HBO Triple Header Results

Garcia dropping Salido.

The main event of the evening was Orlando Salido defending his WBO featherweight crown against rising star Mikey Garcia. Salido, the tough and rugged Mexican boxer, immediately felt that it was going to be a long night for him when Garcia dropped him in the first round. Then Garcia scored a second knockdown. Then a third knockdown in the 3rd round. Then a fourth knockdown in the 4th round. This was Garcia slicing up and picking the highly respectable veteran apart with superior, clean, and sharp boxing skills. This was a boxing clinic by Mikey Garcia and his trainer, the great Robert Garcia. Unfortunately, we had a controversial headbutt by Salido (which looked intentional), which led to the fight being stopped after the 8th round. Garcia’s nose was smashed by the headbutt and Robert Garcia didn’t want the fight to continue. That troubled some, but for me, it was just anti-climatic. The technical decision scorecards all obviously awarded the fight and WBO featherweight title to Mikey Garcia.

Rising star Gennady Golovkin came to terminate Gabriel Rosado in this WBA middleweight title fight. He opened up Rosada’s face in the second frame, and created a one-sided bloodbath in the squared circle. Rosado didn’t want to give up or stop, but Golovkin was way too much. Both in skill and in power, Golovkin was hammering Rosado. In the seventh round, Rosado’s trainer stepped in to mercifully put a stop to the fight. At the time of the stoppage, Golovkin was landing cringe worthy shots on Rosado. The time of the official stoppage was 2:46 of the 7th round.

In the opener to HBO’s triple header, Rocky Martinez retained his WBO super featherweight title against Juan Carlos Burgos via what many considered a polemic decision. The story of the fight was Burgos using Martinez’s body for target practice. Body shot after body shot, round after round, Burgos brutalized Martinez badly. Yes, Martinez won some rounds (it was probably closer than the HBO crew put forth) and yes, some rounds were a bit close. Martinez landed more shots to the head as well, although they lacked the power of Burgos’ power shots. But I felt that Burgos should have walked away with Martinez’s WBO title and I felt confident Burgos was the rightful winner. The official verdict by the judges was a three-way split draw.