Garcia Tops Burgos In Twelve-Round Snoozer

Madison Square Garden Theater, New York, New York– The main event of Saturday’s HBO doubleheader from New York failed to deliver any of the promised fireworks as rising star Mikey Garcia (34-0, 28 KOs) scored a one-sided decision over a reluctant Juan Carlos Burgos (30-2-2, 20 KOs) by scores of 118-110, 118-110, and 119-109. The Boxing Tribune scored the bout 119-109, also in favor of Garcia.

On paper, the 26-year-old Garcia seemed to be matched tough, put in the ring with a talented Mexican pug with a height and reach advantage, world class experience, and an apparent burning desire to make his presence felt on the main stage.

In practice, though, Burgos fought like a man with a chip on his shoulder for only brief moments in the first three rounds and then appeared to pack things up and go into survival mode when Garcia started launching a real offensive attack.

Burgos used his height and reach advantage to stay on the outside, making sure to be out of reach of any incoming danger. And Garcia went along with the survival-minded game plan to a degree, allowing Burgos to lose safely and never doing much to force a more violent end.

In this outing, Garcia, who was making the first defense of his WBO super featherweight belt, showed the one true weakness in his game– if it can even be labeled a weakness. For all his talent and well-deserved positive press, Garcia, by nature, is not a risk taker. This makes the young star a smart man, but one prone to occasional snoozers like this one.