By Chris Robinson
On Saturday, January 19th in New York inside of Madison Square Garden, two of boxing’s rising stars moved forward with contrastingly different victories.
In the HBO tripleheader’s main event, unbeaten contender Mikey Garcia (31-0, 26 KO's) moved into championship status after dropping the rugged Orlando Salido (39-12-2, 27 KO's) four times on his way towards an eight-round technical decision that saw him lift the WBO featherweight championship.
While Garcia was impressive in manhandling Salido early on, the fact that the contest was stopped after eight rounds due to a broken nose from Garcia that was caused by an accidental head butt is something that left many feeling unfulfilled.
In the evening’s main undercard attraction, WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin stopped a brave and bloodied Gabriel Rosado in the seventh round.
A bruising force at 160 pounds, Golovkin will continue to seek out the best available competition that he and fans have been clamoring for while Garcia looks ahead to the first defense of his title.
What didn’t go unnoticed to me as I watched Top Rank’s live undercard stream this past weekend was the showcase performance of unbeaten junior middleweight prospect Glen Tapia (17-0, 10 KO’s).
Finding himself pitted against trial horse Ayi Bruce, Tapia made quick work of his Ghanaian foe, battering his body and leaving him helpless as referee David Fields waved the contest off before the end of the second round.
I caught up with the Passaic, New Jersey native on Monday night to get his thoughts on his performance as well as his take on the rest of the action that evening involving Garcia and Golovkin.
Before our conversation closed, I was sure to get Tapia’s feelings on Manny Pacquiao’s crushing knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez last month. Tapia served as a chief sparring partner for the Filipino icon prior to his November 2010 bout with Antonio Margarito and he personally feels that Manny still has some good fights left in him.
This is what Tapia had to share…
Breaking down Ayi Bruce…
“I felt good. They said it was going to be a test, everybody was saying [so] but I didn’t see it as much. I felt good. The jab was just working and I set it up perfectly and I knew I was going to get him from the first round. I broke him down kind of quicker than I thought. With the jab, I broke him down kind of quicker. I actually caught him with a body shot in the first round and I saw him change.”
Working with his trainer Alex Devia..
“This is a guy I’ve known since I was real young. I’ve known him since I was ten years old, we’ve went to tournaments together and everything. He’s a great trainer and the connection has always been there. He’s always been a friend and it’s a great thing that we have.”
Being comfortable in the ring…
“I went back right into the gym after my Texas fight. I forget when that was. I was back in the gym right after that and I’ll be back in the gym tomorrow. We’ve just been working so much on being more comfortable in the ring and just showing my talent; my jab, my defense, a lot of things. It’s all coming into play.”
Mikey Garcia’s victory over Orlando Salido…
“Mikey was doing real good in the beginning. He dropped him four times, he was getting him. I saw him declining a little bit as the rounds wore on; Salido was applying the pressure. Those last two rounds, Salido was applying the pressure so much and I would have liked to see how it would have ended. I would definitely like to see another one.”
Hating the way Garcia-Salido ended...
“Me personally, I’m the type of guy that I would have finished. I’ll fight with a broken jaw or whatever, I’ve shown it before. I’m the type of guy, I hate it ending like that. I would fight through it, I don’t care what it is. But I don’t know what his situation was, I don’t know what he was feeling.”
Gabriel Rosado giving Gennady Golovkin too much respect…
“I think Rosado gave him two much respect from the first round. Before he even punched, he was running. I don’t know what was his game plan but he was running, giving him way too much respect. I think it was kind of easy for [Golovkin], it was easy for him.”
Respecting Golovkin…
“He’s good, he’s got great skills. He’s got a great future and he’s only getting better and better. You never know. Sergio Martinez, I think he has a little upper hand over him but let’s see. You never know what could happen. God bless him, I wish him the best.”
Surprised to see Manny Pacquiao knocked out brutally by Juan Manuel Marquez…
“He’s still a great fighter. I don’t understand how he can have so much criticism from the fight. He went out there with the fire in his eyes. He was trying to whoop this guy’s ass, he was trying to knock him out. He was trying to entertain us at the same time. It was a great fight. Before it happened, I thought he was going to stop Marquez. First he got dropped, then he came back and he ended up dropping Marquez. There was like two seconds left; he jumped in and he got knocked out. It happens in this sport. I was surprised.”
Willing to pay for Pacquiao-Marquez V…
“It was a good fight and you know what’s crazy? I’d watch another one. If he gets better, let’s see how he comes [back] from the knockout. I’d pay for another one.”
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