By Jake Donovan
It’s hard enough to gain any notoriety in the strawweight division, much less manage to stand out from the rest of the pack. Slowly but surely, the division long left for dead following the departure of its all-time greatest fighter in Ricardo Lopez is loading up with talent at the top level, beginning with a trio of undefeated titlists.
Thai southpaw Oleydong Sithsamerchai, 23 years old and arguably the division’s most talented fighter, is known for his accelerated level of opposition.
Roman Gonzalez, a 21-year old Nicaraguan product, has already turned heads with his two-fisted knockout power.
Quietly trucking along is 26-year old Raul Garcia, who is gaining a reputation as the king of rematches. Whatever happens in the first fight, the Mexican southpaw raises the stakes and prevails by a greater margin against any repeat opponent.
The latest to serve on the other end of the lesson was Ronald Barrera. Just ten months after a scoring a decisive decision win which led to a title shot, Garcia fought a near-perfect fight in forcing a sixth round stoppage Saturday night at Estadio Arturo C. Nahl in his hometown of La Paz, Mexico.
The bout aired live in the United States on Azteca America .
Neither fighter seemed very willing to engage the other in the opening round. Garcia jabbed from the outside while fighting in reverse. Barrera’s efforts to take the lead proved futile, throwing lead overhand lefts without setting up his power shots.
Action picked up considerably in the second round. Garcia still offered movement, but also stopped and stood his ground long enough to initiate two-way exchanges. Plenty of left hands found their way home between the two southpaws, though the edge had to go to Garcia, who controlled the pace of the fight by forcing Barrera to follow his lead.
The hectic pace continued in the third and fourth rounds, with Garcia still taking the lead and mastering the art of “hit and don’t get hit.” Barrera was consistently just short with his overhand left, as Garcia’s defensive instincts were nothing short of admirable. The hometown favorite always knew where to be whenever Barrera would begin his attack and then slide back into position whenever he was ready to take the offensive.
A brief break in the action came in the fourth, when an attempted body attack by Garcia resulted in the first visible low blow of the fight. Barrera took a brief breather, though neither fighter seemed to benefit from the 30 seconds or so of rest before action resumed.
Barrera attempted to take the lead in the fifth, but Garcia exuded patience, never allowing himself to fall behind at any point in the fight. A cut developed around the right eye of Barrera, forcing his corner go to work in between rounds and prompting a brief exam from the ringside physician midway through the sixth.
It was in the first fight in which the sixth round proved to be the most disastrous for Barrera, suffering a knockdown en route to a convincing points loss. This time around, the switch-hitting Colombian wouldn’t even make it out of the round. Barrera was game, but also virtually defenseless. Garcia treated his cut like a bulls-eye, repeatedly scoring with his jab and straight left. Referee Rafael Ramos picked up on this and wisely intervened before further punishment could be inflicted.
The official time was 2:26 of round six.
It’s the first stoppage win in nearly two years for Garcia, having went the 12-round distance in his last five fights. He improves overall to 26-0-1 (16KO), making the third successful defense of the alphabet title he won just ten months ago.
A three-fight winning streak ends for the 24-year old Barrera, who falls to 26-6-1 (16KO) with the loss. It is his fourth failed bid in a major title fight or eliminator, having previously fallen short against Ivan Calderon and Yutaka Niida in addition to the aforementioned first loss to Garcia last year.
It’s not immediately clear what the next step is for the promising Garcia. There’s little in the way of unfinished business lingering, having emerged successful in the sixth rematch of his young career. Perhaps a return go with Florante Condes, from whom he wrested the title last June via split decision.
If it’s fresh meat he desires, Roman Gonzalez is also lurking. The Nicaraguan flame thrower traveled to Mexico for a title defense earlier this year, at least lending the suggestion of hope for a future unification match to be made.
Perhaps the boxing Gods are kind to fans, and such a fight transpires. If so, then neither fighter will have to worry about a hook in order to stand out from the rest of the pack. The winner will give something the strawweight division has lacked for more than a decade – a leader.
BROADCAST ISSUES
Azteca America is still somewhat in its infancy in regards to regularly broadcasting boxing events, so perhaps the series should be graded on a curve. But considering it carries the label “Solo Boxeo II”, there exists the suggestion that a lot of the kinks should’ve already been worked out.
A recurring theme in the broadcasts has been less live action airing from bell to bell due to at least one too many commercials running in between rounds.
The first notable gaffe came last December, when portions of the rematch between Humberto Soto and Francisco Lorenzo were picked up “in progress” midway through a crucial fourth-round, in which cameras returned barely in time to catch Lorenzo deliver the first of the many fouls that occurred in the bout.
It was hoped that such issues would be resolved by the time the network agreed to get in the game on a semi-weekly basis. Nearly four months later, they not only still exist but seem to grow worse.
Saturday night’s broadcast featured more commercial time than televised boxing action prior to the main event. Wins by Miguel Beltran Jr and Humberto Gutierrez were drowned out by excessive blocks of advertisements and infomercials.
Of the six rounds in the main event, only four of the frames were shown in its entirety. The feed for rounds two and four didn’t pick up until midway through, as the network felt it was necessary to air more than two minutes worth of commercials during each instance.
Upwards of five-minute blocks of ad space were doled out in between fights, briefly cutting to in-studio commentary to discuss the previous bout’s results and previewing the upcoming fight before going to yet another blitz of commercials.
It’s common knowledge that everything runs on dollars these days. But a more sufficient production has to be taken into consideration when it literally comes at the cost of the very boxing fan faithfully tuning into watch… boxing.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Please feel free to contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.