Ryan Garcia halts Oscar Duarte in eight rounds

Ryan Garcia needed to get via some tough moments and a few boos from the group throughout his comeback bout in opposition to rugged light-weight fringe contender Oscar Duarte, however the California star scored an eighth-round KO on Saturday at a packed Toyota Middle in Houston, Texas, to rebound from his high-profile stoppage loss to Gervonta Davis in April.

The Davis struggle, an enormous occasion and a monetary success, confirmed Garcia as one of many boxing’s greatest sights, however the nature of the loss put his stature as a respectable contender in query.

In opposition to Duarte, a hardnosed slugger from Chihuahua, Mexico, it was clear that Garcia was looking for solutions as he switched his techniques from boxing tall to shoulder-roll-pull-counters to punching on the fly and trying to set traps. Might he take a flush shot to the top or physique? Might he deal with Duarte’s strain and roughhouse techniques? Might he clip the streaking Mexican?

Finally, Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) proved that he might. The 25-year-old is a millionaire, however he didn’t at all times seem like one million bucks coping with Duarte’s dogged aggression. The underdog was in a position to take Garcia’s finest uppercuts and verify hooks through the early rounds. Though Garcia managed the gap for a lot of the bout, he couldn’t forestall Duarte from getting in shut and touchdown hooks and physique pictures (in addition to kidney punches, low blows and rabbit punches, which drew a number of warnings from the referee).

Garcia seemed awkward and uncomfortable at occasions, however he was by no means wobbled or knocked off stability. Duarte (26-2-1, 21 KOs) pressed arduous, however he traded in his regular punch quantity for a protecting excessive guard, which held up till Spherical 8.

“[Duarte] was a powerful fighter; he took a very good punch,” Garcia stated throughout his post-fight interview. “He simply saved coming. It was powerful, very powerful. [Trainer] Derrick [James] advised me to make use of my legs a little bit bit and the KO would come. I simply needed to sluggish his momentum down.”

Garcia, who appeared to get extra snug with Duarte’s aggression in Spherical 6, might have lured the Mexican light-weight right into a lure together with his stick-and-move techniques in Rounds 7 and eight.

The fixed lateral motion brought on some within the crowd of 10,000 to boo loudly, however the bicycle routine obtained Duarte to lunge in sufficient for Garcia to lastly catch him with a hook to the temple.

“Jab, step again, he reaches, and I caught him with a counter hook,” Garcia stated, explaining how he landed the punch that turned the struggle.

The punch immediately lowered Duarte’s legs to rubber, inflicting him to momentarily fall into the ropes. Garcia jumped on Duarte and his follow-up salvo put the wounded fighter down to 1 knee. Duarte took his time getting up, perhaps attending to his ft between referee James Inexperienced’s depend of 9 and 10, convincing the official to wave the bout off at 2:51 of the spherical.

He’s BACK! Ryan Garcia stops Oscar Duarte within the eighth spherical 🥊 #GarciaDuarte pic.twitter.com/YPZWc8CD9p

— Golden Boy (@GoldenBoyBoxing) December 3, 2023

Some will say it was a untimely stoppage, however Duarte was nonetheless on very wobbly legs.

“Shoutout to Derrick James,” Garcia stated. “It’s our first struggle collectively. We’ll construct off this and get higher.”

Garcia, who weighed in at 142.8 kilos, known as out WBA 140-pound beltholder Rolando Romero, one other Tank Davis KO sufferer. The elites of the junior welterweight division, similar to Ring champ Teofimo Lopez and the winner of the following Saturday’s Regis Prograis-Devin Haney struggle, can come later, he stated.