Photo by Jr. Barron/Round By Round Boxing
HBO’s Boxing After Dark on Saturday, November 9, 2013 was an exciting night of action.
The boxing triple header started with Demetrius Andrade and Vanes Martirosyan.
Andrade is now officially a part of the upper echelon of the Light Middleweight division.
Andrade, who has beaten Austin Trout and Keith Thurman in his amateur career, used his reach and height advantage to keep Vanes Martirosyan nearly halfway across the ring for majority of their 12-round fight.
By defeating Martirosyan, Andrade won the vacant WBO Light Middleweight title.
The fight started quickly, with both fighters throwing hard punches. Martirosyan even managed to knock Andrade down.
However, as the fight progressed, the knockdown looked more like it was caused by a tactical mistake made by Andrade, rather than by the skill and power of Martirosyan.
The rest of the fight was controlled by Andrade, who landed jabs and straight left hands all night.
Andrade won a split decision, which was not without controversy. One judge, Javier Alvarez, had it 115-112 for Martirosyan. He scored the first five rounds for Martirosyan, despite Andrade landing more than twice than he did.
Andrade, who improves to 20-0, 13 KOs, now joins the ranks of Austin Trout and Saul Alvarez, both of whom were recent Light Middleweight champions.
He will most likely be in more competitive fights in the future. Martirosyan, who declines to 33-1-1, 21KOs, suffered his first defeat tonight.
In the second bout of the evening, Nonito Donaire scored a ninth-round TKO over Vic Darchinyan.
Photo by Jr. Barron/Round By Round Boxing
Donaire came back after losing most of the rounds on the judge’s scorecards. At the time of the stoppage, the scorecards were 78-74 twice for Darchinyan and even 76-76.
Donaire needed a knockout to win this fight and to help recover his status as a pound-for-pound fighter.
Donaire, who seemed to have lost his confidence for most of the fight, may have regained it in the ninth round. He landed a solid left hook which began the eventual knockout when the referee had seen enough.
Donaire claims that he was trying to pull off a more technical style, perhaps because he was aware of Darchinyan’s power. However, he admitted that he could not remove the aggressiveness that is so deeply embedded in his style.
This aggressiveness proved to be beneficial, as it helped him finish Darchinyan in the ninth round.
Donaire has somewhat returned but he is not the same Donaire. His fight with Rigondeaux may have exposed his mediocre boxing skills.
He had been relying mostly on his power, and even when he was trying to box Darchinyan, he was getting hit with a lot of punches.
Donaire wants another shot at Rigondeaux, but whether or not that he will get the shot and make it competitive remains unclear.
In the main event, Mikey Garcia made a successful run for a world title in a higher weight division.
He stopped Rocky Martinez via a left hook to the body in the 8th round.
Garcia suffered the second knockdown of his career earlier in the fight. It was caused by a straight right hand that he received as he was coming in with a combination.
Photo by Jr. Barron/Round By Round Boxing
Garcia and Martinez showed a tremendous amount of respect for each other, Martinez more so than Garcia.
Martinez is used to coming forward, but was clearly tentative for most of the fight, perhaps because he was cognizant of Garcia’s counter-punching ability.
Indeed, Garcia was able to land counter right hands and counter left hooks that nearly knocked Martinez down.
Despite the many power punches Garcia landed to Martinez’s chin, it was the left hook to the body that stopped the fight. Garcia hurt Martinez and, while Martinez was doubled over, managed to use this advantageous position to land a solid left hook.
Photo by Jr. Barron/Round By Round Boxing
Garcia stated in his post-fight interview that he’s willing to fight Yuriorkis Gamboa, adding that he’s willing to fight him at the lightweight limit of 135 if Gamboa cannot meet him at the Super Featherweight limit of 130.
Garcia is the new WBO Super Featherweight champion and improves to 33-0, 28 KOs. Roman “Rocky” Martinez, who showed he has an excellent chin, declines to 27-2, 16 KOs.
Martinez showed that he can take a punch really well. However, there’s not much one can do when the left hook lands right on the button.
