Garcia Defeats Colbert, Josh Taylor Gets Controversial Win, Rigondeaux Loses, Anjacas Defeated, In Bizzare Upset Weekend

LAS VEGAS – February 27, 2022 – Late replacement Hector Garcia performed like the world champion he was substituting for on Saturday night, battering and dropping the highly-touted Chris Colbert to earn a unanimous decision in a 12-round WBA Super Featherweight World Title Eliminator that headlined a thrilling tripleheader live on SHOWTIME in a Premier Boxing Champions event from The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Garcia (15-0, 10 KOs) stepped in for the WBA Super Featherweight World Champion Roger Gutierrez less than three weeks ago after Gutierrez was forced to withdraw due to a positive COVID-19 test. Despite having little time to prepare, , the southpaw Garcia used his height and powerful left hand to dominate Colbert (16-1, 6 KOs) by scores of 118-109, 118-109 and 119-108.

“I have to thank everyone in my corner, Ismael Salas and Bob Santos, and everyone that worked with me,” said Garcia. “I feel great. I definitely knew three weeks ago that my life would change. My trainers gave me the confidence to win this fight.”

“I’m sorry I let everyone down, today he was the better man,” Colbert said afterward, his arm draped around Garcia in an encouraging embrace. “I take my losses like I take my wins. I want to run it back and hopefully we can do it again. There’s no excuses. He was the better man today.”

Garcia was the aggressor throughout, dropping Colbert for the first time in his career with a counter left in the seventh round that caused Colbert to fall backwards, his legs flying up in the air from the momentum. Colbert got to his feet, but Garcia jumped on him again, stalking him around the ring.

“In the ninth and 10th rounds I hit him so hard,” said Garcia. “I knew I had him. I knew he wasn’t going to be able to box anymore.”

Colbert could never get on track and showed little of the aggression and skills that made him one of the most talked about young fighters in the sport.

“Everyone puts pressure on me in the ring,” said Colbert. “That’s nothing new. I want to get a rematch if I can. Congratulations to Hector and his team. They deserved this win tonight. I wasn’t feeling myself. At the end the day, I’m still ‘Primetime’ on SHOWTIME.”

In the end it was Garcia, a 2016 Dominican Olympian, who performed like the favored fighter, punishing Colbert and pushing him back and potentially earning a title shot against Gutierrez.

“I want to fight Gutierrez for the world championship,” Garcia said. “I worked too hard to get into this position today.”

JOSH TAYLOR GETS CONTROVERSIAL WIN

GLASGOW, Scotland (Feb. 26, 2022) — Josh Taylor is still the undisputed junior welterweight champion, but Jack Catterall made his case. Taylor retained his crown by split decision (114-111, 113-112, 112-113) in front of a raucous, sold-out crowd of 12,101 partisan supporters Saturday evening at OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.

Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs) had a challenging night in his first bout since unifying all four belts last May against Jose Ramirez. He was knocked to the deck in the eighth round, courtesy of a Catterall left hand. After Catterall (26-1, 13 KOs) had a point deducted for holding in the 10th, Taylor was penalized for a shot after the 11th round bell had sounded.

The 12th round was fought in close quarters, and when the final bell rang, the capacity crowd awaited the verdict. Taylor prevailed by the closest of margins, keeping his undisputed championship and the promise of bigger fights.

This is what Taylor had to say after fight.

"I started a little slow, but once I grabbed the momentum, I started catching him with the bigger shots. He was trying to spoil a lot. Going down and up a lot and clashing my head. He caught me with a couple of good shots. I’m not gonna lie to you. It wasn’t my best performance. I put a lot of pressure on myself with it being my homecoming. Been three years, first time since lockdown and all that. I put a lot of pressure on myself being the heavy favorite and it showed in the first half of the fight.

"Once I got my rhythm I started catching him with the bigger shots and catching him and catching him. It wasn’t my best performance, but I believe I got the win 100 percent. But Jack did very well.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself to put on a good show for my home fans. But it didn’t matter in the end. I got the good result.

"I knew I won the fight. It was close. Overall I scored the bigger shots, the better shots, the more meaningful shots so I know I won the fight. It was a little bit close, but I know I won the fight."

KELLY DEFEATS ISLAM

PLANT CITY, Florida (Feb. 25, 2022): Jimmy “Kilrain” Kelly (26-2, 10 KOs) of Manchester, United Kingdom defeated Kazakh contender Kanat “QazaQ” Islam (28-1, 22 KOs) by majority decision in the ProBox Promotions’ main event Friday evening in Plant City, Florida.

Kelly, who captured the WBO Global Middleweight Championship, won with scores of 96-94, 97-93 and 95-95. The fight took place at Whitesands Event Center, one of 11 scraps put together by the Florida-based company headed by Garry Jonas.

“I thought I won every round,” said Jimmy Kelly, who admitted after that he wanted to fly home quickly to see his two kids. “I even hurt my hand and could only box with my jab during the last four rounds. Despite that, I still feel I won every round. I felt his pressure, but I didn’t feel his power. Kanat was looking for the counter all night, but I didn’t let him do it.”

OTHER MAJOR UPSETS

Guillermo Rigondeaux was dropped in the 8th round by Vincent Astrolabio and eventually defeated by decision. Rigo was a 10-1 favorite.

Jerwin Ancajas was defeated by Fernando Martinez by decision. Ancajas was a 9-1 favorite.