Rogers Mtagwa tried his hardest but in the end Yuriorkis Gamboa’s speed led to a 2nd round TKO at Madison Square Garden. Garrett Wilson gave a game effort in his fight against the 6’6″ Carlos Negron but the scorecards did not read in his favor when it was all said and done. We’ll get ‘em next time…
South Philly’s Rogers “The Tiger” Mtagwa (26-13-2, 18ko’s) has reached the top of the mountain, now there is only one thing left to do…. and that is WIN! After years of crawling and scrapping, Mtagwa gets the fight of a lifetime as he is set to do battle with the darling of the sport, Yuriorkis Gamboa (16-0, 14ko’s) of Cuba over a scheduled 12 rounds for the WBA World Featherweight title. This contest will be held at Madison Square Garden in NYC and will also be broadcast live around the world on HBO on Jan 23, 2010.Mtagwa comes into this fight as a 14 – 1 betting underdog according to the Vegas line. The network is using him as a steppingstone towards a unification bout between Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez, a fighter whom Mtagwa took to the limit in a losing effort back in October of ’09. Mtagwa has been in war after war after war and can always be counted on to give the crowd it value. He will need everything in his arsenal to pull off this victory. While Gamboa has a skill set as good an anyone in the game, he is hittable and has been on the canvas on multiple occasions. Mtagwa can ill afford to wait until round 7 to warm up, he must attack early and often. If he does, Philly could have a new world champion in their midst!
On the untelevised undercard, North Philly based road warrior Garrett Wilson (7-2, 2ko’s) again goes into enemy territory. His foe is undefeated Cruiserweight Carlos Negron (6-0, 5ko’s), a former Olympian for Puerto Rico. In Wilson’s last bout he upset the 2006 US Amateur Champion Adam Willett.
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The final result said the winner was Juan Manuel Lopez (27-0, 24 KOs) , but it is the rally Rogers Mtagwa (25-13-2, 18 KOs) staged down the stretch that has the boxing world buzzing, with many calling him “true Philly fighter” for almost pulling off the upset of the century multiple times during the 12 round WBO Super Featherweight title match at Madison Square Garden on October 10, 2009. Mtagwa gave away all of the early rounds as Lopez boxed but JML made the fatal mistake of fighting on the inside with The Tiger and almost paid dearly. Mtagwa’s missile like right hands had Lopez was out on his feet at one point and JML was beaten around the ring in the 12th as Mtagwa looked to seal the deal. To Lopez credit, he hung on under heavy fire to reach the final bell. All judges saw the fight for Lopez, judge Kevin Morgan scored it 114-113 but gave the final six rounds to Mtagwa. The difference coming in a 10-8 fifth round in which Mtagwa went down from a right hand. Carlos Ortiz (116-111) gave Mtagwa four of the final five rounds, and Steve Weisfeld (115-111) gave Mtagwa the last three rounds, including a 10-8 margin in the 12th.
In a losing effort, Rogers Mtagwa finally gets the world wide respect that he deserves. At the same time, he walloped a lot of luster off the name of Juan Manuel Lopez. If these TV execs have any brains, they will showcase Mtagwa on PPV cards on a regular basis
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It is official, South Philly’s Rogers “The Tiger” Mtagwa finally gets his shot at a world title when he takes on red hot prospect Juan Manuel Lopez for the WBO 122lb belt on Oct10 at Madison Square Garden in NYC. In a career filled with wild brawls, upset wins, bad losses and robberies, Rog has seen, hit and been hit even more. He throws caution to the wind and defense out the window which makes him on of the most TV friendly fighters in the business.
Though Mtagwa has been in some classics and ranks in a few sanctioning bodies top 15 lists, Lopez promoter Top Rank seems to think of The Tiger just as a showcase to set up a really big fight with Lopez & Gamboa.
Does the Tiger have a shot in this one? Could be a good action fight but I def think someone is getting KO’d in this one. This will be televised as part of a Latin Fury pay-per-view. More info to come.
