Ryan Garcia scored a seventh round knockout of Luke Campbell, but had to get off the canvas himself before ensuring victory in their Interim WBC Lightweight title clash in Dallas, Texas on Saturday night.
Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) made a fast start, walking down Campbell (20-4, 16 KOs) and unloading with swift shots, but the Brit did land a short right hook of his own towards the end of the first frame.
The 22-year-old though would be faced with the first gut check of his career hallway through round two, when Campbell landed a massive looping left hand right on the chin that dropped the hot prospect.
Garcia survived the count and shrugged off the setback by seeing out the round well, and then enjoying a strong third.
Campbell’s counter punching was effective, even in the face of some fast hands from his opponent, but he took a big left hand right on the bell to end round five that forced the 33-year-old to take refuge on the ropes.
Garcia sensed that Campbell was still hurt and went right on the attack to open the sixth round, but the fog soon cleared and the former two-time world title challenger was again back to countering any sloppy shot, and he also landed with a straight right hand during the round.
LUKE CAMPBELL PUTS RYAN GARCIA ON THE CANVAS IN ROUND 2 💥 pic.twitter.com/hCQaPiVHjY
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) January 2, 2021
The conclusion to the contest came just after the halfway mark of round seven, when a perfectly timed left hand to the body forced Campbell onto both of his knees, and he couldn’t beat the count as agony was etched all over his face.
The win catapults Garcia into the equation in the Lightweight ranks, with Teofimo Lopez, Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney, who he is in line to face next having picked up the WBC Interim crown.
🗣️ “I’m a man of my word Tank, let’s go!”
🥊 @KingRyanG calls for a showdown with @Gervontaa in the aftermath of his victory over @luke11campbell! 🔥
🤔 Who would win this future clash❓
🔁 GARCIA
❤️ TANK#Boxing #GarciaCampbell pic.twitter.com/E2b3Tnsbdb— Pro Boxing Fans (@ProBoxingFans) January 3, 2021
Alvarado concedes world title in Gutierrez rematch
Rene Alvarado dropped his WBA Super Bantamweight title in his first defence, as Venezuela’s Roger Gutierrez took a razor-thin points win, to become the new champion.
Alvarado (32-9, 21 KOs) had won a one-sided original meeting in July 2017 via seventh round knockout, but found Gutierrez (25-3-1, 20 KOs) a much tougher prospect this time around.
In a sublime third round, the 31-year-old was down twice, firstly by a short right uppercut which dazed him badly. On the resumption, Alvarado decided to fight fire with fire, and was met with a straight right hand that back pedalled him to the canvas.
An emotional victory for the new WBA Super Featherweight Champion Roger Gutierrez #ForMom #GarciaCampbell @DAZNBoxing #GarciaCampbell pic.twitter.com/K1h7iKGmwP
— Golden Boy (@GoldenBoyBoxing) January 2, 2021
The Nicaraguan impressively ended the round getting off hurtful shots of his own.
Alvarado recovered well, and controlled the following rounds in the main, but they were full of action, and the champion went down for a third time from a crisp left hook in the final frame to put the fight back in the balance.
Three scores of 113-112 ensured Gutierrez got the nod.
Alvarado retains crown against Kriel
Rene’s twin brother Felix Alvarado had better luck, as he defended his IBF Light Flyweight title for the second time with a tenth round stoppage of the brave DeeJay Kriel.
Every shot that Alvarado (36-2, 31 KOs) threw had bad intentions, and the contest was all action.
Kriel (16-2-1, 8 KOs) was down early in the second round from a big left hand, and another flush left hand had the South African hard on the canvas and hurt in the fourth.
Kriel rallied to his credit, but by the end of the ninth, he was exhausted, and in the tenth, as he sagged back into the ropes, the referee had seen enough.
Curiel blasts out Agaton
At Welterweight, Raul Curiel remained unbeaten, as he bounced Ramses Agaton around the ring before the referee stepped in midway through the second round.
Curiel (9-0, 7 KOs) dropped Agaton (22-13-3, 12 KOs) in the opener with a sledgehammer left to the body, and he never truly recovered as the 25-year-old launched attack after attack until the conclusion.
Garcia edges Marquez
Ryan Garcia’s brother Sean opened the televised show, and he made his DAZN debut with a hard-fought majority points win over four rounds against Rene Marquez (5-6, 2 KOs) at Lightweight.
Two scores of 39-37 trumped a third at 38-38 to hand Garcia (6-0, 2 KOs) his sixth win.
