Super Bowl XLVIII is the main sports entrée in the metropolitan area this week, but for those looking for an added treat, there’s boxing and an UFC event to serve as appetizers.
On Saturday night rising star Mikey Garcia of Oxnard, Calif., defends his junior lightweight title against Juan Carlos Burgos of Tijuana, Mexico, in the main event of a boxing card at the Madison Square Garden Theater. Heavyweight prospect Bryant Jennings (17-0, 9 KOs) of Philadelphia faces Arthur Szpilka (16-0, 12 KOs) of Poland in the co-feature. Both bouts will be televised by HBO. A sellout crowd is expected.
On Thursday, Victor Ortiz of Oxnard and Louis Collazo of Brooklyn will headline a boxing card at Barclays Center. And on Saturday night, UFC 169 will take place at Prudential Center in Newark. It’s a convergence of the top three promotional companies in combat sports: Top Rank, which is promoting the Garden card; Golden Boy Promotions; which is has exclusive rights to Barclays Center, and UFC, which frequently stops in Newark.
Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, isn’t concerned his fights will be lost in the Super Bowl shuffle.
“To have the added exposure of Super Bowl week and a lot of people, celebrities, athletes and so on are going to be in town and coming to the fight — I think all that just takes the fight and the exposure of the fighters to a different level,” Schaefer said.
Garcia (33-0, 28 KOs) is one of the fastest rising stars in boxing. Trained and co-managed by his father Eduardo and his brother Robert, Mikey Garcia captured three wins in 2013, over former world champions Orlando Salido, Juan Manuel Lopez and Rocky Martinez. Garcia is defending his 130-pound title for the first time and hopes to fight four times in 2014 with long-range plans of possibly facing Manny Pacquiao. Meanwhile, Burgos (30-1-2, 20 KOs) is making his third attempt at a world title.
“He’s not an easy guy, he’s a durable guy,” Garcia said of Burgos. “He’s come up short in his other world-title opportunities so I know he’s going to try to take full advantage of this, so I’m expecting a good fight. But I have all the skills and ability to defend my title successfully.”
Boxing at Barclays on Thursday features two former world champions in Ortiz and Collazo. Fox Sports 1 will televise. Eddie Gomez, an unbeaten junior middleweight (15-0, 10 KOs) from The Bronx, takes on Daquan Arnett (11-0, 7 KOs) in the co-feature.
Ortiz (29-4-2, 22 KOs) hasn’t fought since having his jaw broken by Josesito Lopez in June 2012. He perhaps is best known for intentionally head-butting Floyd Mayweather and then getting knocked out while trying to apologize in 2011.
During his time off, Ortiz appeared on “Dancing with the Stars” and had a role in the movie “The Expendables 3.”
“I took my time, let my jaw heal just right, but while I was doing that I had some more opportunities arise my way that people in the sport of boxing and just in the world period will never do,” Ortiz said. “So at this point in time, I’m ready. I’m back.”
Collazo (34-5, 17 KOs) has won three fights while Ortiz has been sidelined and hopes to position himself to regain the welterweight title he held in 2005-2006. He’ll rely more on his skill than power to beat Ortiz.
“I’m not the big one punch knockout artist, but I think the accumulation of my shots could hurt a fighter,” Collazo said. “Victor’s known for a big punch, but he fought different people. Maybe I might take those shots better than other fighters. Who knows? We’ll find out.”
For MMA fans, UFC 169 at the Prudential Center will be held the night before the Super Bowl. Renan Barao (33-1) takes on Urijah Faber (30-6) for the undisputed bantamweight title in the main event of a pay-per-view card.