Garcia Graduates With WBO Honours

Orlando Salido vs Mikey Garcia - WBO Featherweight Title

By Bobby Hunter - http://fightscorecollector.blogspot.com


Madison Square Garden was the host for the first big boxing bill in the USA in 2013. Top of that bill was defending champion Orlando Salido taking on young power punching Mikey Garcia for the WBO title at 126lbs. All the questions before the fights was how the Garcia would handle his big night against a proven champion who has the reputation as a warrior. Those questions were answered as early as the first round when a crisp counter left hook deposited Salido on the ground as he rushed in. Late in the round the same punch, the left hook floored Salido again. A 10-7 round. Not a bad way to start your world championship career.

Salido came out a little bit quicker in the second. The Mexican tried to pressure Garcia by bullying him to the ropes. Garcia was having none of it as he boxed very calmly behind his jab using his legs to move away from Salido's crude overhand rights. Garcia had Salido down in the third also when a counter right upper cut caught the champion square on chin. Salido got up again but must have known he needed a knockout to win this fight. In the fourth Garcia immediately floored Salido again with a left hook although when watching the replay it looked like it was bad balance by Salido as much as anything that caused this one. A punch was landed though and Referee Benji Esteves was correct in administering an eight count.

Round five started with Salidio chasing Garcia as he tried to up the tempo, problem was he was walking into some well placed jabs and straight right hands by the challenger. Four, five times this happened when the champion attempted to get close. Garcia was fighting the perfect fight. Fighting like a veteran Garcia knew he had the power to hurt the champion but remained true to his game plan waiting on Salido to make the mistakes so he could counter. The flow of the fight continued in the sixth, Salido going after Garcia, Garcia fending Saldo off with movement and the jab. At this point in the fight round six was the closest to score.

The champion is known as a Mexican warrior. Like many before Salido has been in many tough fights, some he has been losing but somehow managed to come back and got the win. That thought rushed through this writers head in round seven as Salido began to land his crude overhand rights and started to out land his younger opponent when on the ropes. Could he turn it around again??. Well the answer was NO as Garcia responded in the eighth landing those one-twos again making Salido's knees buckle on more than one occasion. Salido was still pressing the action though and when both collided in the corner late on Garcia winced as the champions head crashed against his nose. During the one minute interval the doctor had a look at Garcia's nose and rules that he couldn't continue. It was a quick end to what was an entertaining fight.

Referee Benji Esteves ruled the headbutt accidental. This meant the fight goes to the scorecards to determine the winner. Surely there was no doubt who the winner was?. There was no need to worry as all three judges had Garcia a mile in front. Garcia was now the NEW WBO Featherweight champion of the world.

As Mikey Garcia was interviewed by HBO's Max Kellerman, the new champion looked disappointed. Kellerman asked why he didn't look as if he won the title?/ Garcia responded the way a champion should by saying he wished he was allowed to go the distance and win the fight instead of winning by an injury. He did offer Salido a rematch but i cant see this happening as the fight was so one sided unless Salido has a rematch clause in the contract. Garcia did those mention a possible fight with Yuriokis Gamboa. That would be a fight that the fans would want to see.

Below is my scorecard for the fight along with the Press and Fan scores i was able to collect for this fight.


Fightscorecollector's Scorecard

Round 1.... 10-7 Garcia
Round 2.... 10-9 Garcia
Round 3.... 10-8 Garcia
Round 4.... 10-8 Garcia
Round 5.... 10-9 Garcia
Round 6.... 10-9 Garcia
Round 7.... 9-10 Salido
Round 8.... 10-9 Garcia

TOTAL : 79-69 GARCIA at the time of stoppage

Judges Scores : Julie Lederman (USA) 79-69 Garcia
                        John Stewart     (USA) 79-69 Garcia
                        Don Ackerman  (USA) 79-70 Garcia

MIKEY GARCIA WINS BY TECHNICAL DECISION AFTER 8 ROUNDS


Boxing Press and Fans Scores

Corey Quincey (Saddoboxing) : 79-69 Garcia

BoxingOpinions : 79-71 Garcia

Scott Christ (BadleftHook) : 79-69 Garcia

Thaboxingvoice Radio : 80-68 Garcia

Kevin Iole (Yahoo.com) : 79-69 Garcia

FightGhost : 80-68 Garcia

Dan Rafael (ESPN) : 80-68 Garcia

Lem Setterfield (Ring Magazine) 80-68 Garcia

Harold Lederman (HBO) : 79-69 Garcia

Steve Zemach ( The Queensbury Rules ) : 79-69 Garcia

Tim Starks (The Queensbury Rules) : 79-69 Garcia

Steve Kim ( Maxboxing) : 79-70 Garcia

Cliff Roid ( Boxingscene ) : 78-70 Garcia

Max Kellerman (HBO) : 80-68 Garcia

Jenna Jay (Ontheropesboxing Radio) : 79-69 Garcia

FightersRated.com : 79-69 Garcia

Andy Paterson (BoxingAsylum) : 79-69 Garcia

Luis Sandoval (The Boxing Lab Radio) : 79-70 Garcia

Eric Raskin ( Ring Theory Podcast ) : 79-69 Garcia

John Chavez (The Boxing Truth Radio) : 80-68 Garcia

Billy Ferguson (UkFighthype) : 79-69 Garcia

Jake Donovan (Boxingscene) : 79-70 Garcia

Darren Velasco (Fightdomain.net) : 79-69 Garcia

Phil D Jay (Worldboxingnews.net) : 79-69 Garcia

Mario Mungia (Thaboxingvoice Radio) : 79-69 Garcia

Ryan Bivins (sweetboxing) : 79-70 Garcia

Steve Lillis (Boxnation) : 80-68 Garcia

NoHoldsBarred : 79-69 Garcia

Jose Martino (Boxing Mundial) : 79-69 Garcia

Tim Kudgis (ATG Boxing Radio) : 79-69 Garcia

BoxingSocialist :  79-69 Garcia

Ramon Aranda (3moreRounds) : 79-69 Garcia

Alex B (TheBoxingSeed) : 79-69 Garcia

ESPN.com : 80-70 Garcia

Cole Christensen ( Twitter Fan ) : 79-70 Garcia

***PLEASE NOTE ALL FANS SCORES WILL BE ADDED LATER TODAY***