Boxing’s New Year has started with a bang as ‘King Ry’ Ryan Garcia overcame being knocked down to defeat British title contender, Luke Campbell by 7th round knockout at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas. The bout was originally to take place on December 5th of 2020, but the fight was postponed due to Campbell (20-4, 16 KOs) testing positive for COVID-19.
The moment proved not to be too big for Garcia, 22 to handle as he controlled and dictated the flow of the fight early on. But in the 2nd round, Campbell set up Garcia by feinting a straight right hand to the body and catching him with an overhand left that sat Garcia down on the canvas, for the first time in his career. Garcia arose quickly and looked over at his corner, said he was fine, and continued with the round. The flash knockdown didn’t seem to hurt, nor deter Garcia, as he continued to stand his ground. The 5th round saw Garcia hurt Campbell with a counter overhand left, that landed on Campbell’s temple and had the Brit retreating to end the round. Sensing the end was near, in the 6th, Garcia stalked and tried to look for the knockout but realizing that Campbell had recovered, he went back to being patient and waiting for his chance. The 7th round provided the opportunity he was looking for when he landed a perfect left hook to Campbell’s ribs, which sent him to his knees and unable to beat referee, Laurence Cole’s count at the 1:58 mark of the round.
Garcia moves to 21-0 (18 KOs) and hopes to secure a bout against another WBC titlist, Devin Haney, or WBA titlist, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. This was the first time Campbell, 33 has been stopped in his professional career. His last fight was a 2019 unanimous decision defeat at the hands of former champion, Vasyl Lomachenko.
