Mikey Garcia landed an eighth-round body-shot knockout against Rocky Martinez to take his junior lightweight title on Saturday night at the American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas. Martinez dropped Garcia with a short right hand in round two, but Mikey beat the count.
“I felt his power from the very first punch,” said the 30-year-old Martinez. “He’s a strong fighter. I knew I was fighting a high-quality opponent and I knew when I knocked him down the first time that he wasn’t hurt.”
A left hook to the body finished the job at 0:56 of round eight. It was a very impressive performance for Garcia, who, by taking Martinez’s 130-pound title, knocked off Puerto Rico’s last remaining titleholder — an almost unimaginable situation for an island that has produced so many great champions.
Garcia told HBO’s Max Kellerman after the fight about his second knock down of his career “I just got caught. I was coming with a 1-2 and he caught me with his right hand. It happens in boxing. He caught me on the chin. I was fine. I wasn’t dizzy. He just caught me with a good right hand.”
“I had him hurt earlier [in the eighth round] with a right hand on top, and he was covering up, so I went for the body and caught him on the liver,” Garcia said. “He was pretty hurt.”
In a grudge rematch, Nonito Donaire (32-2, 21 KOs) scored an exciting ninth round TKO over Vic Darchinyan (39-6-1, 28 KOs). After a cautious round one, both fighters rocked each other with big shots in round two. Tremendous toe-to-toe action in rounds four and five with Darchinyan getting the better of it. The end came in round nine when Donaire dropped Darchinyan with a left hook to the jaw and got the stoppage with his follow up barrage. Referee Laurence Cole waved it off at 2:06. At the time of the stoppage, Darchinyan was ahead by 78-74 on two cards with the other card at 76-76.
This kid is something special to watch. He continues to impress and he hasn’t given us anything to see as a weakness. He’s got a very bright future in this sport and he’s the only youngster I dont see being exposed in the near future.
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