Did Mikey take the easy way out against Salido?

By Boxing News - 01/20/2013 - Comments

mikey1By Dan Ambrose: Mikey Garcia had a chance to really shine and impress in beating WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido last night by an 8th round technical decision, but the way the fight ended with Mikey saying he couldn’t breathe because of a broken nose in the 8th, it really took the shine out of the performance completely.

Salido, who had been knocked down four times earlier in the fight when Garcia had a lot energy, was coming back and punishing Mikey in the last three rounds before the fight was stopped after the 8th.

The stoppage gave the impression to some boxing fans that the tiring Mikey was looking to get saved from what could have been a really tough last four rounds. Mikey’s power had faded dramatically, he was tired getting hit a lot by big shots from Salido. Things weren’t looking for Mikey had the fight continued on.

Fighters often keep going when they have a broken nose and breathing problems are incredibly common for that kind of injury. It didn’t make Mikey look good that he was complaining about how he couldn’t breathe when the ringside doctor was asking him. To some boxing fans that looked like Garcia was looking for a way to get out of the fight.

Fighting through pain is part of the sport, and it just looked strange for Mikey to go out at that moment. Look at Salido. His face looked much worse than Mikey’s with his two swollen eyes and swollen nose. He wasn’t going to complain to the ringside doctor that he was having problems because wanted to win the fight.

Mikey may have won the shortened fight but I think Salido won the event because he was still coming forward and fighting well at the time the fight was halted. It looked like there was worry in the corner of Mikey when it was clear that he was starting to take punishment and his shots were losing steam.



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