After all the trash talking by Danny Garcia’s father before the fight, which was just ridiculous banter, Garcia’s father probably thinks he was right. But if you watched the fight, his son caught the British Amir Khan (26-3, 18KO’s) in the third round with a lucky punch. If you don’t believe me, look very close at the slow motion shot. Garcia’s eyes were closed when he threw the punch and he hit Khan in one of the weirdest places in a boxing fight, right on his neck, just below Khan’s right ear and Khan went down. He quickly got up, but it still will be his fault, because as most boxing fans will say, he failed to “protect himself at all times.” The last time we heard that overstated quote, it was to defend the cheapest shot in boxing history, by the most overrated boxer in history. This time boxing fans will use it to make Garcia (24-0, 15KO’s) much more than he actually is, and that is, just lucky.
Yes Garcia is a good fighter with great boxing skills, yes he is an undefeated fighter, but let’s not let it get out of hand. In the first round which was even at that time, it was clear Garcia was much slower than Khan, although he did connected with a few good counter punches. At the end of the first round, Garcia was already cut right above his right eye and before the second round, Garcia’s corner quickly worked to stop the bleeding. The cut was not very big but it could have gotten worse if the fight lasted longer. In the second round, Khan was still connecting with the quicker hands as he was able to catch and counter Garcia with the best of it. Garcia actually looked like he was somewhat rattled, perhaps because of the cut on his eye, as he countered with wild punches.
With three championship belts on the line, and just as it looked like Khan was going to continue to control the fight, in the last 30 seconds of the round, Garcia struck lighting in a bottle and landed a blind left hook to the head of Khan and he went down. He quickly got up and after the referee continued the fight, with ten seconds to go in the round, Garcia went after him. To Khan’s credit, he was able to actually withstand the barrage and land some good punches of his own, and he survived the round.
Before the fourth round, Freddie Roach and Khan’s corner furiously tried to revive Khan and get him ready for the next round. In what appeared as a rejuvenation of Khan at the beginning of the fourth round, apparently his senses were not clear from the knockdown in the previous round. As the round started, Garcia went after Khan and just ten seconds into the round, he landed two looping right hands and a third one as Khan retreated to the ropes and he almost went down but caught his balance, but his gloves still touched the canvas. He was given a standing count by the referee, and he was allowed to continue, and to his credit, Khan landed a big left hook to the head of Garcia as they fought toe to toe.
At just about 50 seconds to go in the fourth, Garcia landed another looping right hand to the top of Khan’s forehead and as Khan was going down, Garcia landed another left and Khan went down again. The referee then began to ask Khan if he could continue, and it appeared that Khan said he could, but apparently the referee didn’t agree and the fight was stopped. The official time of the stoppage was at 2:38 of the fourth round.
Garcia, who was a 50 to 1 underdog going into the fight is now the new Ring Magazine Junior welterweight champion, WBA super lightweight champion and defending WBC Super lightweight champion of the world.
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