Let’s welcome Hector Luis Garcia. He could be around for a while.
The Dominican had his coming out on Saturday night in Las Vegas, where he dominated hot, unbeaten junior lightweight prospect Chris Colbert en route to a stunning unanimous decision.
The scores were 119-108, 118-109 and 118-109. Boxing Junkie also had it 118-109 for Garcia, who is now in position to challenge WBA titleholder Roger Gutierrez.
Garcia (15-0, 10 KOs) took the fight on three weeks notice after Colbert’s original opponent, Gutierrez, pulled out because he tested positive for COVID-19.
The 30-year-old from San Juan de la Maguana competed in the 2016 Olympics but was largely a question mark going into the fight at The Cosmopolitan.
Now we know what Garcia is all about. He walked down the quick, skillful Colbert (16-1, 6 KOs) from the beginning of the fight, landing hard, accurate combinations almost at will and taking everything thrown back at him.
Colbert had some positive moments early in the fight, using his speed and movement to connect on some eye-catching shots. However, that didn’t deter Garcia, who continued to march forward and do damage round after round.
One of Colbert’s many problems was his relative lack of power. A punishing blow or two at opportune times might’ve slowed Garcia down but Colbert isn’t a big puncher. Plus, it appears that Garcia has a rock-solid chin.
The biggest shot of the night came in Round 7, when Colbert walked into a counter left and fell flat on his back about two minutes into the action. He survived but his mission became that much more difficult.
Colbert, aware that he needed to deliver something big to turn the tide, tried to land that big shot over the next few rounds but failed. Then, obviously accepting his fate, he danced in the final few rounds to avoid taking undue punishment.
Garcia had said beforehand that he saw nothing special in Colbert. He looked like a prophet after the fact.
And he did it without head trainer Ismael Salas, who was in Scotland to work the corner of Robeisy Ramirez.
“When I was told three weeks ago that I was going to take this fight, I saw that it was going to change my life,” he said through a translator. “So I needed to come in my best shape.
“I want to give a lot of credit to the professor, Ismael Salas, who gave me the confidence, ‘You can win this fight.'”
The fight was billed as a title eliminator, which means that Garcia is first in line to face Gutierrez. And that’s exactly what he wants.
“Definitely, I want to fight Gutierrez for the world championship,” he said. “I worked too hard to get into this position today, so I definitely want to fight Gutierrez.”
What could Colbert say afterward? Not much. He said he doesn’t believe he was at his best but offered no excuses.
“Tonight he was just the better man,” he said. “I’m going to take my defeats the way I take my [victories], as a man. I’m going to keep my head up. And I want to run it back. Let’s do it again.”
He went on: “Everybody puts pressure on me. That was nothing new. Today I just wasn’t myself.”
Colbert was also asked why he shifted into survival mode in the final few rounds, which gave him no chance to score a late knockout and preserve his then-perfect record.
He saw no point in taking the risk.
“Like I said I wasn’t feeling myself tonight,” he said. “So I wasn’t going to go in there and do something stupid and get caught with no dumb shot.”
Colbert will be criticized for his late-fight actions by the fans, who expect their fighters to go down swinging. At the same time, everyone who watched that bout will at least have understood his thought process.
This was Garcia’s night.
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