Ryan Garcia stops Francisco Fonseca in first round with early KO of the Year contender

Armando Botello II
Updated ·2 min read

If only we could all be as good about keeping our New Year’s resolutions as Ryan Garcia.

Garcia had said part of his plan for 2020 included shocking the world. On Friday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, he accomplished that goal in breathtaking fashion.

The 21-year-old with nearly five million Instagram followers timed a perfect left hook to the face of Francisco Fonseca in the first round of their main event matchup that even when played back in slow motion looks fast. Fonseca never stood a chance and referee Raul Caiz Sr. waved off the lightweight fight as Fonseca (25-3-2) lay motionless on the canvas.

"It was a good performance," Garcia told DAZN’s Chris Mannix in the post-fight interview. "[The fight] didn't last long, but I watched a video of Sugar Ray Robinson before coming into this fight, he did a little feint and he caught [his opponent] with a perfect left hook. So when I seen Fonseca move that way I just faked him a little bit and caught him clean with that left hook.

“I was planning for it to go a little longer, I’m not going to lie, but respect to Fonseca.”

The 80-second knockout victory was a spectacular follow-up to Garcia’s first-round knockout of Romero Duno less than four months ago on the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez-Sergey Kovalev light heavyweight title fight in November. Now with 20 wins in his pro career and no losses, Garcia welcomed a matchup with undefeated WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney, who was also interviewed in the ring Friday night in an attempt to build anticipation for their eventual bout.

“If he wants a real fight, he can fight me,” Haney said.

But the fight that looks to be next before Garcia challenges for the lightweight title is a matchup with veteran Jorge Linares (47-5, 29 KOs), who scored his own knockout win earlier in the night against Carlos Morales. Golden Boy Promotions founder Oscar De La Hoya has reportedly already reserved a date at the Staples Center this summer for Garcia-Linares. The fight would be a huge step up in competition for the talented Garcia, but he told Mannix he’s ready and said he’d take out Linares, then Luke Campbell, Gervonta Davis and Haney.

Davis, the WBA regular lightweight champion who was recently arrested on simple battery and domestic violence charges against his ex-girlfriend, was apparently one of the few people not impressed with Garcia’s performance. Shortly after the knockout Davis tweeted, “S--- be too corny to me.”

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