Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) proved that he's the real deal on Saturday night, when he captured the interim WBC lightweight championship with a seventh round body-shot knockout against 2012 Olympic gold medal winner Luke Campbell (20-4, 16 KOs) of Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
Before a crowd of 6,000 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, Garcia closed the show at 1:58 of the aforementioned seventh round.
Leading up to the fight, Campbell had tabbed Garcia as nothing more than a social media fighter.
And it almost appeared that way in the second round, when Garcia was dropped very hard from a counter left hand from Campbell.
According to Garcia, it was the first time that anyone had knocked him down.
The younger fighter was able to recover by the following round - and badly hurt Campbell near the closing moments of the fifth.
Campbell recovered and was able to do well in the sixth and seemed to be in the fight during the seventh.
But Garcia landed a big shot to the liver, with Campbell going down to his knees in pain for the full count. Although he's been defeated and knocked down in the past, it was the first time Campbell had been stopped inside the distance.
Campbell trained very hard for several weeks and is obviously disappointed with the outcome.
He gives full credit to Garcia and believes the rising star will be around for a long time.
"Well I'm honestly heartbroken, I really wanted to bring the win back for you all [in the UK]. I'm sorry about that. I hope you all enjoyed the fight," Campbell said.
"Have to take my hat off to Ryan Garcia, well done and a massive future ahead for him. I wish him all the best."
