By Edward Chaykovsky

Puerto Rico's Roman Martinez (27-2-2) felt the power of Mikey Garcia (33-0, 28KOs) from the very first round. Garcia landed a perfect shot to the body to put Martinez down for the full count in the eight round, capturing the WBO super featherweight title at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. In the second, Martinez caught Garcia with a counter that put him down. Martinez knew he was in for a serious fight when he saw Garcia rise to his feet without any damage.

They had previously fought on the same card on January 19 in New York, when Garcia won the WBO featherweight title with an eight round technical decision of Orlando Salido, and Martinez retained his title with a disputed twelve round draw against Juan Carlos Burgos.

"I felt his power from the very first punch. He's a strong fighter. I knew I was fighting a high quality opponent and I knew when I knocked him down the first time that he wasn't hurt," Martinez said.