By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Ryan Garcia pulled off a revenge boxing tour just before 2023 ends after knocking out Oscar Duarte last December 2, 2023, held at the Toyota Center in Houston.
Months after absorbing his first-ever professional boxing loss to Gervonta “Tank” Davis, Garcia promised his fans that they would never see “King Ryan” put to sleep again.
Those words then turned out to be true as Garcia pulled off an eighth-round knockout over Duarte to redeem himself under the new tutelage of renowned boxing coach Derrick James.
James, the handler of former pound-for-pound champions Errol Spence Jr. and the Charlo twins, injected a familiar style into Garcia’s stance that was quickly evident against Duarte.
Known to be a reckless fighter, Garcia was never in a hurry against Duarte. He looked calm and was patient in picking his spots since the official match bell rang.
Although far from perfect in executing James’ signature tactic, Garcia had a leap of improvement in terms of his ring maturity. From the get-go, the explosive fighter didn’t rush his offense and found necessary openings to become a more efficient boxer.
Despite Duarte’s quick counters when Garcia threw his long haymakers, the flashy fighter didn’t move forward but chose to backpedal and recalibrate his attack.
It was in the eighth round when Garcia totally hurt Duarte after landing a huge left hand that completely wobbled him.
Sensing that Duarte got hurt, Garcia followed it up with a series of quick hooks that sent the challenger down to the canvas.
The match referee then waived off the fight after Duarte failed to make the 10-count rule and was still shaky in his attempt.
“He was a strong fighter. He took a good punch. I have a killer instinct; sometimes, when I hurt somebody that bad, I just be crackin’ ‘em, but it was pretty basic technique,” said Garcia during the post-fight interview.
