Hector Luis Garcia's 2022 campaign continues to sizzle. He has stepped up his level of competition in his past two fights and has looked equally impressive in each outing.
His unanimous decision victory over Roger Gutierrez on Saturday night in Florida resulted in him capturing the WBA super featherweight title. The bout was part of a Showtime quadrupleheader.
Garcia (16-0) started off strong and fended off a late challenge from his Venezuelan rival.
“I completely dominated the first 6 rounds and then Gutierrez tried to put on more pressure which I responded to by showing how much heart I have even though I really didn’t have to do that because I was winning the fight comfortably,” Garcia told BoxingScene.com.
In February the Dominican burst onto the scene with a huge upset victory over the previously unbeaten Chris Colbert. He took the fight on less than two week's notice as a late replacement for Gutierrez, who was originally scheduled to face Colbert, and was listed as high as a 50-1 underdog at some offshore sports books.
If all goes according to plan, it won’t be long before Garcia seeks out new challenges. He would like to close out the year in a unification fight against WBO/WBC champion Shakur Stevenson and then move up to the lightweight division and attempt to conquer a new weight class.
“My next move is either a title defense or better yet a unification fight against Shakur Stevenson to close out the year. After that I would like to take on any of the champions at 135 pounds with Gervonta Davis at the top of my list,” said Garcia.
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