The Boxing Truth®: Oscar Duarte

Showing posts with label Oscar Duarte. Show all posts

Friday, December 8, 2023

Garcia Bounces Back With KO Win , But Do More Questions Remain?

The fight between Jr. Welterweight contender Ryan Garcia and contender Oscar Duarte on December 2nd should have represented a fresh start and the beginning of a new chapter in Garcia's career as he looked to bounce back from the first loss of his career earlier this year to Gervonta Davis. Instead, much of the attention prior to the bout, which took place at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX, did not center on the fight itself or what Duarte brought to the table as an opponent and possible threat to Garcia, but rather on what at best can be described as a contentious relationship between Garcia and his promoter Oscar De La Hoya and by extension his promotional company Golden Boy Promotions.

It is true that this fight took place under a condition in which this observer cannot recall seeing before, or at least not in this form. In that the bout took place while the fighter Garcia, and the promoter De La Hoya, are engaged in a legal battle against each other in an effort by Garcia to break his existing contract with his promoter. The idea of a promoter and fighter being at odds however, is not a new concept. The idea that a fight promoted by a promoter currently battling the star attraction in said fight while litigation is ongoing is a bit different.

At minimum, as this observer pointed out in previewing this fight, it had to create distractions for Garcia as well as a situation for De La Hoya, where the pressing question during fight week was not concerning the fight inside the Boxing ring, but concerned his feelings toward his fighter. The contention between the two going into fight week spilled over as both Garcia and De La Hoya traded verbal barbs during the pre-fight press conference and weigh-in.

Seeing the situation play out for the world to see, one would be logical to question why the fighter would agree to participate in a fight promoted by someone that he is trying to distance himself from and why the promoter would want to promote a fight with that fighter, while litigation is ongoing. Truly, something that could only happen in Boxing, or at least that's how it seems. One would also be justified in questioning why something like that would be done before a resolution has taken place between the parties as more than likely anything either fighter or promoter said prior to the bout actually taking place, would likely be used against each other or at least be attempted to in any upcoming legal proceedings.

While what I have described here dear reader, probably sounds more appropriate for a reality TV show, there was still the matter of actual battle inside the ring. The fight between Garcia and Durate took place before a capacity crowd. If nothing else, it demonstrated, despite Garcia's knockout loss to Davis and the very ugly saga between himself and De La Hoya, Garcia is still a rising star in the sport.

As for the fight itself, under new trainer Derrick James, Garcia showed new elements of his skillset that has not been seen before. A more technical approach with an emphasis on using both his jab and lateral movement against the constant pressure of Duarte, who only knew one direction, forward. Perhaps in response to what happened to him when he was knocked out by Gervonta Davis, when forced to fight on the inside with Duarte where the possibility of being caught with a body shot, like the one that did him in against Davis, was increased, Garcia appeared to turn sideways, some may say partially turn his back. While such an approach borders on the line of legal and illegal, it was for better or worse an effective strategy. It did not, however, endear Garcia to the crowd in attendance, who frequently voiced their criticism via booing throughout the bout. Furthermore, it also created a scenario where Referee James Green frequently interjected himself throughout the fight to issue warnings, which were mostly pointed in the direction of Duarte for hitting Garcia in the back.

Although I felt Garcia was doing enough to win most of the rounds as the fight progressed, the aggressiveness of Duarte was such that I felt it could sway opinion in his favor simply because of the perception that he was the fighter forcing the action. The question I was also pondering in my mind was whether the high pace in which the fight was fought would take a toll on Garcia later in the fight due not only to Duarte’s pressure and solid punches when he was able to connect, but more specifically the constant movement that he was having to do throughout.

As the fight continued, I also felt that Duarte’s pressure was effective, but what was also noticeable was the lack of head movement as he came forward in that he was having to go through significant offense from Garcia before he could get on the inside, which he was unable to avoid. This flaw in Duarte’s defense would ultimately lead to his downfall in the eighth round when Garcia was able to catch him with a short left hook to the head, which wobbled his legs and subsequently led to a knockdown from a short flurry of blows. Although Duarte seemed to get up at the count of nine, he was in fact counted out by Referee James Green, giving Garcia an impressive and hard fought knockout win.

Ultimately, this fight did what it was designed to do if you were a member of both Garcia’s camp or his current promoter Golden Boy Promotions. Get Garcia back in the win column. The fact that Garcia was able to do so impressively is an added bonus. Inevitably, there will continue to be questions and criticism of Garcia. Questions such as is he truly recovered from the knockout at the hands of Davis, more so mentally than physically? Is Garcia listening to too many folks in terms of advising him on his career and is that influence at the root of his ongoing problems with Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions? And finally, will he be able to stay on track both inside the ring as well as out of it to stay a viable contender with the hope of eventually fighting for a world championship?

These are all interesting questions that this observer cannot answer. Much as has been the case for numerous young fighters throughout the history of the sport however, there is no shortage of people who are more than willing to tell a fighter what they want to hear and will also offer no shortage of ideas that may not truly have the fighter’s best interest at heart. For the fighter, especially one who has been open as Garcia has regarding struggles with his mental health, it can be difficult to tell the difference between those willing to tell them what they want to hear and those telling them what they need to hear. Even if the latter is not always easy to hear.

“And That's The Boxing Truth."

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Wednesday, November 29, 2023

The Rebuilding Of Ryan Garcia

It may seem like a cliche for some and a subject that gets discussed in several different variations, but for most fighters, a career can be divided into chapters or stages. If the premise of the opening of this column sounds familiar, dear reader, and sounds like something this observer has said before, it's because it is probably true. Nevertheless, for the purposes of this column, the stages that we will focus on are “The Rise" and “The Rebuild."

First, “The Rise." The rise of current Jr. Welterweight contender Ryan Garcia was one that did not see him win a world championship, but did see him placed on what seemingly was a fast-track towards that eventual goal. In some ways, it was a similar rise at least in terms of the popularity Garcia was able to garner as his longtime promoter Oscar De La Hoya enjoyed during his days as a young fighter before he went on to win many world championships in multiple divisions in what became a Hall of Fame career.

Perhaps because of the differences in eras and the advent of both social media platforms and video streaming sites like YouTube, Garcia’s popularity seemingly skyrocketed to the level of near superstar status before he became a contender as a Lightweight before eventually moving up to the Jr. Welterweight division. The difference in the way Garcia built his fan base notwithstanding, he did amass an impressive and undefeated record on his rise and also showed that he could get up when knocked down as he did in his 2021 battle against former world title challenger Luke Campbell. A fight that Garcia got up off the canvas to score a knockout win, in what to that point was a career-defining moment for him.

While it may have appeared that Garcia's rise was smooth and without bumps in the road, he saw his progress stalled shortly after his victory over Campbell as he took time away from his career to address ongoing struggles with his mental health. A subject that he has been very open about and should be commended for. Nevertheless, the time away from active competition did stall the momentum he appeared to have built for himself. After a lopsided, but less than dominant performance over former world champion Emmanuel Tagoe in his first fight in over a year following his victory over Campbell, Garcia scored a knockout win over Javier Fortuna in July of last year, which set up what was a highly anticipated bout between himself and fellow undefeated star Gervonta Davis.

When the two met in April of this year, the fight was competitive for a time, but it would be Davis who would emerge victorious, dropping Garcia with a body shot in the seventh round where Garcia,on one knee, stayed down for the ten count. The defeat signaled the first loss of Garcia's career and thus ended the stage of his career known as “The Rise."

Now, dear reader, we come to a stage almost all fighters come to at some point in their careers. “The Rebuild.”

First, before we can talk about “The Rebuild," we need to talk about “The Defeat," or to be more specific, what led to it. Was Gervonta Davis simply the better fighter on that particular evening when he and Garcia shared the ring, or was there another reason for the outcome?

For his part, Garcia has claimed that a rehydration clause in the contract for his fight with Davis in some way hindered his performance. This observer will not waste time trying to prove or disprove that claim because ultimately, the only one who really knows is Ryan Garcia himself. What I can say is having seen the knockout, Garcia was hit with what by all accounts appeared to be a perfectly placed body shot.

As is the case when it comes to body punches, it is not always how hard the punch lands, but the position where it lands that often determines how much damage is done. Because the body is one of the more sensitive parts of the human anatomy, often when a punch lands to the body in a perfect spot, it causes a delayed reaction from the fighter on the receiving end and simply not only saps the fighter of whatever energy they might have as well as affect their ability to breathe, but more specifically, it takes the fighter's legs away from them where more often than not, it becomes very difficult for the fighter to get up from a knockdown resulting in a scenario like the one Garcia found himself in where he watched himself be counted out.

Obviously, there have been those who have taken a more cynical viewpoint of what happened to Garcia in that fight and feel that he quit when faced with an adverse circumstance. It should be pointed out however, that Garcia did get up off the canvas to knockout Luke Campbell, ironically with a body shot similar to the one that Davis knocked him out with. Whatever the case might be, if nothing else, the way those two fights ended should serve as an illustration to all fighters on the benefits of a consistent body attack as well as the obvious dangers taking body punches presents.

While the memories of what happened to him against Davis are likely to stay with him for a time, now Garcia must focus on the task of trying to bounce back. A process that is simply known as ”The Rebuild.” Step one in that process in terms of competition will take place on December 2nd in Houston, TX at the Toyota Center when Garcia returns to the ring and the Jr. Welterweight division when he faces contender Oscar Duarte in a twelve round bout that can be seen globally on digital subscription sports streaming network DAZN.

The question I have going into this fight centers on Garcia and whether or not he is prepared mentally. For any fighter looking to bounce back from a loss there is a mental block that the fighter has to deal with that is not always easy to overcome. In this case, Garcia is not only coming off of the first loss of his career, but also the first time he was knocked out. There are also the distractions that are a factor going into this fight. Shortly after his loss to Davis, Garcia cut his ties to trainer Joe Goosen and took on a different opponent in his promoter Oscar De La Hoya in an attempt to free himself from his promotional agreement.

Thus far, De La Hoya remains Garcia’s promoter, but the fact that there was and may still be an ongoing litigation between the two has to be at least on some level a distraction unless things have been resolved behind closed doors and simply not made public as of yet. At minimum, it suggests a less than friendly relationship between fighter and promoter. It was however, not long ago that Garcia was viewed as one of the hottest rising stars under De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions so one would think that it would be in the best interest of both to unite in an attempt to get Garcia back on track.

In terms of his corner, Garcia will be working with his third trainer in a handful of fights by bringing in the highly regarded Derrick James, trainer of former unified Welterweight world champion Errol Spence among others. A criticism that some fighters deal with that ironically Oscar De La Hoya dealt with during his in ring career is by going to several different trainers over the course of a career, it can have a negative impact on a fighter’s style as well as strategies going into a fight. Although there was a mix of good and bad throughout De La Hoya’s career as he was guided by numerous trainers, many of whom are Hall of Famers, the counter argument is by opening yourself up to different philosophies that a new trainer/coach brings with them, it may allow a fighter to see things from a different perspective as well as improve in various areas in terms of technique. Whether or not the addition of James to his corner will be beneficial is something that remains to be seen, but it should also be noted that it is not uncommon for a fighter to switch trainers after suffering a loss.

Garcia's opponent on December 2nd in Oscar Duarte is a fighter with a respectable record of 26-1-1, with 21 Knockouts. A criticism that has surrounded this fight at least in the eyes of some is that Duarte has not defeated a notable fighter on his way to compiling that record. What Duarte does have going for him is he has been unbeaten since 2019 and his lone defeat to a fighter named Adrian Estrella was a ten round split decision loss. Since then, Duarte has run off eleven straight wins, all by knockout. While his resume might lack notable names, that is a statistic that should be viewed with a serious mindset by Garcia and those in his camp.

Garcia is coming off of a knockout loss and the fight plan for Duarte will likely center on trying to test Garcia early. It will be interesting to see if Duarte looks to establish an attack to the body of Garcia. Although sometimes all it takes is for one punch to land in a sensitive spot, the potential perception going forward could be that Garcia does not take body punches well and thus for any future opponents, the body could be an obvious target.

It would not be surprising to see Garcia approach this fight with caution and try to protect his body as much as possible, especially if it becomes clear early on in this fight that it is the intended target for Duarte. Conventional wisdom would suggest that Garcia’s claims of the knockout at the hands of Davis, which was fought at a catchweight of 136lbs., one pound over the 135lb. Lightweight limit and four pounds under the Jr. Welterweight limit where he had fought his previous two fights, was somehow attributed to the rehydration clause, which stipulated that neither fighter could not weigh more than ten pounds heavier than the 136lb. limit on the morning of the fight, is likely going to be tested here. Despite the caliber of competition going into this fight not being at the highest level, Duarte does have all the momentum in his favor and has demonstrated in previous fights that he does have power in both hands.

While this may have the appearance of a bounce back or “Comeback Fight" for Garcia, who is currently rated number seven in the world in the Jr. Welterweight division by the World Boxing Council (WBC), this should be viewed as a dangerous fight. If he is not mentally and physically prepared, a loss in this bout could set his career back significantly, if not put his Boxing future in doubt.

“And That's The Boxing Truth."

Garcia vs. Duarte takes place on Saturday, December 2nd at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX. The fight as well as its undercard can be seen globally on digital subscription sports streaming network DAZN beginning at 8PM ET/5PM PT.

(*U.S Times Only*)

(*Card and Start Time Subject To Change*)

For more information about DAZN including schedules, list of compatible streaming devices, platforms, Smart TVs, availability around the world, local start times in your area, and to subscribe please visit: www.DAZN.com.