By: William Holmes
Golden Boy Promotions staged a championship bout between Danny Garcia (24-0, 15KOs) and Amir Khan (26-3, 18KOs) at the Mandalay Bay Resorts in Las Vegas, Nevada, and it turned into a brawl that delivered torrid action and excited the fans.
Angel Garcia, the father of Danny Garcia, had made some very controversial statements in the buildup to the fight, including stating he “never met a Pakistani that could fight. “
While that was certainly not an accurate statement, Danny Garcia proved tonight that he was a better fighter than Amir Khan.
Khan came into the fight on Saturday with a height, reach, and speed advantage over Garcia, and he was so confident that he could beat Garcia that he was already talking about moving up in weight to fight either Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Timothy Bradley. Those plans have now come to a screeching halt.
Khan started out aggressive, and the first round featured some exciting exchanges with Khan landing his straight right hand cleanly several times–but Garcia was not backing down from Amir Khan. Garcia suffered a cut over his right eye in the second round, and was missing with wild hay-makers as he tried to counter the lightning quick hands of Khan.
In round three, Garcia landed a vicious left hook on Khan’s right ear and neck that sent him crashing to the canvas. The Brit was able to beat the ten count, but he remained on very wobbly legs. He was somehow able to finish the round, but was unable to stop the onslaught of Danny Garcia as the fight progressed.
Garcia knocked Khan down again in the fourth round, and continued to pound him with measured hay-makers. Khan went down again in the fourth round and was able to beat the count again, but the referee Kenny Bayless wisely stopped the fight.
Amir Khan suffered a cut over his right eye, and was never able to regain his equilibrium from the brutal third round knockdown.
Danny Garcia shocked the world with a 4th round TKO at 2:28.