Ryan Garcia didn’t just “get the win.” He shut the noise down in Round 2.
WBC welterweight title. First defense. T-Mobile Arena. Conor Benn coming forward like the script said he would — pressure, body work, try to make it ugly. Garcia had already told the world what was coming: Benn can’t outbox him, so he’ll rush.
And then the shot everyone wasn’t talking about.
Pre-fight, the left hook got all the romance. On the night? A lightning right hand put Benn on the canvas. Eight-count. Benn tried to continue. Garcia swarmed. Referee Thomas Taylor waved it off at 1:25 of Round 2.
That’s not a debate. That’s a statement finish.
Garcia moves to 26-2 (21 KOs). Benn’s big welterweight night ends early. And before the gloves were cold, “King Ry” was already pointing at the next names ringside — Teofimo Lopez… and the old rival, Devin Haney.
So here’s the real question:
Was this the night Garcia reminded everyone he’s still the problem… or the night the welterweight division just got a lot louder?
Despite suffering narrow losses, Ben Ligas and Jules Victoriano produced next level performances in the belt fights in Vietnam last night.
Ligas faced the vastly experienced Uzbek, the much revered "mini Tyson " Olimjon Nazarov. This was quality boxing from both, with "the Sniper" bringing the cleaner punches, but perhaps lacking the aggression of Nazarov, who looked constantly keen for work. This was a hard match to score, as neither fighter was particularly dominant in a see sawing affair, and the body shot in the 11th where Ligas took a knee was perhaps the only real difference.
Dinh Hong Quan is physically indomitable, and with his height and reach, this improving Vietnam boxer is a task for anybody. It was anticipated that Jules Victoriano would give him his toughest test to date, and he definitely didn't disappoint !
This was a great fight, and is probably best viewed in two parts. Victoriano boxed beautifully in the early rounds, but despite landing nice shots, the Vietnam champ kept stealing rounds with some heavier and more direct landed shots. Quan also "appeared" more dominant, more frequently backing Victoriano up and putting him on to combos.
Going into the second half of the fight, Victoriano definitely lifted his output and accuracy, and even gave the Vietnam opponent a couple of "dig deep" moments !
This was an exciting and fantastic match up, that very easily could have been scored a draw, it was that evenly contested! There is no doubt that Dinh Hong Quan produced the best performance of his career last night, and this was really needed because of the beautiful boxing skills displayed by Jules Victoriano.
VSP would love to see these two great young fighters rematch at a later date, maybe on a bigger stage!
Post event, all smiles, and pictured are Coach Toto Laurente, Ben Ligas, VSP Vietnam boss Lim Song, and Jules Victoriano. Great job by all !
