It’s taken a while. A lot of sacrifices, early morning runs, missed family holidays. But it was a hug that was well worth it when Lamont Roach Jr. and Lamont Roach Sr. embraced in the center of the ring upon hearing that Lamont Jr. had become “the new” WBA 130-pound titleholder by unseating Hector Garcia.

In a split decision on the David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade undercard Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, judge Max DeLuca had Garcia winning 114-113, but he was overruled by judges Tim Cheatham’s 114-113 and Robert Hoyle’s 116-111 scores for Roach .

This was the second attempt at a world title for Roach Jr. (24-1-1, 9 knockouts), after he was turned away in his first try by then-WBO 130-pound titlist Jamel Herring in 2019.

“Man, I’ve been waiting to hear ‘and the new’ for a long time. It’s about time, though,” Roach said. “All I needed was the spotlight. The first time I was a baby – I was 24 years old. Now I’m seasoned. I don’t think anyone can beat me. Nobody.”

Garcia (16-2, 10 KOs) was making his first title defense.

“I thought I won the fight, but that’s what happens when you leave it in the judges’ hands,” he said. “That last round made all the difference. The punch that knocked me down was to the back of my head, but I guess the ref didn’t notice it.

“I should have been more aggressive and thrown more punches, but [Roach] just wouldn’t let me and the fight was a grind throughout. I’m not about to lose hope. I’m gonna recover and come back stronger than ever.”

Garcia closed the first round with a combination and landed a left to the body, though neither did much in the opening three minutes. In the second half of the second round, Roach landed a strong right and a left hook that backed Garcia up. A counter left caught Roach on the right shoulder in the waning seconds of the round.

In the third, Garcia tried holding his ground against a forward-moving Roach. By the middle of the round, it was Roach coming forward again, up on his toes, tapping Garcia to the body. Garcia, meanwhile, seemed content to wait for Roach to initiate the activity, so as to counter him. Roach finished the third by catching Garcia in the corner with a left hook to the face.

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Roach became more brazen in the fourth, perhaps feeling Garcia could not hurt him. Confident, he drove Garcia back. With 54 seconds left, he popped Garcia with a short right to the body and followed by doing the same with 22 seconds remaining in the round.

Garcia, known as a volume puncher, hardly used his jab through the first four rounds and was reluctant to throw more than one punch at a time. He did fight more off his front foot but did little to keep Roach off of him.

Gradually in the fifth and sixth rounds, Garcia began inching his way back into the fight. With 1:05 left in the sixth, he managed to take advantage of Roach’s aggressiveness and caught him with a short left to the body.

Garcia was elusive when inside, and with 1:15 left in the seventh, he popped Roach with a three-punch combination to the body. With :08 left, Garcia banged Roach with a straight left and started putting his punches together.

Garcia got away with a low left at 1:17 left in the eighth. Garcia smacked Roach to the body on occasion in the round and felt so energized that he did some showboating in the last seconds. Roach, however, used effective work inside, chipping away at Garcia.

In the eighth, ninth and 10th, Roach reverted back to attack mode. With 33 seconds left in the ninth, Roach dipped down, then fired a wide left hook that hit Garcia in the ribs as he was backed up in a corner. He plowed Garcia with a left hook to the head with 1:22 remaining in the 10th. Sensing the fight slipping away, Garcia put his foot on the pedal as the session wound down. Garcia, down on the scorecards, opted to stand and wait for the bell.

At the outset of the 11th, why Garcia was waiting on Roach to come to him is anyone’s guess. With 1:25 left in the round, Roach nailed Garcia with the definitive punch of the fight—an awkward right stumbled Garcia and had him reeling backwards into the ropes.

Garcia was clearly in trouble—and Roach knew it. He poured on the pressure and Garcia staved him off long enough to escape, though it was clear Garcia would need a knockout to win entering the 12th. With 1:26 remaining in the fight, Roach caught Garcia coming forward with a left hook behind the head, dropping Garcia for the second time in his career.

“We’ve been working on this shot for a long time, that hook,” Roach said. “You have to take it, and that’s what I did tonight. I’m the best and I want to show I’m the best. Anybody who wants to fight let me know because I want to fight all of you. There’s a lot of cool champions at 130. I’ll take whoever.”

On the undercard, making his debut at junior welterweight, Michel Rivera (25-1, 14 KOs) won a 10-round decision over Sergey Lipinets (17-3-1, 13 KOs). Junior middleweight Vito Mielnicki Jr. (16-1, 11 KOs) probably looked the best he has in his young career with a first-round knockout of Alexis Salazar (25-6, 10 KOs). It was the second time Salazar had been stopped in his career.

Joseph Santoliquito is hall of fame, award-winning sportswriter who has been working for Ring Magazine/RingTV.com since October 1997 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Follow @JSantoliquito

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