On a day when there were marathon fight cards in other locales, Danny Garcia’s Swift Promotions won the prize, staging 14 fights at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, 100 rounds of boxing if every match went the distance which, of course, wasn’t going to happen. Garcia, 37, reserved the headline slot for himself. Daniel Gonzalez, a 35-year-old journeyman residing a few subway stops away from Barclays in Woodhaven, Queens, was the sacrificial lamb waiting to be sheared.
A former two-division title-holder, Garcia appeared in the very first boxing card at Barclays, stopping the future Hall of Famer but faded Erik Morales in four frames and this would be his tenth appearance at the arena he called his second home. Inactive in all of 2021 and 2023, the pride of North Philadelphia was indisposed to the leave sport on the heels of his last outing, a hollow performance against ancient Erislandy Lara in September of last year
If this was indeed his final fight, he left the sport with a bang. Daniel Gonzalez, who had fought mostly as a junior welterweight went on his bicycle after Garcia rocked him with a right hand in the opening round. But, as Joe Louis famously said, you can run, but you can’t hide. In round four, Garcia nailed him with a short left hook and it was lights out. Gonzalez appeared to injure his ankle as he crumpled to the canvas and referee David Fields waived the fight off without a count.
Garcia, a borderline Hall of Famer, improved his record to 38-4 (22 KOs). The intrepid but overmatched Gonzalez subways home with a record of 22-5-1.
Semi-Wind-up
In a dreary 10-round bantamweight contest, reed-thin Baltimore bantamweight Dominique Crowder had a stroll in the park vs. SoCal’s Fernando Diaz, winning every round on two of the scorecards. A former two-time New York City Golden Gloves champion who represented Poughkeepsie, NY, as an amateur, Crowder, 31, improved to 19-0 (11) without winning any new fans. Diaz slumped to 16-6-1.
Other Bouts of Note
The lone heavyweight match on the card featured a New Jersey-based Pole (Damian Knyba) against a Polish-American (Joey Dawejko). At six-foot-seven, Knyba looked a foot taller than his Philadelphia adversary.
Knyba, a Top Rank signee who was 16-0 heading in, took the fight out of the judges hands in round seven, ending the one-sided fray with a combination that knocked Dawejko face-first through the lower strand of ropes. The official time was 2:25.
It was the fourth loss in the last five starts for the paunchy Dawejko (28-14-4). A short heavyweight who has likely boxed hundreds of rounds as a sparring partner, Dawejko has taken a lot of punishment in his career and it’s past time for him to hang up his gloves.
Brooklyn super lightweight Chris Colbert got back on the winning track, improving to 18-3 (6) with a unanimous 8-round decision over Argentina’s Blas Ezequiel Caro (12-9). The scores were 80-72, 78-73, and 77-74.
A former USA national amateur champion, Colbert appeared headed to great things before his career went off the rails beginning with a shockingly one-sided loss to Hector Luis Garcia in a 130-pound eliminator.
In an 8-round contest between faded, 39-year-old super middleweights, Philadelphia’s Gabriel Rosado (28-17-1) won a clear-cut but lackluster decision over St. Louis journeyman Vaughn Alexander (19-17-2). The scores were 80-72 and 79-73 twice.
A former world title challenger, Rosado had lost four of his last five heading in after his signature win, a one-punch knockout of Bektemir Melikuziev. Alexander, whose career was interrupted by a 12-year prison stint, has now lost five straight and 10 of his last 12.
Staten Island welterweight Reshat Mati, the “Albanian Bear,” returned to the ring after a 17-month absence and won a hard-earned eight-round majority decision over Jose Angulo, advancing his record to 16-0 (8). The judges had it 76-76 and 77-75 twice.
A prodigy in multiple combat disciples as an adolescent, the well-traveled Mati was Eddie Hearn’s first official signee when the Matchroom honcho raided the U.S. amateur ranks for promising prospects in 2018. A 29-year-old Ecuadorian, the hard-trying Angulo (17-11) has been routinely matched tough.
Super welterweight Christian Cangelosi improved to 12-0 (5) with a unanimous 8-round decision over Argentina’s Victoriano Santillan (39-9-2). The judges had it 79-73, 78-74, and 77-75.
A Brooklyn-based Sicilian, Cangelosi was formerly a member of Italy’s national team.
“Mini Mike Tyson” Avtandil Khurtsidze, from the Republic of Georgia, bullied forward, as is his custom, but could manage only a draw in a 6-round contest with Andres Martinez. One of the judges favored him 59-55 but his cohorts had it 57-57. Khurtsidze’s record now stands at 34-2-2. Martinez, a late sub from the Republic of Guinea, was 6-4 heading in.
As you may recall, Avtandil Khurtsidze was arrested in June of 2019 for his efforts on behalf of Brooklyn’s Russian Mafia. The arrest came a month before he was scheduled to challenge WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders. He’s now 45 years old. Tonight’s bout was his second since getting out of stir and he is no longer a middleweight, coming in at 181 pounds at yesterday’s weigh-in.
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