By Victor Salazar

Brooklyn, New York- Fighting for his fifth time as the headliner at the Barclays Center, Danny Garcia (31-0, 18 KO’s) made a successful move to the welterweight division with a ninth round stoppage of hometown fighter and former two-division world champion Paulie Malignaggi (33-7, 7 KO’s).

A lot was said about this fight when it was made; with many viewing the match as an easy grab for Garcia for his 147-pound debut. A lot of boxing insiders believed Malignaggi, if his legs were still there, would create issues for the undefeated Philly fighter. However, Garcia promised that he would no longer be a flat-footed fighter and planned to focus more on his boxing ability.

The crowd of 7,237 seemed to be split with their support. Early on the fight had moments where Garcia was the aggressor and Malignaggi boxing well on the outside with punches landing in quick spots.

In the third round, Garcia opened up a cut around the left eye of Malignaggi. Garcia followed that up in the fourth by connecting with a nice barrage that made Malignaggi do a dance at the end of the bell.

“I wanted to dictate the fight with my jab, I got cut and it didn’t help with my confidence," Malignaggi said.

Malignaggi gave an indication that he might be a fighter on the way out as it appeared that he didn’t want to get hit, but at the same time he was making Garcia miss woefully.

Malignaggi landed his best punch of the fight, a right uppercut in round seven, but as it’s been for most of his career - the power in Malignaggi’s hands were not enough to keep Garcia honest and Garcia punctuated the end of the same round with two big right hands of his own.

"My dad wanted me to thrown sharper and straighter punches, and land my hooks,” Garcia said after the fight, and that’s what he did in the eight.

Garcia landed his patented left hooks multiple times and had Malignaggi moving less, and ducking and grabbing.

“I felt a lot stronger. In the ninth round I felt like it was round one. I need to work on shortening up punches and sticking with the game plan,” Garcia said.

In the ninth, the inevitable would come as Garcia was peppering Malignaggi with left hooks and straight right hands. Malignaggi was not going to quit and his trainer wasn’t going to quit for him. Referee Arthur Mercante was giving it a look and after Garcia landed a two punch combination, Malignaggi stumbled back and let out a massive gasp as if he was indicating the end. At that point Mercante waved it off at 2:22 of the round.

Garcia was hoping for a statement win in his 147 pound debut. While he was dominant on the scorecards and got the stoppage, one could argue that it was not impressive. Malignaggi was coming off a 17 month layoff after being brutally stopped by Shawn Porter and looked far regressed from the Malignaggi that was able to outbox Juan Diaz and went rounds with a prime Miguel Cotto.

For Garcia, two fighters were on hand at the media round tables before the fight, Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter. And both said they would love to step in the ring with Garcia.

“Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter are great fighters in this division, and they’re both represented by Al Haymon so if they want we can make it happen,” Garcia said.

Malignaggi was clearly a fighter who past his best and made it clear that he was going to focus on his broadcasting career.

“I’m probably not fighting again. You hate to make an emotional decision. My career started in Brooklyn 14 years ago. If it ends in Brooklyn tonight then at least I ended it at home where I’m from and in front of the greatest fans in the world,” Malignaggi said.

UNDERCARD RESULTS

In the co-featured clash on Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN, WBA 'regular' middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs(30-1, 27KOs) scored a second round stoppage over former WBC junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora (28-4-2, 9KOs).

The first round started with a fury as Jacobs dropped Mora on the seat of his pants with a counter right hand. Mora beat the count and Jacobs went after him, looking to do more damage - and then Mora scored a knockdown of his own when he caught Jacobs coming in reckless with a big left hook to the chin.

Jacobs was more cautious in the second round, picking his punches better and using his power to push Mora back. A serious of punches to the head and body sent Mora down for a second time. Mora hurt his right leg he went down to the canvas. Once Mora got up, he could barely stand without assistance. The referee waved off the right.

Mora argued afterwards that a no-contest ruling should have been issued because he was unable to continue due to an accidental injury. He was taken out of the ring on a stretcher. Jacobs said the right decision was made and ruled out the idea of a rematch with Mora.

Prichard Colon (14-0, 12 KO’s) defeated Michael Finney (12-4-1, 10 KO’s. Before the fight Colon was hoping for a quick ending in the Jacobs-Mora fight because he wanted an opportunity to be on ESPN as the swing bout. Finney for his own accord always puts up an honest effort.

Colon grabbed his opportunity landing a lead right hand and ran with it as a 4 punch combination put Finney on the ground and Finney could not answer the bell.

Colon notches his 12th knockout and 15th victory in exciting fashion stopping Finney, who has only been stopped once in his career.

In a bout between undefeated light heavyweights, Brooklyn’s own Travis Peterkin (15-0-1) drew with Lenin Castillo (12-0,-1) . Peterkin the home fighter lost 2 points in the bout, for hitting on the break and for a low blow, which many ringside thought would play large in the decision. In what was an ugly fight that many ringside didn’t have a clear winner, the decision proved as much as the bout was declared a majority draw,75-75 75-75, and 76-74 for Peterkin.

Hometown featherweight contender Rafael Vasquez (16-1, 13 KOs) crushed Mario Macias (26-17, 13 KOs) in one round. A right hand dropped the Mexican veteran, who seemed unsteady on his feet upon rising and the referee waved off the fight.

Heavyweight prospect Adam Kownacki (11-0, 1KOs) drilled Maurenzo Smith (12-10-3, 9 KOs) with a one-punch knockout in the second round.

Brooklyn favorite Heather ‘The Heat’ Hardy (14-0, 3 KO’s) defeated Renata Domsodi (12-7, 5 KO’s) by 7th round knockout. The two met in April at the Barclays Center but Domsodi suffered a cut by a clash of heads and the bout was ruled a no contest. Hardy left nothing to be debated in this one as she was the more aggressive fighter throwing and landing more punches. Hardy peppered Domsodi’s face which was bright red in the middle rounds of their 8 round bout and it was all stopped in the 7th.

Philadelphia’s Thomas Velasquez (1-0, 1 KO) defeated Gabriel Braxton (2-10, 1 KO) from Georgia via vicious 4th round knockout. Velazquez 1st round of his pro debut was a full out attack, landing lead right hands and applying pressure right from the opening bell. The right hands proved to be successful as Velasquez used it efficiently upstairs and downstairs. Braxton had a burst in the 3rd round but Velasquez recovered and turned into the aggressor to end the round. In the 4th round, Velasquez landed a big right hand that knocked Braxton out cold at 1:26 of the 4th round.

In the opening bout of the Garcia-Malignaggi PBC on ESPN Boxing card, Jr. Lightweight Titus Williams (1-0) from Elmont, New York won his pro debut against Ohio’s Micah Branch (2-15-1) via unanimous decision. Much of the early crowd were Williams supporters and with every jab left hand that landed was met with cheers. Branch came on strong in the 4th and final round but Williams matched him punch for punch. The scores were 40-36 from all three judges.