On this day on July 14th, Danny Garcia became a star when he knocked out Amir Khan as a seven-to-one underdog via a fourth-round knockout.
The pre-fight press conference on June 4 was eventful, with Khan and Garcia's fathers engaging in a heated exchange. Both fighters promised to knock each other out in the upcoming bout on July 14.
At the time the fight was announced, there was uncertainty from the WBC regarding whether they'd sanction the fight because Garcia had a mandatory defense due against Ajose Olusegun. Nevertheless, the fight did happen later that year in Las Vegas and was considered a title unification bout, with Garcia's WBC title and Khan's WBA title on the line.
Khan was originally set to face Lamont Peterson in a rematch before a drug test failure stopped that rematch from occurring.
In the early rounds, Khan seemed to be the faster of the two fighters, but Garcia began to find openings while establishing his own rhythm. Garcia countered a Khan combination with a left hook that dropped Khan to the canvas with twenty-nine seconds left in the round.
Although Khan got up quickly, he had been hurt by Garcia's punch, and referee Kenny Bayless took extra time to ensure Khan could continue after administering the standing eight count. Garcia nearly stopped Khan, but the round ended.
The fourth round saw Garcia not giving Khan a break. Garcia dropped Khan for a third time and the bout was called despite Khan protesting the stoppage since he got up.
According to CompuBox stats, Khan landed 92 of 206 punches thrown (45%), with 46 jabs and 46 power shots landed. Garcia landed 65 of his 216 thrown (30%), 60 of which were power shots. Khan earned $950,000, while Garcia had a $520,000 purse. The fight generated a total gate of $426,152 from 3,147 tickets sold, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The fight averaged 1.3 million viewers on HBO World Championship Boxing.
