NEW YORK – If this was Danny Garcia’s final fight, he went out with a bang.
Garcia, a former two-division world champion, scored a spectacular one-punch knockout of Danny Gonzalez early Sunday morning here at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The final punch was a left hook, which sent Gonzalez crashing to the canvas, back first. Gonzalez, 22-5-1 (7 KOs), attempted to stand up but fell back down, prompting referee Harvey Dock to wave off the fight 45 seconds into the round.
The victory raised Garcia’s record to 38-4 (22 KOs). The 37-year-old Garcia, a former unified junior welterweight and WBC welterweight titleholder from Philadelphia, had said before the fight that he was “85 percent sure” that this bout – his 10th career start at the Barclays Center – would be his last-ever fight, as he wants to preserve his long-term health after 18 years as a professional.
Still, an emotional Garcia left the possibility of another fight open, saying “it’s a high chance, yeah,” that he could return to the ring again.
From the opening bell, it was clear that Garcia’s power was still formidable. Midway through the first round, Garcia landed an overhand right high on the temple that wobbled the legs of Gonzalez, a native of the Woodhaven section of Queens. Gonzalez got his legs underneath him again and closed the round with a flurry of blows.
Gonzalez, who was fighting for the first time above welterweight, looked like the smaller man of the two, even if his upper body was more developed. The 35-year-old Gonzalez began to open up in the second round, flurrying with body shots that opened up a hook upstairs, to little effect.
Garcia continued to find the target with right hands in the third, which was a harbinger of things to come in the final stanza.
Garcia, whose left hook had been one of the most dramatic punches of the 2010s, still had plenty of spring in it, as he uncorked one that was reminiscent of those he landed on Amir Khan and Erik Morales in title fights of years past.
Garcia’s Swift Promotions promoted the 14-fight event, which featured a number of prospects he has signed to his company, including welterweight Quincey Williams and junior middleweight Cristian Cangelosi.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
