Junior bantamweight prospect Steven Navarro faced adversity before, but it was more noticeable on Saturday.

Experience helped him get through it this second time, when he ran into trouble en route to a fourth-round technical knockout over Juan Garcia at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on the undercard of Richard Torrez Jnr-Guido Vianello.

Navarro was having his way with Garcia for the first three rounds, but a right hand from Garcia rocked him to the ropes in the fourth. 

“I showed people that I got that heart,” Navarro said. “I’ve been through worse, and that’s where the mind and body connection comes.”

“When I saw that punch, my heart dropped,” said Refugio Navarro, Steven’s father and co-trainer. “We were ready physically and mentally. He held his own. You don’t have to stay in front of him. You have to hold and move around. You have eight rounds.”

Navarro is early in his career. He recently turned 21 and is now 6-0 (5 KOs). In his first professional boxing match, he learned a lesson about pacing himself in a six-round bout against Jose Lopez. 

“In his first fight, I think it was the third round or fourth, and he tried to stop the guy,” said Marvin Somodio, Navarro’s other co-trainer. “He came back to the corner and said his legs were tired. I told him, ‘It is in your head. It is going to go away and you are going to get the stoppage.’ And he did it.” 

The experience Navarro gained from his pro debut he carried over into this fight with Garcia. Navarro battled back with furious combinations, breaking down Garcia and eventually stopping him with 14 seconds left in the fourth round.

“It's just a matter of knowing how much is in the tank and learning how to refill that,” he said. “Sometimes I get too excited. I just wanted to let my hands go.”

Garcia, now 14-2-2 (11 KOs), of Mexicali, Mexico, was fighting in the United States for the first time as a professional. He also came to win, which is something you don’t always see from opponents taking on young up-and-comers.

Navarro is already looking forward to returning to the ring and continuing to improve.

"I know the doctor said we have to be three weeks away from the gym, but that doesn’t mean I can’t study,” he said. “Tonight, I am studying because I am a perfectionist. That's what we do.”