Tag: Mike Gavronski

FIGHT WEEK

Rising star Ryan Garcia faces his first significant test against Olympic champion Luke Campbell.

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RYAN GARCIA (20-0, 17 KOs)
VS. LUKE CAMPBELL (20-3, 16 KOs)

• When: Saturday, Jan. 2
• Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas
• TV/Stream: DAZN
• Division: Lightweight
• At stake: WBC “Interim” title
• Pound-for-pound ranking: None
• Odds: 3-1 (BetMGM)
• Also on the card: Felix Alvarado vs. DeeJay Kriel, junior flyweights (for Alvarado’s title); Rene Alvarado vs. Roger Gutierrez, junior lightweights; Franchon Crews Dezurn vs. Ashleigh Curry, super middleweights
• Prediction: Garcia UD
• Background: Garcia is popular on social media, with some 7.8 million followers on Instagram. And he’s on a roll. He has recorded knockouts in each of his last four fights, the last two in the first round. Indeed, if anyone has star power, it appears to be the product of Los Angeles. The problem is that Garcia has never been tested by a top-tier opponent, which is necessary to gauge how good he is. That’s where Luke Campbell comes in. The 2012 Olympian and two-time title challenger fits the bill. If Garcia can beat Campbell — particularly if he can do it more easily than Jorge Linares and Vasiliy Lomachenko did — he will have arrived as a legitimate candidate to become a face of the sport. If he loses, well, he will have been more hype than substance. Meanwhile, this is a big opportunity for Campbell. The 33-year-old pride of Hull, England, is loaded with ability. He simply hasn’t been able to get over the hump. If he has his hand raised, he’ll be in prime position to get another shot at a world title.

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OTHER SIGNIFICANT MATCHUPS

Thursday, Dec. 31

• Kazuto Ioka (25-2, 14 KOs) vs. Kosei Tanaka (15-0, 9 KOs), 12 rounds, junior bantamweights, Tokyo. Ioka will be making the second defense of his 115-pound title against one of his most-gifted countrymen. Tanaka, 25, has already won titles in three divisions. A victory on Thursday would give him four. The fight is not on TV in the U.S.

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FIGHT WEEK

Rising star Ryan Garcia faces his first significant test against Olympic champion Luke Campbell.

***

RYAN GARCIA (20-0, 17 KOs)
VS. LUKE CAMPBELL (20-3, 16 KOs)

• When: Saturday, Jan. 2
• Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas
• TV/Stream: DAZN
• Division: Lightweight
• At stake: WBC “Interim” title
• Pound-for-pound ranking: None
• Odds: 3-1 (BetMGM)
• Also on the card: Felix Alvarado vs. DeeJay Kriel, junior flyweights (for Alvarado’s title); Rene Alvarado vs. Roger Gutierrez, junior lightweights; Franchon Crews Dezurn vs. Ashleigh Curry, super middleweights
• Prediction: Garcia UD
• Background: Garcia is popular on social media, with some 7.8 million followers on Instagram. And he’s on a roll. He has recorded knockouts in each of his last four fights, the last two in the first round. Indeed, if anyone has star power, it appears to be the product of Los Angeles. The problem is that Garcia has never been tested by a top-tier opponent, which is necessary to gauge how good he is. That’s where Luke Campbell comes in. The 2012 Olympian and two-time title challenger fits the bill. If Garcia can beat Campbell — particularly if he can do it more easily than Jorge Linares and Vasiliy Lomachenko did — he will have arrived as a legitimate candidate to become a face of the sport. If he loses, well, he will have been more hype than substance. Meanwhile, this is a big opportunity for Campbell. The 33-year-old pride of Hull, England, is loaded with ability. He simply hasn’t been able to get over the hump. If he has his hand raised, he’ll be in prime position to get another shot at a world title.

***

OTHER SIGNIFICANT MATCHUPS

Thursday, Dec. 31

• Kazuto Ioka (25-2, 14 KOs) vs. Kosei Tanaka (15-0, 9 KOs), 12 rounds, junior bantamweights, Tokyo. Ioka will be making the second defense of his 115-pound title against one of his most-gifted countrymen. Tanaka, 25, has already won titles in three divisions. A victory on Thursday would give him four. The fight is not on TV in the U.S.

[lawrence-related id=16687,16293,15765]

Call it a showcase. It definitely wasn’t a competitive fight.

David Morrell pounded Mike Gavronski at will until referee Jack Reiss ended the mismatch at 2:45 of the third round of a scheduled 10-round super middleweight fight Saturday in Los Angeles.

Morrell (4-0, 3 KOs) cut his teeth in the vaunted Cuban amateur system, giving him a pedigree that Gavronski (26-4-1, 16 KOs), a journeyman, couldn’t fathom.

The winner began landing hard, accurate punches almost from the opening bell and there wasn’t anything Gavronski could do about it. He tried to punch back, tried to move, tried to hold, eventually tried to just cover up to protect himself.

Nothing worked. Morrell was that much better.

Morrell landed punishing blows with such consistency that he might’ve been given a 10-8 score in the opening round without putting Gavronski down. However, with about 15 seconds remaining, a three-punch combination put the loser on his behind.

10-7?

The assault continued after that, as it seemed Morrell could’ve ended the fight at any time he wanted.

Finally, late in Round 3, he landed one more flurry of hard shots to the head that Gavronski probably had no idea was coming and Reiss said enough was enough by stopping the fight, such as it was.

Morrell weighed in at 170 pounds on Friday, two over the super middleweight limit. As a result, the fight was changed from a 12-rounder for a secondary world title to a 10-rounder.

Of course, that will not have slowed down Morrell, who is attacking professional boxing much as he went after Gavronski. He’s wasting no time. He has already won an “interim” title and probably is within a few fights of a legitimate world title fight.

In an interview with Boxing Junkie, he wouldn’t say when that might happen. He said only that he’ll be ready when it does. No one who watched his fight on Saturday will argue with him on that point.

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