(JULY 27) Last night (June
26) at the Saratoga City Center in Saratoga Springs, NY,
“Lethal” Lindsay Garbatt, 125, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, battled
fan-favorite, Jackie “The Force” Trivilino, 126, Plattsburgh,
NY, over eight hotly contested rounds at Ares Promotions Fight
Night XI.
Dispensing with her usual swarming style, Trivilino opened the
show boxing from long range keeping her physically stronger
opponent at a comfortable distance while initiating the
exchanges by firing off punches in volume. Trivilino was
successful with this tactic in the first stanza while Garbatt
mostly concentrated on keeping her defense tight while finding
her timing after nearly a year hiatus from the ring.
In the second round, Garbatt, who holds victories over Melissa
Hernandez, Jelena Mrdjenovich, and Maureen Shea, was warmed up
and firing on all cylinders landing mostly single hard punches
as Trivilino advanced forward from long range. Garbatt blocked
most of Trivilino’s follow-up punches on her gloves and
forearms. Garbatt ended most exchanges with an exclamation point
landing an accurately placed hard shot to the head of Trivilino
that often visibly affected her.
The third and fourth rounds were similar to the third witnessing
Garbatt control the middle of the ring forcing Trivilino to
maneuver on or near the ropes. She continued to land the more
telling blows ending most of the exchanges with a landed punch.
Trivilino rediscovered her groove in the fifth round landing in
combination to the body and head while evading Garratt’s bombs.
In boxing when you add new software to a fighter, it is often a
very temporary fix; particularly when the fighter is advanced in
years, they tend revert back to their comfort zone when
stressed. Trivilino aged 31, in the sixth round left the
niceties of boxing from the outside in the corner and exchanged
with the heavier punching Garbatt at close-quarters. Taking no
backwards step, Garbatt gave better than she received stealing
the round in the later moments landing accurately with
thunderous right hands.
Both boxers did good work in the seventh round with Trivilino
landing in combination to the body and Garbatt landing the more
accurate and meaningful punches.
In the final round, an already standing crowed cheered both
fighters as they repeated the fist-flying action of the sixth
round; each wishing to end the fight on a positive note. Leading
on each score card, Trivilino kept her foot on the accelerator
before a well-placed right to the head knocked her to the canvas
with only moments left in the fight. Trivilino was shaken making
it to her feet at the count of four. Fighting on instinct,
Trivilino refrained from clinching absorbing two hard right
hands before the bell saved her from further punishment.
After a longer than the usual time allotment in tabulating the
score cards, the assigned judges verdict was a split-draw
(76-75/75-76/76-76). This reporter scored 78-73 for Garbatt
liking her punch quality and accuracy to Trivilino’s punch
volume awarding the later fighter only the first and fifth
rounds.
With the draw, Garbatt moves to (7-6-2, 3 KOs) and Trivilino
moves to (9-5-3, 1 KO). Though she is (0-3-1) in the last four
fights, Garbatt proved that she is still an A-Level opponent
capable of battling the best at featherweight. Trivilino, with
the draw, keeps her hopes of a title shot alive and is a capable
opponent.
This fight was executed on the highest possible level by two
fan-friendly female boxers and was received well by those in
attendance. A special thanks to Ares Promotions, who usually
schedule at least one female boxing match on their cards.
Promoter: Ares Promotions
Venue: Saratoga City Center
Attendance: 800 (estimate)
Mark A. Jones