.

So now these warriors who displayed a very cordial respect for each other at their last press conference at B.B. King’s House of Blues Restaurant, in Times Square, are at the crossroads of their careers to determine who is the best Junior Lightweight in the world. The favorite is Garcia due to his high 90% knockout ratio while remaining undefeated.

I feel that Garcia will prevail in this combat due to his tenacious ring generalship form of attacking an opponent, head and body movements similar to Floyd Mayweather but with a harder punching knockout weaponry than Mayweather.

The main event in addition to the supporting fight card, already a sell-out, has created boxing excitement here in the Big Apple. To fans, it’s almost as electric as the count-down for a New Year’s celebration in Times Square.

The semi-final features 2 hard punching undefeated crowd pleasing heavyweights. From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bryant “Bye-Bye” Jennings, 17-0, 9 k.o.’s will fight, Artur “The Pin” Szpilka, 16-0, 12 knockouts, from Krakow, Poland, a 7 times Gold Medalist in amateur competition in his native Poland.

Although Jennings got a late start in boxing due to his commitment to Football, Basketball, and Track & Field, he was able to fight amateur with a record of 17 fights with only 4 defeats, winning 3 Silver Medals. Jennings then turned professional in February 26, 2010.

Top Rank will also feature a local home-town favorite, from Long Beach, N.Y., “Irish” Sean Monaghan, 19-0, 12 knockouts vs. veteran journeyman, Matt Vanda, 45-15, 24 knockouts, who will surely “test” Monaghan who has demanding a world title fight if he wins this 10 round W.B.C. Continental Americas Light Heavyweight crown. Sean shouldn’t have any problem finding opponents after this fight since there is a “grand central station” of 175 pounders willing to fight him especially Lou DiBella’s   Australian import, Blake Caparello, 18-0-1, 6 k.o.’s.

This super fight card will then also showcase an almost around-the-world boxing talent with an international flavor such as Puerto Rican 135 pounds, Ex-Olympian Felix “El Diamante”-The Diamond-Verdejo, 9-0, 6k.o.’s vs. Lauro Alcantar, 8-0, 1 k.o. from Agua Prieta, Mexico, Super Middleweight, Derrick Findley, Gary, Indiana, 20-11-1-1, 13 knockouts vs. Jesse Hart, 11-0, 10 k.o.’s, Philadelphia, Pa., Nuwan Jayakody, Sri Lanka, 2-3-1, 2k.o.’s vs. 126 pounder, Alberto Machado, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 5-0, 3 knockouts, Super Bantamweight, Jovany Fuentes, 5-3, 4 k.o.’s, Bayamon, Puerto Rico vs. Tramaine Williams, 8-0, 2 k.o’s,  New Haven, CT. and the opening bout will feature, 147 pounders, Eligio Lopez, 1-0, 1k.o.,from Denver, Colorado vs. Francisco Vargas, 1-0, 1k.o., San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Starting off the boxing year in New York and just before the Super Bowl in Met Life, New Jersey, we will enjoy 3 great fight events.

On Thursday, January 30, 2014, Brooklyn resident, Luis Collazo , 34-5-3, 17 k.o.’s will challenge, “Vicious” Victor Ortiz, 29-4-2, 22 knockouts for the vacant W.B.A. International Welterweight Title, at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y. Both Ortiz and Collazo are former world champs looking to re-ignite their fighting careers hoping that a victory will open up doors to other lucrative pay-per-view fights. The semi- final will feature fast rising hard punching undefeated Junior Middleweight from the Bronx by way of Honduras, Eddie “E Boy” Gomez, 15-0, 10 knockouts vs. Daquan Arnet, 11-0, 7 k.o.’s.

On Friday, January 31, 2014, before the great “Supe”, DiBella Entertainment will present it’s Friday Night Fights program at the Richard J. Codey Arena, West Orange, New Jersey, featuring his Light Heavyweight import from Australia, south paw, Blake Caparello, 18-0, 6 k.o.’s vs. Elvir “The Kosovo Kid” Muriqi, 40-5, 24 knockouts from Albania.

The song, “This Joint is Jumpin”, will certainly apply to New York for the entire month of January / 2014. Let’s hope that it continues throughout the year.

BOXING CALENDAR:

1) Saul “El Canelo” Alvarez vs. Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo—Saturday, March 8, 2014.

2) Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao vs. Timothy “Dessert Storm” Bradley—re-match tentatively set for, Saturday, April 19, 2014.

3) Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez vs. Miguel Cotto—tentatively set for Saturday, June 7, 2014—World Middleweight Championship.

Stay tuned to The Black Star News for further boxing developments. 

 

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