By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)
Ryan Garcia was making his comeback after losing to Gervonta Davis against Oscar Durate, who was 26-1 coming into this bout with twenty-one knockouts. Until the eighth round, it was even fight that proved round for Garcia as Durante mauling and aggressive tactics troubled Garcia most of the fight. Both fighters landed a similar number of punches with Garcia landing more jabs and Durante more power shots.
Punch Stats
| PUNCHES | GARCIA | DUARTE |
| Total landed | 70 | 69 |
| Total thrown | 300 | 287 |
| Percent | 23% | 24% |
| Jabs landed | 15 | 7 |
| Jabs thrown | 162 | 112 |
| Percent | 9% | 6% |
| Power landed | 55 | 62 |
| Power thrown | 138 | 175 |
| Percent | 40% | 35% |
| — Courtesy of CompuBox | ||
Garcia found a home for lightening left hook that stunned Durante in the eighth round before landing several power shots sending Durante down.
In the early rounds, Garcia came out early to take advantage of his reach, but he also showed defensive inconsistencies that hurt him against Davis in his previous fight. Durante didn’t back down and stalked Garcia with successes early in the fight with body shots digging to the body. Durante continued to pressure Garcia into the middle rounds. The pressure exposed Garcia defensive inadequacy Garcia noted , “He was building momentum, momentum and I was like, ‘Man, I gotta cut this off somehow.’ … He was a strong fighter. He took a good punch. … I hit him with some hard shots, and he just kept coming.”
Ryan Garcia now is back in the win column and looking for his shot at a title as he managed to stop Durante who had not been stopped before 27 fights before.
Excellent reporting, as ALWAYS. I’m really looking forward to dmboxing.com covering yet another year of boxing. Congratulations! PS- Garcia is in over his head, is whistling in the dark and I think he’s peaked.
Well said Joel. I concur with everything you said.