Golden Boy on ESPN isn’t either the promoter’s nor the network’s main boxing series, but they are fights nonetheless. Let’s take a look at the pair of Golden Boy on ESPN cards airing this week.
First, Golden Boy airs a show headlined by young prospect Ryan Garcia (13-0, 12 KOs) Thursday night on ESPN2 at 9 PM Eastern. Garcia is a very talented 19 year old junior lightweight from Los Angeles. After a lengthy Mexican amateur career, he has been a professional fighter for nearly two years now. Oscar De La Hoya and company clearly gave very, very high hopes for the 19 year old and it is easy to see why in the ring. He is a natural in there.
Unfortunately, as good as Ryan Garcia could potentially become, there isn’t much to this as a televised main event. Fernando Vargas (32-13-3, 21 KOs) is definitely a minor step up, but he isn’t here to win. The 29 year old Mexican did get a secondary world title shot two years ago against Jamie McDonnell, but he never deserved to be there and was dominated. Fernando Vargas isn’t going to bring the athleticism or savvy to deal with Ryan Garcia in all likelihood despite his experience. Plus, he’s being pulled up in weight here. Twice in 2017 Vargas made the super bantamweight limit of 122 pounds. Here he will be fighting two classes up at 130. That doesn’t sound like a recipe for success.
The co-main event between Golden Boy welterweights Eddie Gomez (20-3, 11 KOs) and Keandre Gibson (18-1-1, 7 KOs) is much better matched. I don’t like it stylistically as neither guy is all that aggressive, but at least they are on the same level. Neither man was considered a major prospect and both have had their set backs despite some visible talent. They are also both coming off really close fights with Alejandro Barrera, Gibson getting a majority decision win and Gomez a split decision loss. I’m definitely not at the level where I am excited for the fight, but it is a well matched boxing match to watch on a Thursday night at least. It could be technically interesting.
Switching to Saturday night’s main network ESPN card at 8:30 PM Eastern, Golden Boy is putting on their own personal Superfly show. Rising Puerto Rican contender Jose Martinez (20-0-1, 12 KOs) will look to avenge his draw against Mexico’s Alexandro Santiago (15-2-3, 7 KOs) in the main event. I like this fight well enough. Jose looked really impressive his last time out against another Mexican in Juan Martinez, stopping him in four. Matching him with the one man who was able to equal him on the cards so far is bold. I am not going to pretend to know much about Santiago, but he hasn’t lost since he was 19 so that record is better than it looks.
The co-main event here will pit 22 year old super flyweight prospect Joshua Franco (13-0, 6 KOs) of San Antonio against unknown Argentinian Lucas Emanuel Fernandez Leone (11-1, 8 KOs). Franco looked pretty sharp in his last co-main event slot three fights ago against Oscar Mojica, but there really isn’t much else to go on with these two here.
All in all, these are pretty much in line with what the Golden Boy on ESPN series delivers. The series aims to feature Golden Boy fighters that are below the HBO level, basically. That doesn’t make them consistently exciting, but they definitely serve a function in moving the promoter’s stable along. I will be watching these, of course, and bringing the results to you. I wouldn’t blame you if you missed them for the NCAA tournament games they will be up against though.
