Elijah Garcia wasn’t the least bit surprised that Armando Resendiz upset Jarrett Hurd on March 4.

The ascending Garcia couldn’t watch Resendiz’s victory over Hurd live because he was busy celebrating his own career-changing upset of previously unbeaten middleweight contender Amilcar Vidal, which occurred in the televised bout before Resendiz’s 10th-round knockout of the former 154-pound champion at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. Their impressive victories six months ago eventually led to TGB Promotions’ Tom Brown and Premier Boxing Champions’ Al Haymon matching these young, strong middleweights on the Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo undercard September 30.

The 10-round bout between Garcia, 20, and Resendiz, 24, will open Showtime Pay-Per-View’s four-fight telecast from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas ($84.99; 8 p.m. EDT; 5 p.m. PDT). DraftKings lists Garcia (15-0, 12 KOs), of Wittmann, Arizona, as a 7-1 favorite to defeat Resendiz (14-1, 10 KOs), of Compostela, Nayarit, Mexico.  

“It’s a fight for the fans, man,” Garcia told BoxingScene.com. “It’s gonna be a good, high-action fight. I know Resendiz comes with a lotta punches, he comes in shape and he comes to win. Resendiz is a very tough opponent and I’m not taking anything lightly. He came off a big win with Hurd. That’s a pretty big win if you ask me.”

The rugged Resendiz battered Hurd and won by 10th-round knockout when a gruesome gash on Hurd’s lip caused a ringside physician to suggest that referee Ray Corona stop their bout before the 10th round truly got going. Hurd trailed on all three scorecards – 89-82, 87-84 and 87-84 – through nine rounds in the co-feature of a Showtime Championship Boxing tripleheader.

Beating Hurd (24-3, 16 KOs) rejuvenated Resendiz’s career two fights after Marcos Hernandez (16-6-2, 3 KOs) upset him by unanimous decision in a 10-rounder in September 2021 at The Armory in Minneapolis.

“My dad always says the guys with one or two losses are the most dangerous guys to fight,” said Garcia, whose dad, retired heavyweight George Garcia, is one of his trainers. “You know, they ain’t got nothing to lose and if they’re still fighting, they’re fighting to become a champion. You know, a loss isn’t a bad thing. A loss is a lesson. A loss will teach you everything you didn’t know about yourself.”

Garcia-Resendiz on paper appears to be one of three compelling, competitive fights on the televised portion of the Alvarez-Charlo undercard. It will also include a 12-round WBC interim welterweight championship bout between Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas (27-5, 12 KOs) and San Antonio’s Mario Barrios (27-2, 18 KOs) and a 12-round, 154-pound battle in which Jesus Ramos (20-0, 16 KOs), of Casa Grande, Arizona, will encounter Erickson Lubin (25-2, 18 KOs), of Orlando, Florida.

“I’ve seen cards that aren’t the best and I hear people talk about the card, trash it or whatever,” Garcia said. “But I’ve got nothing but positive comments on it. And it’s something to be very happy to be a part of. You got me and Resendiz, you got Canelo and Charlo, you got Lubin and Ramos, and you got Ugas and Mario Barrios. It’s an action-packed card and it’s something very exciting to be a part of.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.