Raul Garcia withstood a fierce barrage in the dying seconds to hang the first loss on the record of Emiliano Moreno in the ProBox TV co-main event from the Osceola Heritage Parks Events Center in Kissimmee, Florida, on Saturday night.
Moreno, 12-1 (7 KOs), came into the fight as the one with a burgeoning reputation after an unbeaten run at welterweight, but his debut at 154lbs saw him fall short against the Dominican Republic’s Garcia, 15-2-1 (12 KOs), who used a skillfully deployed jab and power boxing from the pocket to take the biggest win of his career so far.
Garcia began the fight as he meant to go on, keeping Moreno’s gloves in place with a steady diet of jabs as the prospect stalked forward. The Dominican’s good work continued in the second, as he stepped into his punches with greater intent, following quick jabs with digging hooks to the body and head. Moreno, meanwhile, torqued his punches with serious intent, but his attacks were single-speed and their trajectories more predictable than Garcia’s faster and more varied flurries.
That single speed looked as if it would be sufficient in the third round, however, as Moreno landed a thudding uppercut/hook combination that had Garcia reeling backward. Moreno jumped on his foe, looking to finish him off, but it was too late in the round for his follow-up assault to be determinative, and Garcia made it to the bell.
If Moreno expected to be able to press his advantage in the fourth, he was wrong. Garcia emerged with his head clear and his plan still in place. A straight right hand that landed between Moreno’s shots blunted any momentum the younger man may have been developing, and it was followed by a beautiful step to the right and lead right hook from Garcia that had the crowd purring in appreciation. A Garcia right hand landed over the top of a lazy Moreno jab, followed by a left hook, and Garcia was once more in control.
The left hook that found its mark in the fourth would be deployed to equal effect at multiple points throughout the fight, beginning in the sixth, when one landed with such force that Moreno needed to stuff his mouthpiece back in before Garcia hit him again. A right hand scored for Garcia and then another left hook that seemed to stiffen Moreno’s legs. Moreno’s single blows looked to carry by far the more explosive power, but Garcia’s punches were chipping away at Moreno’s defenses bit by bit.
Garcia was leading all the exchanges, and a pair of left hooks was followed by a beautifully timed counter right hand in the seventh. Moreno was not to be denied, however, and a thudding right of his own presaged a late-rounds recovery. The eighth saw Moreno come forward with greater intent, thudding blow after thudding blow launching in Garcia’s direction. But Garcia was also looking to slip, parry and counter, and yet more left hooks met Moreno’s jaw as the round concluded.
The toll was beginning to tell on Garcia, however, and in the ninth his punch output dropped as he mostly sought to limit Moreno’s offense. Moreno did not seem to be pushing as much as it appeared he needed to, however, nor did he do so in the 10th until, suddenly, with less than 30 seconds remaining in the fight, he landed a right and a left on a weakening Garcia, who wobbled as if he were balancing on a medicine ball. Even as Moreno landed another right hand, however, Garcia kept trying to land the left hook that had been so successful for him all night. But there was nothing left in his legs, nothing with which to drive his offense, and another right hand had Garcia in further trouble as the seconds ticked down.
And then, incredibly, right at the bell, Moreno was the one to hit the canvas, landing heavily and face-first from what Garcia angrily insisted was a punch but referee Michael DeJesus adjudged to be a slip. The referee was correct: Garcia had landed a jab, but it was the momentum of one last, desperate left hook of his own that had thrown Moreno to the floor.
It felt as if Garcia had won handily, but it was difficult to be certain how the judges would see it, given that Moreno was undeniably effective with his single power shots. In the end, even with the late drama, all three judges scored it for Garcia, 96-94, 97-93 and 98-92.
“This is a phenomenal fight for me. These are the types of young fighters who make it worth getting a victory, so I feel fantastic,” said Garcia afterward, before showering praise on his opponent.
“He’s a great fighter. One loss doesn’t define him. He has everything it takes to be a world champion.”
Expectations were high entering the junior lightweight 10-rounder between Jeremy Hill and Cristian Cruz Chacon that the difference in physiques and styles would make for an intriguing and compelling matchup. The contrast between the lengthy, languid Hill, 22-4-1 (13 KOs), and the shorter, rugged, brawler Chacon, 24-7-1 (12 KOs), extended to the paths they had taken to this point: Although Hill’s was nominally the more impressive record, Chacon’s figures hid the fact that he began his career 2-5.
It was Chacon’s style and experience that would prove victorious, as he came out in the first round with an assertive but controlled aggression that seemed to leave Hill confused and tentative. Time and again, Mexico’s Chacon feinted his way inside to land short punches while, in contrast, Hill appeared hesitant to throw, even when the two men were at the mid-to-long range at which the American theoretically excelled.
Not until late in the fight did Hill not only seem to crack the code of Chacon but also engage the gears to take advantage of his discovery; as he zeroed in on the chin of a tiring Chacon, he left himself open to counters, but his newfound energy closed the contest on the scorecards – albeit insufficiently.
While one judge did see Hill the winner, the other two scored for Chacon by the same margin.
Although junior middleweight Joshua Kevin Anton, 12-0 (11 KOs), entered the ring undefeated, the quality of his opposition was suspect, with Tijuana, Mexico’s Isaias Lucero representing only his third foe with a winning record. The question was whether Anton could really fight, and whether Lucero could ask him the kind of questions he had yet to answer.
Over the first couple of rounds, it appeared possible that this would prove to be a step too far, too soon for the 6ft 3ins Californian Anton, as Lucero used feints and angles to step inside and scored with a steady procession of combinations from close range. Anton, however, soon found his range and timing, and when he did, he began to rain punches down on his shorter foe, digging to the body and thumping him consistently to the head. By Round 7, a bloodied and bruised Lucero was looking beaten, and his corner duly pulled him at the end of that frame. Anton may be one to watch; Lucero dropped to 19-4 (13 KOs).
Robert Garcia-trained Anthony Cuba, 11-1-2 (4 KOs), has a slightly awkward style, especially when his offense is in free flow. His stance is wide, his footwork not always the most nimble, and he can sometimes look clumsily off-balance. But he is relentless, well-schooled and possessed of a varied, pressing offense; and he put all those pieces together to bloody the nose of Jorge de Jesus, 14-2 (10 KOs), and cause him to wilt somewhat over the final couple of rounds of a six-round junior welterweight contest. Scores were 80-72 and 78-74 (twice) in favor of Cuba, whose only career defeat came to rising star Curmel Moton in March 2024.
Undefeated lightweight prospect Hugo Amador Mendez, 5-0 (3 KOs), experienced the first gut-check of his young career when opponent Andres Caraballo, 3-2 (3 KOs), rocked him with a long right hand early in the first of six rounds. But that would be his only moment of concern, as he rapidly took over, bloodying the taller Caraballo’s nose and marking up his face as he stalked steadily forward and slowly broke his foe down on his way to a dominant and unanimous decision.
In a four-round junior middleweight bout, Hawaii’s Kawakani Kuamakai Jnr. Waialae moved to 2-0 (1 KO) with a dominant unanimous decision over Andre Johnson, 2-4 (2 KOs).
Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcast about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He presently co-hosts the “Fighter Health Podcast” with Dr. Margaret Goodman. He also writes regularly for National Geographic, has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic, including most recently Arctic Passages: Ice, Exploration, and the Battle for Power at the Top of the World, and is at his happiest hanging out with wild polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.
