On Saturday, December 2, Ryan Garcia knocked Oscar Duarte out in the eighth round at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. With the knockout victory, Garcia improved his professional record to 24-1 with 20 stoppage victories.
“What a spectacular performance by Ryan [Garcia],” Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya said after the fight.
“Oscar Duarte was game. Congratulations, Ryan.”
Garcia returns to the winners’ circle after losing his professional fight in April at the hands of Gervonta “Tank” Davis. Since then, he has moved up to a new weight class and enlisted the help of superstar trainer Derrick James. Moving forward, Garcia hopes to fight WBA Super Lightweight Champion In Recess Rolando “Rolly” Romero. From there, he’d like to fight the likes of Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez.
“You got beat up by that old dude, we know what happened,” Garcia told DAZN’s Chris Mannix when asked if he’d like to fight Romero.
“Let’s keep building. Then, we can go after Devin Haney [and] Teofimo Lopez.”
Devin Haney is set to fight Regis Prograis for the WBC Super Lightweight Championship on Saturday, December 9 in San Francisco, California. In contrast, Romero has been inactive since he earned a controversial victory against Ismael Barroso in May. As for Teofimo Lopez, his future seems unclear as he and Top Rank search for an opponent that fits both of their interests.
