Ryan Garcia bounced back from his first loss with a knockout of Oscar Duarte in the eighth round of their lightweight bout on Saturday night in Houston.
Garcia was in trouble in the middle rounds, but he landed a big left hook in the eighth round that sent Duarte to the canvas. Duarte got up, but the referee stopped the fight with nine seconds left in the round.
“I just had to slow his momentum down,” Garcia said. “He was building momentum, momentum, and I was like, ‘Man, I got to cut this off somehow.’ … He was a strong fighter. He took a good punch. … I hit him with some hard shots, and he just kept coming.”
Garcia improved to 24-1, 20 KOs, while Duarte fell to 26-2-1, 21 KOs.
The fight was Garcia’s first since he lost to Gervonta Davis in April. Garcia said he is now ready to move on to bigger fights.
“I’m committed to becoming a world champion,” he said.
Garcia called out 140-pound titleholder Rolly Romero, who also owns a stoppage loss to Davis.
“If Rollies wants that, bring it on, Rollies,” Garcia said. “Let’s keep building, and then we can go after Devin Haney and all the other dudes — Teofimo. But you know, we gotta take our steps.”
Garcia also has some unfinished business with his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy. Garcia sent a demand letter to Golden Boy in June alleging violations of his contract. Golden Boy responded with a lawsuit to enforce that promotional agreement.
The case has yet to be resolved, but Garcia said he is not worried about it.
“It just comes with the territory,” he said. “I’m a person about moving forward, having a kind heart, showing forgiveness. … I have no hard feelings towards nobody. I just hope the truth prevails, and that’s it.”
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