The Friday, February 27, 2015 edition of Golden Boy Live had an amazing fight card at Fantasy Springs Resort in Indio, CA where the main event featured Pablo Cesar Cano winning by majority decision against Juan Carlos Abreu.
Cano (29-4, 21 KOs) not only had to outbox his opponent, but had to battle with Abreu’s (18-2, 17 KOs) dirty fighting tactics. At one point both fighters wrestled to the ground and suffered an accidental headbutt in Round 7 causing a cut above the right eye of Cano.
Cano started off slow and had to adjust to the speed of Abreu for the first two rounds. Finally finding his groove in Round 3, Cano was able to put together his combinations and land some clean shots with good power behind them. Cano put on a good performance despite the holding and dirty shots after the bell.
Round 10 showed Abreu’s speed again as he stunned Cano seconds before the bell. Abreu’s frustration to continue his momentum led to him taking a dangerous swing at the bell and pushing the referee out of his way.
Judge’s score cards read 96-94, 97-93 and a controversial 95-95, to give the majority decision win to Cano.
The co-main event of the evening was a great display of boxing put on by “The Golden Kid,” Diego De La Hoya (9-0, 6 KOs) who won a unanimous decision against Manuel Roman (17-4, 6 KOs).
De La Hoya took a step up to face tougher opposition and did so with ease. Roman was incredibly durable, and a great test for De La Hoya, as he refused to go down after getting punched from all angles.
De La Hoya switched stances comfortably, showed great ring generalship, and amazing footwork. The scorecards read 80-72 (three times) for the young undefeated fighter with boxing blood in his veins.
The opening bout of the night belonged to “The Great Wall of China,” Taishan (3-0, 2 KOs) as he won a unanimous decision against Roy McCrary (3-3, 3 KOs).
McCrary took Taishan the distance for the first time in his short career, going all four rounds. The 7 foot boxer from China may not be the most technical pugilist yet, but he’s still exciting to watch, just based on his size alone.
With over an 84-inch reach, Taishan swings heavy and with much devastation behind it. The judge’s scorecards read 39-35 and 40-34 (twice), giving Taishan the victory, but a hand should be raised to McCrary for surviving.
