In a tremendous fight, Bernabe Concepcion (31-4-1, 17KO) earned a harder than expected split decision victory over very tough Aaron Garcia (10-3-2, 2KO) to win the WBC Continental Americas title on Thursday night at the San Manuel Casino in Highland, California. The 23-year-old Concepcion, a two time WBO featherweight title challenger, who came up short in title challenges against Steven Luevano and Juan Manuel Lopez, demonstrated good speed and power but was unable to knockout his determined challenger and was very fortunate that he was facing an opponent with just a 14% knockout ratio and equally fortunate to be fighting in front of a boisterous Filipino crowd and fighting for the promoter of the event.
Concepcion?s best punch was a clubbing right cross that found its mark on many occasions but was often thrown by itself with no other punches preceding or following it. The fifth round stood out and featured violent exchanges with both fighters landing heavy shots until the bell sounded to end the round. Through six rounds of action, the fight appeared pretty even with the momentum going in Garcia?s favor. The seventh round was a battle of wills as the two warriors traded vicious punches back and forth with Garcia favoring hard left hooks to the head and body and Concepcion countering with powerful right crosses.
A clash of heads in round eight opened up a small cut over the left eye of Garcia that bled lightly for the remainder of the bout. Action slowed in the ninth round and this tempo seemed to favor Concepcion who was able to land his counter right cross from long range. After a slow start to the tenth and final round, Garcia came to life in the second round while Concepcion seemed flat and unable or unwilling to lay it all on the line.
Judges scored the bout a split decision victory for Concepcion by scores 96-94, 93-97 (Garcia) and 96-94, respectively. FightNews saw the bout 96-94 in favor of Garcia.
