Junior welter champ Garcia thwarts Salka in two

MANILA, Philippines – Unified junior welterweight titleholder Danny Garcia made quick work of Rod Salka as he viciously stopped his unheralded opponent with a second-round knockout in their 142-pound catchweight contest on Sunday morning, August 10 (PH Time) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The scheduled 12-round encounter, which was aired on Showtime, was highly-criticized as Garcia agreed to face Salka, who has an unfitting résumé to vie for the division’s top prize.

The bout was originally penciled as a world title defense for Garcia, but the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council that recognize the 26-year-old boxer as their champion would not approve Salka as a challenger, relegating it into a non-title clash at 142 pounds.

After an appealing pedestrian first round for Garcia who threw numerous body shots, “Swift” turned the second stanza into a lopsided match-up as he dropped Salka to the canvas with a hard right just under a minute into the frame.

As Salka went back up at the count of eight, Garcia forced his 31-year-old foe from Bunola, Pennsylvania to take a knee with a succession of three right hand shots.

Salka pounded his chest and invited the champion into a toe-to-toe trade, but he met his end when Garcia uncorked a brutal left hook that sent him down and out at the 2:31 mark of round two.

“I came in here and did what I had to do. This was Danny Garcia at his best. Anyone would have gotten knocked out tonight,” Garcia lauded in his post-fight interview with Showtime’s Jim Gray

According to CompuBox statistics, Garcia landed 50 of 117 punches, while Salka could only score 10 of 69 blows.

With the victory over Salka, the Philadelphia native kept his unbeaten record intact and extended his winning streak to 29 fights with 17 knockouts.

On the other hand, Salka downgraded his boxing win-loss card to 19-4, 3 KOs.

In the co-main event, IBF junior welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (33-2-1, 17 KOs) defeated Edgar Santana (29-5, 20 KOs) via tenth-round stoppage to retain his version of the 140-pound belt for the third time.

The steady stream of punishment on Santana was enough for referee Pete Santiago to halt the action at 2:48 and award the technical knockout victory to Peterson.

The 30-year-old Peterson expressed his desire to square off with Garcia in a title unification bout later this year.

“I hope so. I wanted to do it, but at the end of the day, it has to make sense. I’m going to stay busy and shake out a few problems I had tonight,” he said. – Rappler.com