First Impressions from Las Vegas
Colbert-Garcia Undercard prelim scouting report
Vegas, baby. I didn’t know how much I missed you. Showtime opted out of broadcasting their undercard fights for…reasons. But you’re in luck, homies, because I got you covered right here.
Micky Scala TKO2 Jose Manuel Gomez
Super Welterweight
Both Scala and Gomez’s fan bases came out in force, let me tell you. For the opening bout of the prelims, there was a surprising amount of fanfare; I think the only other time I’ve heard this much noise for prelim/club fighters was back when I watched “Sharky” Servin and Carlos Castro in Phoenix back in 2017 (ups to Iron Boy). In the first round, Scala and Gomez were trading a lot of power shots in center-ring. Micky wised up towards the end started mixing his combinations downstairs. Gomez was there to bang, to his detriment, as Scala scored a KD in round 2 and had Gomez buzzed bad when the ref waved it off. Scala has pop, Scala is mobile, Scala has a good jab that he uses intelligently. My impression is that he gets tagged because 1) he’s willing to trade shots with opponents that 2) he’s not too concerned with at this stage in his career. Given Scala is from Mesa (Southeast area of the greater Phoenix metro area), you can expect me to unashamedly shill for this guy full-tilt.
Angel Barrientes TKO2 Brian Cannady
Super Bantamweight
Barrientes came out too quickly for Cannady. His jab was crisp, greased lightning and he used it very effectively to set up body shots which in turn opened up clean power punches upstairs. Cannady would valiantly try to return fire, but unfortunately only wound up opening himself up to potshots from Barrientes. A big left hook to open round 2 buzzed Cannady and the follow-up from Barrientes sent Cannady down. Barrientes tried to loop around Cannady’s shell, but wasn’t able to take advantage of the rattled cage. More often than not, Cannady was being beaten to the punch but was able to weather the storm. Midway through round 3, the ref had seen enough after Barrientes was landing enough clean shots to drive Cannady to go for the double-leg takedown. My biggest piece of advice for Barrientes is to work on the backflip a little more before going for it in the ring.
Justin Cardona TKO3 Joshua Draughter
Lightweight
Cardona and Draughter wasted no time getting after it in the first round. Cardona caught Draughter coming in with a clean right hand that caused Draughter’s glove to graze the canvas despite being relatively unbothered by the punch. Cardona was rather antsy in the pantsy, loading up on his shots to the point that he made himself slip to finish the round with a wild hook. Ruben “The Ferocious Fedora” Guerrero set him straight coming into round 2, letting Draughter take the lead to start the round. Draughter ate the most meaningful punches of the round: a few body shots in the red corner and a flurry in the second minute that seemed to buzz him. Cardona clipped Draughter behind the ear and seemed to have him buzzed again, but Draughter held on. Cardona’s jab is a damn piston, setting up an excellent combo of hooks to Draughter’s body. Those body shots set up the final punches that showed the ref enough to wave the fight off in round 3. If I had to give something on Cardona, I’d say relax; Throw with intent, but don’t over-commit.
Claudio Marrero MDec Viktor Slavinsky
Super Featherweight
A heartwarming note: as Slavinsky made his way to the ring, being introduced as a Ukrainian national, the crowd applauded heartily for him with shouts of fighting for his home country. The Mexican flag on his trunks certainly helped endear him to the predominately Hispanic crowd as well. Slavinsky and Marrero opened it up pretty cagey, spending most of the round feeling each other out. Marrero was pretty crafty, not slick in the usual sense like a Philly guy, but his defense was slippery and he was able to throw shots from some odd angles. Slavinsky was more textbook, which unfortunately Marrero was ready for as he was able to land through the Ukrainian’s offensive output. In the final minute of the second round, Marrero was landing cleaner and cleaner combinations.Round 3 opened up with some good exchanges, but Marrero was getting the better of it. Slavinsky was moving around trying to disengage and reset, but Marrero smelled blood. A bit of tension center-ring, Slavinsky’s reticence palpable; Marrero’s relaxed guard showing his confidence (even went hands down to bait). Not much doing to close round 3, but both guys came out firing to open the fourth. Slavinsky landed some good shots, Marrero landed some clean shots of his own. Interesting change in defensive pacing from Marrero midway through 4, his head movement wasn’t as pronounced and he was getting hit between his still relaxed guard, giving Slavinsky his greatest success of the bout thus far. A stiff jab popped Marrero’s head back, but Slavinsky didn’t have enough time to capitalize on it.
Round 5 was a lot of back and forth, tenuous commitment to throwing more than a few punches with both guys landing some clean hits here and there. Marrero’s team had him biking to start round 6, I assume under the expectation Marrero was cleanly ahead (which in my estimation at the moment watching and listening to his corner’s instructions, he was). Marrero took most of round 6 off, not really throwing much, allowing Slavsinky to edge the round at a glance. Slavinsky opened 7 aggressively, driving Marrero to the ropes and throwing what he could. Marrero kept working his defensive skills to keep Slavinsky generally missing or at least not landing anything meaningful. Towards the middle the round, Marrero started exchanging with Slavinsky, but he was still getting outworked by the Ukrainian fighter. The mixed it up more to close the round, but not too much landing clean. The final round opened up with Slavinsky still doing most of the work. If you judge more on activity, you may have had him catching up. Marrero was still less aggressive than he was to start the fight, mostly potshotting between Slavinsky’s offense. Naturally, as I write that Marrero finds a wild hair on his ass and starts chopping it up with Slavinsky to finish the fight. The scores came out 76–76, 78–74 Marrero, 77–75 Marrero.
That’s all for my notes on the Vegas card! If you want to read up on the televised fights, head over to Patreon and get yourself hooked up. I promise I’m worth it, baby.
