Ryan Garcia rebounds from first loss to knock out Duarte in 8th round
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Junior welterweight star Ryan Garcia put the drama of his war of words with promoter Oscar De La Hoya during fight week aside and used his fists to take out his real opponent, Oscar Duarte, in an eighth-round knockout victory on Saturday night at the Toyota Center in Houston.
Garcia rebounded from his first loss, a seventh-round knockout on a body shot by Gervonta Davis in their 136-pound catch weight mega pay-per-view fight on April 22 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Making is return to headline the Golden Boy card on DAZN in a fight contracted at 143 pounds, Garcia encountered some trouble from the very aggressive Duarte but mostly controlled the fight with his speed, movement and, ultimately, power shots.
“I fought hard to find myself again. I did a lot of soul searching,” Garcia said of his life since the loss to Davis, after which he fired trainer Joe Goossen, hired Derrick James and left behind the distractions of Los Angeles, where he lives, and relocated to Dallas for training camp at James’ gym.
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