WATERGRASSHILL BASED BOXER EYES UP WORLD TITLE
Cuban Luis “The Lion” Garcia, who fights out of the Watergrasshill Boxing Club, claimed another notable scalp when he stopped former two-time world champion Byron Mitchell of the USA in the second round last Saturday night at the University Arena in Limerick.
The 22 year old former world junior champion is one of three Cubans based with ‘Team Thomas’ in Watergrasshill and, while the other two are also big prospects, Luis showed world class potential when stepping up to light-heavyweight to take on Mitchell, twice WBA world supermiddleweight champion.
READY FOR SHOT AT WORLD TITLE
Mitchell, a 37 year old from Orlando, went down on one knee after a big right cross to the temple damaged his left eye 51 seconds into the second round and referee Mickey Vann was forced to stop the fight.
Garcia said, “He was my biggest opponent to date and it was a big step up for me but he did not land a punch. I caught him with a lot of big shots and he was hurt. I think I will be ready for a shot at the world title next year. I just need a little bit more experience,” he added.
His fellow Cuban, heavyweight Mike ‘The Rebel’ Perez, chalked up his 12th straight win when he returned from illness to stop Pavel Dolgovs (Latvia) after just a minute and 40 seconds of their scheduled six rounder. Perez was laid low for some time after picking up spotted fever from an insect bite while holidaying in Spain.
Published:
Thursday 11th November 5:31pm
