By Jake Donovan

Former strawweight titlist Raul Garcia survived a tough test on the road in taking a split decision over Luis de la Rosa on Saturday evening at El Centre de Convenciones in Cartagena, Colombia. 

Scores were 114-113 (twice) for Garcia and 115-112 for de la Rosa.

Garcia, two fights removed from a near-two year alphabet title reign was pushed to the brink by de la Rosa, who landed the heavier blows throughout.

Momentum constantly shifted back and forth throughout, but it was Garcia’s superior boxing skills and bodypunching that proved to be enough to emerge victorious in just his second bout outside of his native Mexico.

de la Rosa had Garcia hurt on several occasions, often appearing to be one punch away from putting his opponent on the mat and the fight out of reach. Garcia showed amazing heart and resiliency each and every time, remaining cool as he boxed his way out of trouble each and every time.

Though a huge step up in competition, de la Rosa didn’t seem bothered by Garcia’s boxing ability or his southpaw style, forcing an inside fight that featured plenty of exchanges and very few clinches.

Conversely, Garcia – by far the more experienced of the two, both in general and at the championship level – was forced to dig deeper than had ever been the case in any of his 29 career wins to date.

Such was never more evident than in the championship rounds, which included a non-stop toe-to-toe exchange for much of the 11th round, one that drew a standing ovation from de la Rosa’s proud countrymen in attendance.

With the fight on the table heading into the final round, Garcia stood his ground and implemented his game plan to near-perfection. De la Rosa clearly had knockout on his mind, but often found himself backing up and forced to reset as Garcia masterfully timed him with his jab and straight left hand.

Both fighters paraded around the ring at fights end, each rightfully believing they won the fight as well as the alphabet trinket that was at stake in the fight.

In the end, it was Garcia who would ultimately prevail, winning by a single point on two of the three scorecards, just enough to return to Mexico with his second win since losing his title earlier this year.

The win propels his record to 29-1-1 (17KO).

Despite losing for the first time as a professional, de la Rosa’s stock skyrockets considerably in what was by far the biggest fight of his career to date. His record falls to 14-1-1 (8KO), but proved his worth in fighting at the championship level for the first time in his four year career.

Though the legitimacy of the interim title at stake can certainly be questioned, the win itself is a bit of a career revival for Garcia, who now eyes a title shot against Donnie Nietes of the Philippines some time in 2011.

The win is a huge bounceback in Garcia’s career after being thoroughly outclassed by Nkosinathi Joyi earlier this year in his opponent’s native South Africa homeland.

TELEVISED UNDERCARD

Jesus Geles pulled off a minor upset with a twelve-round majority decision win over former titlist Omar Soto. Scores were 115-113 (twice) for Geles and 114-114.

Like the main event, it was a hard fought two-way battle throughout. Geles drew blood early, opening a cut over Soto’s eye in the second round, but was never able to fully capitalize on it. Soto remained in the Colombian’s face throughout, but could never land that home run punch to surge ahead on any of the scorecards.

Geles improves to 11-1-1 (5KO) in picking up by far the biggest win of his young career, in addition to an alphabet trinket at the junior flyweight limit.

Soto falls to 15-6-1 (6KO) with the loss. The Puerto Rican has become the perennial bridesmaid of the lower weight classes, having fallen short in all four career attempts at a major title of any kind.

Geles picked the perfect time to enjoy a breakthrough performance, as things appear to be heating up in the junior flyweight division. The weight class has witnessed a huge turnover in recent times, including a changing of the guard with Giovanni Segura claiming the lineal crown this past August in knocking out long time champ Ivan Calderon.

The show was presented by All Star Boxing, Zanfer Promotions and Top Rank Inc.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.