Mikey Garcia, Nonito Donaire and Demetrius Andrade Win in TX

[The Sweet Science]

Mikey Garcia (L; in Chris Farina-Top Rank photo)knocked out two-time WBO junior lightweight champion Roman "Rocky" Martinez in the 8th round, Saturday, November 9 at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. The 33-0 Garcia, who snagged the Puerto Rican's WBO 130 pound crown, edged up higher on most pound for pound lists with a methodical, disciplined showing. Rocky slips to 27-2-2. Garcia had to rebound from being knocked down in round two.
Nonito Donaire (32-2) beat a darting, pot-shotting, fired up Vic Darchinyan (39-6-1) in a rematch of a 2007 contest, via TKO, in round nine. Donaire wasn't having an easy time of it, and that is an understatement, but righted the ship late.
Demetrius Andrade went down in round one, but surged back to win a SD12 over Vanes Martirosyan, who slipped to 33-1-1. "BooBoo" is the WBO junior middle champ, with a 20-0 record.

[Hop]

"Boo Boo" sums up the way I felt toward two of the three judges' cards in the Andrade/Martirosyan bout. Takes its place as the latest installment in the 2013 Boxing Judging Hall of Shame, joining such recent exhibits as Chavez Jr/Vera, Mayweather/Alvarez, and Burns/Beltran.

[Bernie Campbell]

Your not serious about Vic being old! Donaire well?

[brownsugar]

Agreed unforgivable scores ...the fight wasn't even close. And Andrade kept his hands moving all night..

Evil Vic performed better than I could have imagined. Luckily Donaire remembered how to fight in the last few rounds. Vic was nailing him with hard shots all night long.

Martinez fought with more skill and poise than I've ever witnessed from him...but it wasn't anywhere close to being enough for the surgically accurate Garcia.... The Patient Assassin.
Too bad Rigor is at 122lbs instead of 130... I'd subscribe to PPV to see that one.

[amayseng]

Andrade just does not have that "it" factor.

he is a solid fighter dont get me wrong, he just is not going to be that next superstar. something is missing.

not charisma wise, skill and boxing wise. i like the kid though so i hope i am wrong. maybe he needs a better trainer to take him up a notch...

vic fought a great fight for the most part, however, nonito allowed him to. why in the world was he circling

or walking into vics right hand all night long??? glad to see him land some good shots and get the win.

nonito has tremendous power in both hands. i think he needs a vacation or something, his head seems all

over the place. with a new son you would think he would have more motivation than he ever has.


mikey garcia is summed up best the what Bsug said above, "the patient assassin" he will be a titleist for a long time.

[Hop]

A few more bits from me:

- Hopefully I've not become spoiled, but none of these three fights really excited me all that much.

- The second fight (Donaire/Darchinyan) was the best, and oddly - since he lost - I thought Vic had the best outing of any fighter of the evening. Nice effort (though ND seemed 'not all there' to me til the end).

- Never been the fan of trainer Robert Garcia that others are, but I thought last night was the best I've seen from him. Before the 9th round he leveled with his fighter and finally lit a fire under him. Basically he told Nonito straight up that he needed a knockout. Finally, then, we saw the Donaire of old.

- Thought I would be happier with Mikey Garcia's performance than I was (been quite high on him in the past). Yes, he got it done, but w/o much in the way of excitement. Plus he went down in the 2nd. You can call his approach "patient", or you can perhaps call his style a little "lackluster". Hadn't felt that way in the past, so perhaps it will be different next time. Still, he's certainly good, and maybe it had something to do w/his debut at 130.

- I don't like being too critical, but I'm going to say that as great a boxer as Roy Jones Jr. was, I have grown a bit tired of his commentating. I don't find his comments particularly enlightening -- even though I typically have great respect for those who have actually been there (like Roy). I definitely prefer Malignaggi (or Hopkins), myself.

[teaser]

donaire lost his flash ...this should have been easier for him

[brownsugar]

A few more bits from me:

- Hopefully I've not become spoiled, but none of these three fights really excited me all that much.

- The second fight (Donaire/Darchinyan) was the best, and oddly - since he lost - I thought Vic had the best outing of any fighter of the evening. Nice effort (though ND seemed 'not all there' to me til the end).

- Never been the fan of trainer Robert Garcia that others are, but I thought last night was the best I've seen from him. Before the 9th round he leveled with his fighter and finally lit a fire under him. Basically he told Nonito straight up that he needed a knockout. Finally, then, we saw the Donaire of old.

- Thought I would be happier with Mikey Garcia's performance than I was (been quite high on him in the past). Yes, he got it done, but w/o much in the way of excitement. Plus he went down in the 2nd. You can call his approach "patient", or you can perhaps call his style a little "lackluster". Hadn't felt that way in the past, so perhaps it will be different next time. Still, he's certainly good, and maybe it had something to do w/his debut at 130.

- I don't like being too critical, but I'm going to say that as great a boxer as Roy Jones Jr. was, I have grown a bit tired of his commentating. I don't find his comments particularly enlightening -- even though I typically have great respect for those who have actually been there (like Roy). I definitely prefer Malignaggi (or Hopkins), myself.

I'm OK with Roy Hop.....but I can see how a growing number of people find him annoying with his frequent contrary remarks that basically repeats the same thing the previous announcer said and the overuse of the term "son" does indeed sound a bit too country at times...But these guys have known Roy for over 2 decades... and they were there when he was "Superman"...I notice that Lampley and company never refer to the losing/embarrassing side of Roys career...its like its always 1988 when Roy's in the house.

But I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to boxers turned announcers...I never had a problem with Big George or Lennox either.

I find Andrades' style very "inconvenient" ....referring to the way he crouches low and fires off balance with his hands low...blows that are usually "cuffing" arm punches....that I like to call "butter" punches because they are so soft. But then he surprises you a string of eye catching rapid connects. However I appreciate the the shifting Roster of the top players in the junior middleweight division.... Change is good...Andrade is a decent addition to the ranks although he is certainly no GGG or Mayweather...

Its interesting what you said about Garcia.... for years I thought he was just an ordinary...fundamentally solid but unremarkable fighter...but now I consider him to be a boxing Savant.. If there was a MENSA organization for boxers he would have to be made a mandatory member.
....Garcia's initial "null/void" status quo appearance is a deceptive camouflage.
He seems like a regular meat and potatoes grinder in the beginning and by mid fight he's performing a clinical dissection with the fight ending punch selection being the perfect prescription for terminating his opponent.
Personally I find Garcia to be one of the most fascinating boxers of his division...but that's not to say Garcia is in a league of his own. There are a few talented junior lightweights I'd like to see test Mikey like Gary Russell and Lomanchenko. While the jury is still out on Russell it cannot be denied he is a gifted fighter...and Lomanchenko posses legendary status from his amateur days.... The 130 lbs division is about to catch fire.

[brownsugar]

I can't Believe Donaire called out Rigo.... Maybe the Potentially P4P Donaire needs a top challenge to get motivated. But it seems like a rematch at this time would be detrimental to his career. I think some more time off as suggested by Amayseng would be far better than rushing into a rematch...

[the Roast]

Good night of fights last night. At least one knockdown in each fight. Flash-Evil Vic was the fight of the night for me. I thought it was pretty even when Donaire landed the fight ending shots. Vic was fighting better than expected and Donaire seemed a bit off, until his power emerged. The other two fights were not bad. Mikey Garcia will be tough to beat for anyone around the weight class. Andrade is a good fighter on the rise. Good night on HBO. Buy gold.