Garcia, Benavidez & Ugas Shine In PBC On Showtime Showcase

ARMANDO ROMO JUNIOR | February 18, 2018 | 0 Comentarios/ Comments

GARCIA ENDS ‘BAM BAM’ IN 9 ROUNDS

Photos from Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME

‎The last time fans saw Brandon ‘Bam Bam’ Rios (34-4-1) in a meaningful fight, he was stopped by body shots versus Tim Bradley in the 9th round of their WBO welterweight title bout in 2015. He won by KO over Aaron Herrera in 2017 and thus found his way to a cross roads battle against Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia at the Mandalay Bay Events Center as the main event of the Premier Boxing Champion’s triple header on Showtime. Danny Garcia (34-1) was in a tougher spot though regardless of being a 25 to 1 betting favorite since he was coming off of his first pro loss to unified champion, Keith Thurman, via split decision on March of 2017. The Philadelphia native was expected to win, expected to look good and expected to please his fans and that’s always a difficult place to start from; one of lofty expectations.

Both men delivered in their own way reminding fans just why they tuned into the WBC 12 round welterweight title eliminator in the first place.

Rios put on one of his best performances yet, keeping the fight close on many social media score cards and showing signs of his seasoned brilliance. His steady jab was there, and slapping overhand shot. His inside game was on point and he stepped in and out of the pocket with ease quieting all doubters who have notoriously brought his cardio into question. ‎The pressure that he drenched Garcia in made Danny very uncomfortable and forced him to fight a fight he hasn’t had to in a while until the momentum changed around the 5th round.

To his credit, Garcia made the needed adjustment of fighting smart. He was too willing to trade with Brandon in the pocket rather than pick his shots for the first 9 minutes. The former WBC champ had a target in his face for most of the night but, until he picked up his overhand right ‎and worked the body more did he find the opening needed. Once this happened, Garcia was landing over hands and straight rights seemingly at will. Rios solid beard held up for 8 solid rounds, eating punch after clean punch like they were snacks at a family BBQ. In the 9th round, Rios threw an admitedly lazy jab and rather than bring his guard back up to his face he put it next to his waist. Garcia landed the overhand shot flush right over Rios’ jab and clocked him clean. The punch rattled the skull of Rios and he fell flat unto the mat like a pancake . The man known as ‘Bam Bam’ hurried up to beat the referee’s count but slightly stumbled on his way to touch gloves with the official; this was enough for Kenny Bayless to alertly call a stop to the match at (2:25).

‎Rios was crushed at the post fight press conference. He wore glasses to cover some eye socket damage and swelling but, you could hear him hold back tears from his disappointment in himself. He assured fans and media that he trained his tail off for the fight making the most of his opportunity. Nonetheless, he blamed the one mistake of the night, the lazy jab, as the sole reason he was caught flush and the fight ended. He thanked his corner for putting his health and best interests at heart only wishing that they had given him a chance to clinch his way to the end of that round or stick and move to eat up the clock and make it to round 10.

‎Garcia was all smiles as well as humble in his talk with media. He gave Brandon credit and was the first to console him letting him know he put in a great effort and gave a good fight and to not let someone’s words or the critics affect him since they were not the ones fighting in there, he was. As for the future, Danny wanted to get another shot at one of the titles and did not shy away from high-profile matches versus Shawn Porter and a part 2 with Keith Thurman.

” It doesn’t matter who I fight. Critics always gonna say something negative. They never gonna be satisfied…I can’t fight everybody , I can only do one at a time. But it doesn’t matter” said Garcia when it comes to his next battle and career’s future.

BENAVIDEZ LEAVES NO DOUBT IN REMATCH AS HE COASTS PAST GAVRIL

Their first fight was thrilling, exciting and competitive. One could’ve argued either side to justify the victor that night and who deserved the split verdict.
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‎Last night however, there was no doubt who the better man was as Phoenix’s own made it crystal clear by effortlessly defending his 168lbs WBC crown via unanimous decision with scores of 119-109, 120-108 and 120-108 over Ronald ‘The Thrill’ Gavril (18-3). David ‘Bandera Roja’ Benavidez (20-0) showed a few more improvements in his ring generalship as well as usage of distance plus, his conditioning looked stellar. The Arizona native doubled and tripled his jab keeping Gavril at bay and when needed he slapped him with an overhand right. Fighting tall throughout those 36 minutes kept Benavidez’ head out of the line of fire also; he used great upper body movement to slip oncoming fire.

Gavril tried to jab his way into his man’s chest but, Benavidez beat him to the punch by coming right over his jab with a mean straight shot or powerful cross. There was swelling over Gavril’s right eye by the halfway mark. Defensively, Benavidez circled out when he needed to, turned his man when he felt like it and hit multiple angles to have Gavril at at the end of his jab. Ronald never got off and the few moments of success that he had were when he went for broke and just charged in throwing caution to the wind.

Ring side and on the floor seats you could see Gavril’s fans as well as The Money Team team mates begging for him to work the body and throw more hooks. No one was heard and never did Ronald make any adjustments. Probably from feeling Benavidez power midway into Round 4. That long 3 minutes for Gavril found him on the bad side of a beautiful right uppercut-left hook combination that landed flush, sending the TMT representative stumbling backwards unto the ropes. Benavidez coasted from there and looked great doing it. His connectivity was so crisp that he broke his foe’s nose and jaw sending him to the hospital. Ironically, Benavidez also went to the hospital directly after the match to check on his hands since he thought he had fractured both. Luckily the report from the doctor Sunday revealed there were no fractures.

Neither man made the post fight press conference but Benavidez stole that part of the show as well telling Jim Gray, “I still have the (WBC) belt. ‎Look at his face and look at my face”.

UGAS LEVELS ROBINSON MULTIPLE TIMES BEFORE 7TH ROUND STOPPAGE

Opening the televised portion of the Premier Boxing Champions’ Showtime boxing event from inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center was the action-packed bout pitting Yordenis Ugas (21-3) against Ray Robinson (24-3).

The fireworks started early as both men opted to skip the feeling out process and bang it out in the middle of the ring. Robinson operated just a little sloppily and overly aggressive with Ugas staying composed but eager to return fire. The ‎arena exploded with about 34 seconds left in Round 1 as Ugas caught his man with a mean right hook that came in just behind Robinson ‘s glove. It landed flush on his face sending him flying backwards unto his seat, crashing unto the mat. He beat the count and Ugas tried to finish him off but the tide had drastically turned in his favor.

From there he just kept a workman like pace,he was first and never let off of the gas. Robinson threw wild shots and lost some power by operating on unsteady legs, his footwork suffering from his trying whatever he could from overhands to long uppercuts in order to catch his man. The frustration personified at the very end of Round 4 as Robinson blatently hit his opponent after the bell had sounded to signify the end of the round. The Philadelphia representative threw a combo right in front of referee Robert Byrd who was stepping in. Justifyingly so,

‎the referee deducted a point from Robinson . ‎

Ugas strapped on his boots and went to work in the 7th Round applying some serious pressure to Robinson who was already backing up allot more than he chose to come forward the last 2 rounds. Ugas connected again with a clean shot that sent his man to the mat. Robinson beat the count but was on spaghetti legs as the Cuban marched him down along the ropes and trapped him in a neutral corner. From there he unloaded a volley of punches similar to the flurry Oscar De La Hoya used to finish Fernando Vargas in their world title bout.

The unanswered blows prompted referee Robert Byrd to step in an waive it off officially at the (1:05) mark of Round 7 giving Ugas the triumph as well as TKO win over Philadelphia’s Robinson.