NEWARK, N.J. – Francisco Veron had to go deep into his bag of boxing skills on Friday to score a unanimous decision victory over Raul Garcia at Prudential Center.
The scores were 98-92 on two cards and 97-93 on the third, all for Argentina’s Veron, 17-1-1 (10 KOs), in the junior middleweight co-main event of a ProBox TV card. Garcia, of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, dropped to 15-3-1 (12 KOs) with the loss.
Veron’s greater accuracy gave him the advantage early as his jab lined up Garcia for uppercuts and body shots. Garcia was the stronger of the two, but his lack of upper-body movement kept him on the center line for straight shots down the middle while Veron was able to angle his body to avoid Garcia’s heavy blows. Veron drew blood from Garcia’s nose in the third, but Garcia’s nonstop pressure began to pay dividends in the fifth and sixth rounds as he connected with hooks to the head and body. Veron began to move more, and though he still landed cleanly to the head, it was Garcia pushing the fight.
Veron rediscovered his jab in the seventh, which enabled him to beat Garcia to the punch with his right hand more frequently. Garcia wouldn’t be discouraged, as he continued to target Veron’s midsection with right hands. Garcia found his target upstairs in the ninth round, rocking Veron with a right hand. Veron steadied himself and used Garcia’s aggression against him, landing check-hook right hands as Garcia rushed in.
That pattern made for a difficult fight to score, as Veron was the most consistent and accurate fighter while Garcia would come forward and land single heavy blows.
The two traded blows to the final bell in a competitive 10th round, which highlighted Veron’s more accurate shots.
Veron, a 2020 Olympian, has now won three in a row since his lone defeat, a unanimous decision to Brandon Adams in 2024. Garcia’s loss snaps a two-fight winning streak, which included a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Emiliano Moreno.
In a bloodbath that would have made Yaqui Lopez feel squeamish, Joshafat Ortiz and William Foster III fought to a no-contest after three rounds. The fight was stopped after the third round due to damage over Foster’s left eye, which frustrated Ortiz, whose own cut initially appeared the more devastating but was finally under control.
The fight between hard-luck underdogs was still taking shape as Foster, 19-3 (11 KOs), of New Haven, Connecticut, and Ortiz, 13-2 (6 KOs), of Reading, Pennsylvania, traded right hands. The close-range exchanges brought the two boxers’ heads into close contact, with both suffering serious cuts over their left eyes by the middle of the second round. The blood was so excessive that it quickly became difficult to separate the two fighters to determine who was landing what.
Both junior lightweights were looking to bounce back from disappointing decision losses in their previous bouts.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
