At the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, NY, Saturday night WBC welterweight champion Danny “Swift” Garcia and WBA welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman battled for unification. PBC and CBS promoted and aired.
WBC Champion Danny “Swift” Garcia, 33-1 (19), of Philadelphia, lost a split decision to WBA Champion Keith “One Time” Thurman, 28-0 (22), of Clearfield, FL, over 12 rounds for a well-earned unification win for Thurman.
Thurman came out fighting and with less than a minute to go spun Garcia around with a over hand right to the chin making Garcia hold on long enough to get through to the bell. In the second round it was Garcia as the aggressor. It was a close round with Thurman finishing up the round landing a pair of overhand rights to the head of Garcia. In the third round Thurman got the attention of Garcia with several rights to the head. Garcia landed effective left hooks to the body of Thurman but was out gunned by over hand rights.
In the fourth round was the best so far with Garcia’s left hooks making a
difference though Thurman was able to get several in but got countered. In the fifth round Thurman countered with his right hand. He made Garcia with his right. A double left hook to the body by Garcia continued to be his best punch. In round six both had their moments with Thurman evading Garcia’s rights though Garcia threw more for the first time in the fight.
In the seventh round Thurman landed a lead right followed by a left hook to the head of Garcia. Garcia was warned for a questioned low blow that seemed to be blocked by a Thurman elbow. Thurman ended the round with a right hand to the chin of Garcia. In the eighth round Garcia’s jab continually falls short. Both traded left hooks to the head. Thurman ended the round with a right uppercut to the body of Garcia. In the ninth round the fans let the boxers know they wanted more action as Thurman dances around the ring throwing little punches with Garcia chasing him. By the end of the round they had the crowd cheering with Thurman landing at a much higher average.
In the tenth round Thurman continued to be more effective landing his punches. Garcia is more aggressive but getting out punched by Thurman. In the eleventh round Thurman kept moving not allowing Garcia to land many punches and then Thurman countered well. At the end of the round Garcia started toward the wrong corner. In the twelfth and final round Garcia cannot cut off the ring as Thurman dances and lands while on the run. With Thurman on the ropes Garcia landed four unanswered body punches. Thurman seemed to box like he has the fight.
Judge John McKaie scored it 116-112 to Thurman, Kevin Morgan 115-113 to Garcia and Joe Pasquale 115-113 for Thurman. This writer had it 117-111 for Thurman.
“I thought I won the fight by more than the judges had it,” said Thurman. “I thought I did enough to win but that’s the way it goes,” said Garcia.
Featherweight Heather Hardy, 19-0 (4), of Brooklyn, NY, defeated Edina Kiss, 13-3 (8), of Budapest, HUN, over 8 rounds for the WBC International Female title.
Poland’s light heavyweight Andrjej Fonfara, 29-4 (16), of Chicago, stopped former champion Chad Dawson, 34-5 (19), of New Haven, CT, in the tenth and final round.
Lightweight Erickson “The Hammer” Lubin, 18-0 (13), of Orlando, FL, stopped Jorge Cota, 25-2 (24), of Sinaloa, MEX, at 1:25 of the fourth round.
After a feeling out first round Lubin was a little more effective in the second round. In the third round Lubin opened up with a flurry of punches backing Cota up. In the fourth round Lubin went into a squat and came up and landed a solid overhand left to the chin of Cota who barely beat the count only to have referee Earl Brown call a halt to the fight.
“I set him up for that over hand left and was ready to follow with a right hook but he was already out and going down,” said Lubin.