BRUCE Carrington cemented his world-class credentials by knocking out Bryan De Gracia in the eighth round of their 10-fight featherweight bout. 'Shu Shu' was a major contributor to Xander Zayas' lopsided decision victory over Patrick Teixeira in the main event.
The Brownsville native used his phone early to weigh in on De Gracia, who agreed to the fight on three days' notice. Hailing from Panama, De Gracia had one of the all-time stars, Roberto Duran, admire his countryman's work at ringside.
Carrington landed a powerful left hook at the end of the second round and followed it up in the third round with a calculated body attack that bounced all the way to De Gracia's thigh. Described by ESPN pundit Mark Kriegel as having “Brownsville swagger mixed with Olympic pedigree”, Carrington sent his man to the canvas in the fifth round when a shot landed on the back of Bryan's wobbly head.
Prior to his latest loss to Edward Vazquez, De Gracia was enjoying a five-fight KO streak but has been inactive since his mid-2023 loss. The speed was starting to show for the Panamanian whose nose was bleeding at the start of the sixth hour. Carrington was the one who smelled blood and sent De Gracia spinning through the ropes at the end of the seventh round for another count.
The former WBA Fedecentro featherweight champion had nothing left and Carrington closed out the bout in the eighth round, wearing down his desperate opponent, landing a flurry of blows that prompted referee Eric Dali to step in at 2-56 of the eighth.
Carrington was well aware of Naoya Inoue's presence in the crowd, and said: “There's a reason he came to look at me, I'm making noise.” I definitely want to make that fight happen as soon as possible.”
Carrington improved his record to 12-0 (8 KOs). De Gracia falls to 29-4-1 (25 KOs) but may be brought back to test other young prospects at future Top Rank shows. The unused judges were Ken Ezzo, Max DeLuca, and Bernard Bruni.
Listed as ESPN's prospect of the year for 2023, Bruce entered as the fourth-ranked fighter by the WBO. Champion Rafael Espinoza fights Sergio Sanchez on June 21. Below Carrington is Ruben Villa, who would represent a tough test to see if Carrington can hang at the top.
Carrington is number 12 in the IBF. Luis Alberto Lopez, who is also part of the Top Rank stable, holds that title. Rey Vargas currently (almost) holds the WBC title, and Brandon Figueroa has their Interim bauble. Carrington is seventh in that organization.
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