Four minutes and 25 seconds
Ryan Garcia wasted no time. On Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the American retained his WBC welterweight title by stopping Conor Benn with 1:25 left in the second round.
The fight turned on one right hand. Garcia sent the Brit to the canvas. Benn got up, maybe a little too fast. Garcia piled on along the ropes and gave him no chance to breathe. Referee Thomas Taylor stepped in and waved it off before the bell.
It was Garcia’s quickest finish in six years. The Californian had promised an all-out settlement in front of the media. He backed it up.
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First defence, first statement
Garcia was putting his belt on the line for the first time. He had taken it from Mario Barrios in February. Seven months later, he keeps it and leaves with his stock boosted in no uncertain terms.
For Benn, the step up was huge. The Brit had waited a long time for this shot and weighed in on Friday at 146 pounds, half a kilo above Garcia. His game plan never even got a chance to get going.
The crowd turned out in force. 18,855 spectators packed the arena for a gate of $8,030,076. The biggest boxing event of the year in the United States did the business commercially, even if the action in the ring didn’t always match the billing.
A card that outlasted the main event
The rest of the night went a lot further. Jai Opetaia stopped Noel Mikaelian in the ninth round and is now 31-0, with 24 wins inside the distance.
Alexis Rocha beat Jose Ramirez on points over ten rounds, with wide cards of 98-91, 98-91 and 97-92 in a fight many ringside had much closer. Ramirez, 34, now has three straight defeats.
Vlad Panin stopped Dakota Linger in round four. Sean Garcia, the champion’s younger brother, kicked off the family show with a majority decision over Abraham Morales, complete with a knockdown in the third round.
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