It was an action-packed fight as both fighters engaged in what looked like a brawl as they exchanged heavy punches in the next four rounds with Galicia throwing more punches that mostly landed on target.
While Gradovich inflicted a cut on Galicia’s right eye in the second round, the Mexican continued his unrelenting assault to the delight of the crowd.
Halfway to the 10-round fight, trainer Robert Garcia made some adjustments for Gradovich to go for body shots and increased head movement to avoid Galicia’s fairly accurate punches.
The action continued in the late rounds but Gradovich was evidently earning more points as he continued to counter Galicia’s assault with more telling blows as the fight ended with no one suffering a knockdown
Judges’verdict: Two judges favored Gradovich with one scoring the fight at 99-93 while the other saw it at 96-94. The third judge had it even at 96-96.
Gradovich has been tapped by his promoter to face WBO super bantamweight titlist Nonito Donaire on April 23 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, Metropolitan Manila in a title fight but Donaire’s camp had to wait for the result of the Gradovich-Galicia fight before finalizing the deal.
Both Donaire and Gradovich are stablemates at Bob Arum’s Top Rank ((TR) Promotions. They have trained under Robert Garcia and some time in 2013. Garcia nearly gave up one of them because they were being matched by TR, their common promoter.
Now Donaire has severed ties with Garcia to train under his father Nonito Donaire, Sr. Donaire is coming off a unanimous decision win against Cesar Juarez of Mexico last Dec. 11 in Puerto Rico.
Donaire’s manager Cameron Dunkin has yet to announce his decision on the Donaire-Gradovich fight in the wake of Gradovich’s victory over Galicia in Spain over the weekend.
