By Chris Williams: Chris Colbert (16-1, 6 KOs) wants a rematch with 2016 Olympian Hector Garcia (15-0, 10 KOs) after suffering an embarrassing one-sided 12 round unanimous defeat against him last Saturday night in a WBA super featherweight title eliminator in the headliner at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Unfortunately for Colbert, Garcia, 30, has other plans, preferring to challenge WBA 130-lb champion Roger Gutierrez next as his new mandatory challenger.
No adjustments made
What was worrying about Colbert’s performance against Garcia was the lack of adjustments he failed to make during the fight. Colbert stood in front of him and brawled despite it being made 100% clear from the first round that Garcia was too powerful for him.
The only adjustments that Colbert made in the fight were to get on his bike after being dropped in the seventh and giving up.
After this loss, Colbert will need to go back to the drawing board and rebuild. The flaws that Hector exposed in Colbert’s game in terms of his lack of power, poor defense, and ring IQ will likely continue to limit his success in the future if he doesn’t fix them.
Moving down in weight to 126 to campaign at featherweight might solve Colbert’s problem of him being too weak for the 130-lb division.
If Colbert moves down in weight to featherweight, he won’t need to worry about being outgunned nearly as often as he would if he stays at 130.
#1 WBA Colbert didn’t look at all prepared for the style for the bigger and stronger Garcia, as he foolishly tried to brawl with him from the opening round.
With Colbert’s lack of punching power, it was never going to work for him to walk a slugger like Garcia down, yet he continually tried for the first six rounds.
In the seventh, Colbert walked into a left hand from Hector and was dropped hard on his backside. What was alarming about the knockdown was how Colbert had both hands down when he walked directly up on Garcia.
Perhaps against a less-skilled fighter like the ones that Colbert had built his previously unbeaten 16-0 record on, he probably wouldn’t have paid the price for approaching them with his hands by his side, but not the well-schooled 2016 Olympian Garcia. You got to come better than that against a fighter with his experience.
After the knockdown, Colbert showed no desire to mix it up with Garcia, choosing to stay on his bike and survive for the remainder of the fight. That was troubling because there were still five rounds left, and Colbert could have quickly rallied with the right game plan.
The scores were 118-109, 118-109, and 119-108.
Colbert probably wouldn’t have fared well against WBA super featherweight weight champion Roger Gutierrez, who pulled out of the fight after testing positive for COVID-19.
“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. I’m still ‘Primetime’ on SHOWTIME,” said Chris Colbert.
Spence, Shakur Stevenson & Herring criticize Colbert
Errol Spence Jr: “Late replacement working Colbert. That cute s*** looks nice when it’s going your way. Time to bite down. Dude [Hector Garcia] came ready off 2 1/2 weeks notice, respect man.”
Shakur Stevenson: “Dude said he doesn’t know if I got dog in me but he down every round and choosing to survive 🤔🤔🤔 he not even trying to win no more wow. Yeah, that’s the man who said he’s willing to kill me. All Bark. I told y’all 😒😒😒. He didn’t make any excuses tho, so I’m going leave him alone.”
Jamel Herring: “’I don’t fight for belts.’ Well, after this performance, he [Colbert] won’t have to worry about fighting for any belt. #PRIMETIME.”
