Garcia back on the winning path

Former WBC interim lightweight world champion Ryan Garcia returned to winning ways last Saturday at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

For the occasion, Garcia (24-1, 20 KO) won by knockout in the eighth round over the hard-hitting Mexican Oscar Duarte Jurado (26-2-1, 21 KO).

It was a first appearance in the ring for the Californian since his defeat against the explosive WBA world champion, Gervonta “Tank” Davis, suffered last April.

It was also Garcia's first outing under Texan Derrick James, who was named coach of the year in 2022 for his work with Errol Spence and Jermell Charlo.

In the main support fight, the son of the legendary “Sugar” Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr (21-4, 12 KO), defeated the Californian Joshua Conley (17-6-1, 11 KO) by retirement at the very end of the sixth assault.

The latter is no stranger to the arenas of La Belle Province, since he faced Steven “Bang Bang” Butler on December 16, 2022 in Shawinigan. Butler had the upper hand by unanimous decision in 10 rounds.

On the undercard, we also note the spectacular victory of Mexican Gael Cabrera (3-0, 2 KO), a silver medalist of the 2022 youth amateur world championship. Nicknamed “El Terrorista”, the young 19-year-old hopeful defeated the American Alejandro Dominguez (2-1, 1 KO) before the limit.

Coming from a family of boxers, Cabrera has an older brother, Misael Cabrera Urias, who gave Montrealer Mathieu Germain quite a fight in June 2022 at the Montreal Casino.