Notebook: Garcia on showdown with Fortuna: 'I’m coming to f--- him up'
Barboza, Zorrilla put perfect records on the line; Top Rank finalizes Pedraza-Commey card; Quick hits; Show and tell
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For the first time since 2019, Ryan Garcia will fight at least twice in a calendar year and he plans to make it a memorable performance against Javier Fortuna.
“I’m determined to do something amazing, entertain the fans and give them a show,” Garcia said at Thursday’s fight-week news conference. “He wants to knock me out too, so we’re going to come in and throw our punches and give the fans a great show.”
There was some tension between the fighters at the news conference as they are getting ready to square off in 12-rounder in the main event of a Golden Boy Promotions card on Saturday (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET) at Crypto Arena in Los Angeles. For non-DAZN subscribers, the card is also available via traditional pay-per-view on cable and satellite services as well via streaming on PPV.com, and it includes a free month of DAZN.
Garcia and Fortuna campaign as lightweights but the fight billing was changed a couple of weeks ago to being a junior welterweight bout in that it will take place over the 135-pound lightweight limit but less than the 140-pound junior welterweight limit. The exact contract weight had not been determined as of Thursday night, according to Golden Boy.
Whatever the weight is Garcia looked to be in immaculate condition at his fight-week workout, going through the paces with trainer Joe Goossen. Garcia parted ways with Eddy Reynoso and will be in his second fight with Goossen, having also worked with him for his near-shutout decision of Emmanuel Tagoe in April.
“I’m focused and locked in,” Garcia said. “I’m ready to do my job. I’m done talking. I just bring my good energy and speak the truth.”
Garcia (22-0, 18 KOs), 23, of Victorville, California, was originally scheduled to face Fortuna last July 9. Garcia signed for the fight last April but then pulled out in order to deal with mental health issues.
A November return against former junior lightweight titlist and Golden Boy stablemate Joseph Diaz Jr. was planned but Garcia withdrew from that fight also due to a right hand injury that required surgery and kept him out until the fight with Tagoe.
When it came time to plan Garcia’s next fight and the prospect of a WBC lightweight title eliminator with Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz fell through, former secondary junior lightweight titlist Fortuna (37-3-1, 26 KOs), a 33-year-old southpaw from the Dominican Republic, came back into the picture.
Last July, Fortuna lost a clear decision to Diaz and has won his only fight since, a first-round knockout of a journeyman opponent in the Dominican Republic in February.
He and Garcia are both predicting they will win by knockout.
“Obviously there have been a couple of times in my career where I left it up to the judges and it wasn’t a good thing,” said Fortuna, who lost decisions in two of his three defeats, to Diaz and then-lightweight titleholder Robert Easter Jr. “It’s either he kills me or I kill him.”
Said Garcia: “I am at the point that it wouldn't matter if I am at 65 percent (ready). I am destroying Fortuna. He cannot beat me. I am levels above him.”
At the news conference, Fortuna approached Garcia and gave him a Chicago Bulls hat after Garcia had previously said he likes the Bulls.
“Me giving you this hat doesn’t guarantee I won't break your face on Saturday,” Fortuna said. “I don’t want any excuses.”
Garcia’s response to Fortuna’s gift?
“We know what we do,” Garcia said. “I’m coming to fuck him up too. I don’t care if he gave me a hat or not.”
Garcia has spent as much time — maybe more — talking about his dream fight with Gervonta “Tank” Davis in the weeks leading up to the fight with Fortuna. Fortuna has heard the constant talk from Garcia about wanting to face Davis, which would be a major pay-per-view fight if it was made.
“I see that he is very focused on another fight instead of focusing on the fight he has this Saturday,” Fortuna said. “And we hope that after I beat him on Saturday he doesn’t have any excuses.”
Barboza-Zorrilla: An ‘0’ has to go
Unbeaten junior welterweights Arnold Barboza Jr. and Danielito Zorrilla will risk their perfect records in the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Friday (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 9 p.m. ET with preliminaries exclusively on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET) at the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California.
Barboza (26-0, 10 KOs), 30, of South El Monte, California, will have the crowd on his side against Zorrilla (16-0, 12 KOs), 28, of Puerto Rico.
“It’s exciting to fight in front of friends and family in California,” said Barboza, who is ending an 11-month layoff. “It has been a while since I fought in Cali, but now we are here, and we have a great matchup. We have a tough and hungry fighter in front of us.
“I think this fight has all the makings of being another great war between Mexico and Puerto Rico. I’m Mexican-American and he is Puerto Rican. This one will be a great battle. Everyone knows my style, and he also likes to come forward. I can’t wait for Friday night. All the hard work is paying off. I began my career fighting on the small UniMas shows and now I’m the main event on ESPN, but we are not satisfied. We want more.”
Zorrilla didn’t hesitate to travel but he believes he is in for a tough fight.
“I feel happy and thankful for this opportunity. I’m well-prepared physically and mentally. Everyone will see on Friday night,” Zorrilla said. “I expect a lot from Barboza. He is a great fighter and one of the best in the division. This will be a very competitive fight. This will be a war.
“Now I have former world champion Rocky Martinez in my corner. He is a man that has a lot of experience. He is a three-time world champion and knows what it takes to become a champion. He has added a lot to my team. I think this combination will benefit my career.”
Also on the main card:
Lightweight prospect Raymond Muratalla (14-0, 12 KOs), 25, of Fontana, California, will face Jair Valtierra (16-1, 8 KOs), 20, of Mexico, in an eight-rounder.
Heavyweight Richard Torrez Jr. (1-0, 1 KO), a 23-year-old southpaw and a 2020 U.S. Olympic silver medalist from Tulare, California, will fight Roberto Zavala Jr. (2-1-1, 2 KOs), 34, of Del Rio, Texas, in a six-rounder.
Results from Friday’s weigh-in: Barboza 139.6 pounds, Zorrilla 139.6; Muratalla 136, Valtierra 137; Torrez 224, Zavala 255.2; Austin Brooks 125.2, Victor Saravia 125.2; Stephan Shaw 236.6, Bernardo Marquez 231.2; Floyd Diaz 121.6, Pedro Salome 121.4; Jorge Marron Jr. 143.2, Adrian Yung 142.6.
Pedraza-Commey card set
Former lightweight titlists Jose Pedraza and Richard Commey, who are both looking to rebound from a loss, will meet in the 10-round junior welterweight main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card Aug. 27 (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 10:30 p.m. ET) at the Hard Rock in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Top Rank announced on Thursday, making official a fight that Fight Freaks Unite reported was made more than a month ago.
Top Rank also announced the rest of the card, including that heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson’s opponent in the 10-round co-feature will be Miljan Rovcanin.
“The junior welterweight division is talent-rich, and the winner of Pedraza-Commey is in line for a massive fight,” said Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, who also promotes unified junior welterweight champion Josh Taylor, former unified titlist Jose Ramirez and Teofimo Lopez, who will make his debut in the division next month.
Former two-division titleholder Pedraza (29-4, 14 KOs), 33, of Puerto Rico, is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Ramirez in March.
“We are both coming to get back on the winning path,” Pedraza said. “That's the perfect recipe for a great fight. I know that a convincing victory against an opponent of Commey's caliber will put me back in contention to capture that coveted world title opportunity. Despite what happened in my last fight, I still have my sights set on being crowned world champion at 140 pounds. I'm still chasing my goal of becoming a three-division world champion.”
Commey (30-4, 27 KOs), 35, of Ghana, got knocked down and lost a wide unanimous decision to three-division champion and former pound-for-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko in his last fight in December.
“I begin my quest to become a two-weight world champion,” Commey said. “Pedraza is a gentleman and a great champion, and I will have to be at my best to earn the victory.”
Anderson (11-0, 11 KOs), 22, of Toledo, Ohio, is coming off of a broken hand that has kept him idle since December.
“We are thrilled to see Jared Anderson back in action,” Arum said. “He is the world’s best young heavyweight, and fans will have another opportunity to see a future superstar.”
The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Anderson will be in his first scheduled 10-round bout when he faces Rovcanin (24-2, 16 KOs), 28, of Serbia, who has won five fights in a row since a third-round knockout loss to undefeated Agit Kabayel in 2018.
“I am 100 percent healthy and more than ready to get back in the ring,” Anderson said. “I’m creating a legacy for my last name and growing as a fighter with every fight.”
The rest of the undercard will stream exclusively on ESPN+ and will include:
Heavyweight Efe Ajagba (15-1, 12 KOs), a 2016 Nigerian Olympian, who is coming off a decision loss to Frank Sanchez in October, will face Jozsef Darmos (14-4-3, 10 KOs), 37, of Hungary, in an eight-rounder.
Junior welterweight Tiger Johnson (4-0, 3 KOs), 23, a 2020 U.S. Olympian from Cleveland, will face Harry Gigliotti (8-3, 3 KOs), 27, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, in a six-rounder
Heavyweight Trey Lippe Morrison (18-1, 17 KOs), 32, a Tulsa native and the son of the late heavyweight star Tommy Morrison, will face an opponent to be determined in an eight-rounder.
Welterweight Kelvin Davis (5-0, 4 KOs), 25, of Norfolk, Virginia, will face fellow southpaw Sebastian Gabriel Chaves (5-4, 2 KOs), 28, of Argentina, who has lost three in a row. The fight will be the first six-rounder for Davis, the older brother of lightweight Keyshawn Davis, a 2020 U.S. Olympic silver medalist, who is also with Top Rank.
Lightweight Frevian Gonzalez (5-1, 1 KO), 21, of Puerto Rico, who trains with Pedraza, will face Gerardo Esquivel (3-2-1, 1 KO), 28, of Medford, Oregon, in a six-rounder.
Quick hits
Kazuto Ioka (29-2, 15 KOs), 33, of Japan, rolled to a one-sided decision over Donnie Nietes (43-2-6, 23 KOs), 40, of the Philippines, in their rematch to retain the WBO junior bantamweight title on Wednesday at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo. Ioka won 120-108, 118-110 and 117-111 to retain his 115-pound title for the sixth time. He also avenged a split decision loss to Nietes when they met for the vacant belt on Dec. 31, 2018 in Macau. After the first fight Nietes vacated the title and retired for 2½ years and now is 1-1-1 since returning in April 2021.
Light heavyweight contender Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs) has campaigned for more than a year for a shot at titleholder Dmitry Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) and got his wish Monday when the WBA ordered the mandatory fight, one Ramirez earned by winning two title eliminators. The camps have until Aug. 10 to make a deal or there will be a purse bid but whether Bivol would embrace the fight remained to be seen. But his manager, Vadim Kornilov, told Fight Freaks Unite that their side wants the bout too now that Canelo Alvarez, whom Bivol upset by decision in May, has passed on his contractual right to an immediate rematch. “Yes, we are hoping that now the fight finally happens,” Kornilov said. “(We) have been waiting and Dmitry wants this fight.”
Middleweight up-and-comer Austin “Ammo” Williams (11-0 9 KOs), 26, of Houston, will face Kieron Conway (17-2-1 3 KOs), 26, of England, in a 10-rounder for a vacant regional title on the Canelo Alvarez-Gennadiy Golovkin III undercard Sept. 17 (DAZN PPV) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Matchroom Boxing announced. “It is my honor and a dream come true to open up the Canelo versus GGG III pay-per-view telecast,” Williams said. “I will deliver an unforgettable experience.” Conway lost the only time he boxed in the United States, dropping a 10-round split decision to Souleymane Cissokho on the Alvarez-Billy Joe Saunders card in May 2021 in Arlington, Texas. “Last time out in the USA I made some mistakes,” Conway said. “I won’t make the same mistakes twice and I’m going there to catapult my career in the right direction on one of the biggest shows of the year. I can’t wait. I was made for the big stage and I’m going to show it.”
Show and tell
One year almost to the day after the late Hall of Famer Arturo Gatti, my all-time favorite fighter, suffered a ninth-round knockout loss challenging then-welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir, he made his return to the ring at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where was a star. He even had Micky Ward, who had become a close friend during their brutal trilogy, in his corner as his head trainer. But it was clear Gatti was at the end of his career even though on this night he was the favorite against Alfonso Gomez, the popular first-season contestant on “The Contender” reality series.
Sadly, Gatti had nothing to offer other than his enormous heart. He took a one-sided beating from Gomez, who stopped Gatti with a big right hand in the seventh round. Gatti went down and was trying to get up — no surprise — as the fight was stopped. It was Gatti’s third knockout loss in four fights and brought the curtain down on a career filled with all-time great fights, two world titles (at junior lightweight and junior welterweight) and resulted in his worthy Hall of Fame election. After the fight, Gatti (40-9, 31 KOs) announced his retirement in his dressing room. The fight, which I covered at ringside, was on July 14, 2007 — 15 years ago on Thursday. Here is a scarce site poster in my collection.
Garcia-Fortuna photo: Golden Boy; Barboza-Zorrilla photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank; Ioka-Nietes photo: Naoki Fukuda
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Garcia vs Fortuna is not an easy to call bout, Fortuna if on point could make this a hard fight for Garcia, it all depends on how hungry he still is for ring glory.