Last night on TruTV, Top Rank promoted fighter Glen Tapia entered the ring in his home state of New Jersey to face Michel Soro of France. The USBA and NABO titles at Super Welterweight were on the line, and Tapia, who was 23-1 overall coming in, was a wide favorite at the books.
Unfortunately for Tapia, who was still trying to rebuild his name up after a December 2013 loss to James Kirkland, but it was not to be, as Soro landed a big punch that rattled Tapia, and the follow-up flurry got the referee to stop it.
This is a big setback for Tapia, who Top Rank has been grooming as a potential future big draw. He has the regional and ethnic potential appeal of an Arturo Gatti, with his Jersey roots and gritty, hard punching style. The loss to Kirkland was hard to measure, as Kirkland has always been talented but troubled. The questions were amplified because despite the big win, Kirkland had not fought since, while Tapia did the work of getting back in there and he went 3-0 since the loss.
Tonight, Kirkland returns for the biggest fight of his life against Saul Alvarez, and if Kirkland could manage a strong showing or even pull out a win, it would put Tapia’s loss to him in a new light. But Tapia needed to beat Soro as well, and he failed to do that. Tapia came out fast as usual, and he threw his trademark body shots in the early going. The Frenchman seemed tentative at first, but when he got going he landed the cleaner, harder punches.
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In the co-main event, light heavyweight Sean Monaghan moved his record to 24-0 with a win over Brazil’s Cleiton Conceicao by unanimous decision. The fight was a showcase for Monaghan, who has the look of a local drawing card that Top Rank is grooming. Conceicao is a journeyman, and he was tentative in the early going, but he grew in confidence against Monaghan and he made a bit of a fight out of it. Tapia was exposed a little bit with this loss as less than a top shelf fighter, and despite this win, Monaghan too looks like he is going to need a steady diet of hand-picked competition to continue winning.
