By Chris Williams: #2 ranked WBA ranked light heavyweight Hugo Hernan Garay (31-3, 17 KOs) defeated Ukrainian Yuri Barashian (25-4, 17 KOs) by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision to win the vacant WBA light heavyweight title on Thursday night at the Estadio Luna Park, in Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina. The WBA light heavyweight title was vacant after Australian champion Danny Green suddenly retired, leaving it open for Garay, the number #2 and the # 1 ranked Barashian to fight out for the belt. The final judges’ scores were 118-111, 120-108 and 118-110.
There were no knockdowns in the fight, with the closest thing coming to that was when Barashian, the much harder puncher of the two, staggered Garay with a big left hook early in the 10th round. However, Barashian was unable to follow up with anything big enough to take Garay out, who clinched his way out of the jam.
Garay, from Argentina, was making his 3rd attempt at the light heavyweight title, after having been beaten twice previously by WBO light heavyweight champion Zsolt Erdei in 2004 and 2005. Barashian, as good as he punches, was no Erdei, and the 27 year-old Garay had an easy time out-boxing him in every round. Though Garay would take an occasional big shot from Barashian, most of the action was dictated by him, as he out-landed Barashian by a huge margin in every round.
Garay, a light-puncher with a fighting style somewhat like Arthur Abraham and Floyd Mayweather Jr., used combinations to control the first three rounds of the fight. Standing flat-footed for the most part, he mixed up his punches well throwing to the body and head with almost equal numbers. His speed and power aren’t much to get excited about, but then again he was fighting Barashian, a fighter that looks nothing close to the top light heavyweights like Chad Dawson, Zsolt Erdei, Antonio Tarver, Glen Johnson or Roy Jones Jr. Barashian, 28, would have done much better for himself if he had let his hands go more often, for he seemed to spend way too much time plodding after Garay, taking shots and not throwing anything back.
Barashian, a southpaw, would occasionally throw a big shot, which more often than not would connect to the head of Garay, snapping his head back. The problem was that Barashian wasn’t throwing enough. If he could have fought hard for at least a minute or two of every round, I have no doubts he would have beaten Garay, because he had the much better power, and frankly, Garay was very average looking. For a new champion, Garay looks very beatable, although it Barashian didn’t seem to have the tools to get the job done.
In rounds four through seven, Garay threw mostly right hands, as he came forward continuously pressing the fight against the timid-looking Barashian. It seemed as if Garay was incapable of using his left for anything other than as a weak decoy, because he didn’t have any real power when using it, as if he never learned how to properly learn how to throw it while developing. Unfortunately for Barashian, he wasn’t in the position to take advantage of Garay’s limited offensive abilities because he refused to punch enough to put himself in the fight. While Garay was throwing combinations most of the time, Barashian was answering back with one shot at a time, often jabs, and falling way behind in the fight. By the 7th round, Barashian appeared to have lost every round of the fight, and had made none of them even close. In the meantime, Garay continued throwing his weak flurries, scoring points and reminding me of a slower, larger, weaker version of Mayweather. Garay looks as if he can punch hard, heavily muscled, but when he punches, his power disappears completely and he can only muster shots that resemble arm punches.
Starting in the 9th round, Barashian really began to come after Garay like no tomorrow, hitting him with big shots and staying on him real tight. However, Garay proved to be excellent at fighting backing up, and was able to continue throwing his weak shots going backwards or sideways, it didn’t matter. Garay and Barashian clashed heads in the round, and it seemed to bother Garay, who took a long time out to recover. It looked like he was trying to take a breather, as he appeared to be tired from the pressure that was being put on him.
Early in the 10th round, Barashian staggered Garay with a big left hook to the head, the punch spinning Garay’s head around as if it was going to twist his head completely around. A good fighter would have finished Garay off, but Barashian came after him like he bad both shoelaces tied together, and didn’t move quick enough, put his hands together enough to finish the job. The remainder of the round, however, Barashian battered Garay with big shots, while Garay answered back with his usual arm shots.
In the 11th and 12th rounds, Garay changed his strategy slightly, moving often and throwing fast flurries with both hands. He’s often stand square to Barashian and throw short punches one after another like he was practicing a short speed drill. It worked well, for he caught Barashian often with these quick shots, hitting him as he would come forward trying to land his big punches.
During this time, Garay would switch to southpaw and use his right hand as his lead jabbing hand, perhaps tiring from using his left. It seemed more of a case of him being tired than an actual strategy, because by this time all he seemed to be really dragging and couldn’t put anything on his punches.
It was a good win for Garay, but far from impressive. He doesn’t look nearly as good as the other top fighters in the light heavyweight division, nor as good as fighters ranked well below him like Shaun George, Jaidon Codrington and Tavoris Cloud, to name just a few. I don’t see Garay holding onto the title for very long.
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