25-year-old Super Featherweight Joshua "Spotty" Montoya is a star. The 6-3-2 (0) Lubbock native, who now fights out of and trains in San Antonio with Luey Villareal, is a superstar and will get a massive opportunity to show off his skills Saturday night on ESPN+ live from the Tahoe Blue Event Center in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Montoya will square up with undefeated prospect Gabriel Garcia, 9-0 (6), of Antioch, California.
The only thing faster than Montoya's lighting-quick left hooks and lead right hands is his mouth. The Texan has the gift of gab and the skills and athleticism to back it up. The hyper-athletic Montoya may not have the thinnest record in the sport, but the record is misleading. The 25-year-old took massive challenges very early in his career, dropping competitive decisions to Javy Fernendez and Armondo Moran. He started his career with a record of 0-2-2 (0). Things quickly changed as the Texan relocated to Alamo City and got with Villareal. The Lubbock native has a second-to-none work ethic, has shown massive improvements, and ran off four wins in a row against stiff competition and picked up both an ABF and a Texas title in that stretch. Those four opponents, which included two undefeated fighters, had a combined record of 28-8-1. In the streak, he outpointed Nelson "Hot Hands" Hampton, plus Laredo native and fan favorite Jorge Ramos, at The Sames Auto Arena in Laredo. After putting on a master class performance against Ramos in front of his hometown fans, the crowd erupted in boos, to which Montoya responded with, "Just shut the hell up and enjoy the show" The show that "Spotty" has put on over the last 15-months has been nothing less than entertaining, to say the least. With a win over Garcia, the kid who started 0-2-2 will establish himself as a legitimate prospect in the 130-pound division. Montoya has built himself up a large social media following as well. He has amassed nearly 25,000 Instagram followers and 70,000 on TikTok.
Montoya will enter the ring as the underdog, but he feels no pressure and isn't overwhelmed by the opportunity. He said of the fight, televised by ESPN, "It's just another day...we had a month, we had a good camp." Montoya is clearly not in awe of the big stage, and he'll need that calm and confidence that he possesses when he steps in with Garcia, a touted prospect who last fought on the Fundora-Mendoza PBC card and scored a split decision victory over Marco Diaz back in April.
Courtesy of 210 BOXING TV