Friday night at the StubHub Center in Carson California, one day prior to the Gennady Golovkin and Vanes Martirosyan undisputed middleweight championship showdown, Golden Boy Promotions hosted an ESPN broadcast card headlined by Super Featherweight prospect Ryan Garcia taking on hard hitting Jayson Velez. The co-feature would be a middleweight contest between the always tough Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan and Berlin Abreu as an added bonus undefeated female light flyweight Seniesa Estrada took on Amarillis Adorno.
The card itself appeared to have potential on paper at least, Garcia a skilled young fighter with endless potential and O’Sullivan win or lose makes exciting bouts, as female boxing continues its rise what a better way for exposure than have an undefeated female fighter as the cards added televised contest. Once the broadcast started any and all hopes for an enjoyable evening were dismissed due to non-stop commercial promo’s for Canelo Alvarez, Oscar De La Hoya going on rants about Gennady Golovkin, horrible matchmaking made even more unbearable by Bernardo Osuna and Bernard Hopkins the worst broadcast team in boxing.
When Oscar De La Hoya had camera time, he whined about Gennady Golovkin’s public displeasure with Canelo’s failed testing and withdrawing from their May 5th showdown. He appeared jittery and spoke fast giving viewers reason to question his sobriety for the evening. If his physical demeanor was not enough, repeating himself several times in a matter of sixty seconds about the intentions of Canelo Alvarez fighting this September then insinuating Gennady Golovkin was hurt and ready to be stopped in the later rounds of bout last year against Canelo Alvarez.
As Ryan Garcia made his way towards the ring broadcast announcers Bernardo Osuna and Bernard Hopkins continually referenced how he mirrored a young Oscar De la Hoya (Other than they are both Mexican American there are no other similarities except height). We were informed that Garcia had thousands on “Instagram” followers something Bernardo Osuna felt was relative to the evening.
Once introductions were made and the fight began, fans were advised that “Ryan Garcia is the hottest thing since Sliced Bread” followed by his upcoming prom date. The more experienced Jayson Velez applied pressure to Garcia but a height and reach disadvantage allowed Garcia to land uppercuts that shook Velez at times. In round three ESPN showed a list of current Mexican “Hall of fame” inducted fighters, Bernardo Osuna would then state to fans “Ryan Garcia wants to be inducted into the hall of fame like those men but he has already proven he belongs there”.
Once I brushed my teeth to rid that tiny portion of “Barf” that arouse after Bernardo Osuna made his absurd comments, I was intrigued by the fact Ryan Garcia was fighting not one but “TWO” opponents. I sat slightly baffled though unable to tell the difference between the opponent Jayson Velez who Osuna was calling the action for and “Jayson Valayz” the opponent Bernard Hopkins continued to reference.
When the contest was over, Ryan Garcia a promising young fighter who despite six reported suspensions by various sanctioning bodies showed his potential by gaining a wide decision win over the veteran Jayson Velez by scores of 99-91 on all three cards. With his win Garcia improved to 15-0 (13) while Jayson Velez now stands at Jayson Velez 24-5-1 (18).
The co-main event between Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan and Berlin Abreu should not have been sanctioned let alone televised, it had been over five hundred days since Berlin Abreu stepped in a boxing ring and when he did it was at welterweight where he had spent his entire career. If that was not shameful enough, the fact Abreu gained 13 lbs between the official weigh-in and same day weigh-in certainly was.
Once the contest started, Abreu visibly overweight was tired after thirty seconds into round one. He stood like a stationary target for O’Sullivan to tee off on without resistance. At a minute into the second round a tired and increasingly battered Abreu started spitting his mouthpiece out intentionally.
In round three a point would be deducted from Abreu for continued spitting out of his mouthpiece, then after more one sided battering without resistance from O’Sullivan the corner of Abreu would stop the contest between rounds giving O’Sullivan a third round victory via corner stoppage. Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan improved to 28-2 (20) while Berlin Abreu now stands at 14-2 (11).
The female fight between 13-0 Seniesa Estrada and 1-6 Amarillis Adorno was another one sided affair. The lone win of Adorno came in 2014 and five of her six losses came at the hands of two fighters. There would be no offense from Adorno who suffered a cut in round two that caused a doctor stoppage in round three giving Seniesa Estrada a TKO win. The record of Estrada now stands at 14-0 (2) while Adorno now stands at 1-7.
In undercard action
Middleweight Marvin Cabrera improved to 8-0 (6) when he stopped Wilfrido Buelvas 18-9 (12) in three rounds. Entering the contest Buelvas had been stopped in four of his previous six contest, his two wins coming against a 1-4-1 and 1-12 opponent.
Super Welterweight Richard Acevedo improved to 2-0 (2) when he stopped win-less Edward Aceves in round one. Entering the contest Aceves had been stopped in his previous three contest and now stands at 0-4.
