Ryan Garcia had to get through some rough moments and some boos from the crowd during his comeback bout against rugged lightweight fringe contender Oscar Duarte, but the California star scored an eighth-round KO on Saturday at a packed Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, to rebound from his high-profile stoppage loss to Gervonta Davis in April.

The Davis fight, a huge event and a financial success, confirmed Garcia as one of the boxing’s biggest attractions, but the nature of the loss put his stature as a legitimate contender in question.

Against Duarte, a hardnosed slugger from Chihuahua, Mexico, it was clear that Garcia was searching for answers as he switched his tactics from boxing tall to shoulder-roll-pull-counters to punching on the fly and looking to set traps. Could he take a flush shot to the head or body? Could he handle Duarte’s pressure and roughhouse tactics? Could he clip the streaking Mexican?

Ultimately, Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) proved that he could. The 25-year-old is a millionaire, but he didn’t always look like a million bucks dealing with Duarte’s dogged aggression. The underdog was able to take Garcia’s best uppercuts and check hooks during the early rounds. Although Garcia controlled the distance for much of the bout, he couldn’t prevent Duarte from getting in close and landing hooks and body shots (as well as kidney punches, low blows and rabbit punches, which drew several warnings from the referee).

Garcia looked awkward and uncomfortable at times, but he was never wobbled or knocked off balance. Duarte (26-2-1, 21 KOs) pressed hard, but he traded in his usual punch volume for a protective high guard, which held up until Round 8.

“[Duarte] was a strong fighter; he took a good punch,” Garcia said during his post-fight interview. “He just kept coming. It was tough, very tough. [Trainer] Derrick [James] told me to use my legs a little bit and the KO would come. I just had to slow his momentum down.”

Garcia, who seemed to get more comfortable with Duarte’s aggression in Round 6, may have lured the Mexican lightweight into a trap with his stick-and-move tactics in Rounds 7 and 8.

The constant lateral movement caused some in the crowd of 10,000 to boo loudly, but the bicycle routine got Duarte to lunge in enough for Garcia to finally catch him with a hook to the temple.

“Jab, step back, he reaches, and I caught him with a counter hook,” Garcia said, explaining how he landed the punch that turned the fight.

The punch instantly reduced Duarte’s legs to rubber, causing him to momentarily fall into the ropes. Garcia jumped on Duarte and his follow-up salvo put the wounded fighter down to one knee. Duarte took his time getting up, maybe getting to his feet between referee James Green’s count of 9 and 10, convincing the official to wave the bout off at 2:51 of the round.

He’s BACK! Ryan Garcia stops Oscar Duarte in the 8th round 🥊 #GarciaDuarte pic.twitter.com/YPZWc8CD9p

— Golden Boy (@GoldenBoyBoxing) December 3, 2023

Some will say it was a premature stoppage, but Duarte was still on very wobbly legs.

“Shoutout to Derrick James,” Garcia said. “It’s our first fight together. We’ll build off this and get better.”

Garcia, who weighed in at 142.8 pounds, called out WBA 140-pound beltholder Rolando Romero, another Tank Davis KO victim. The elites of the junior welterweight division, such as Ring champ Teofimo Lopez and the winner of the next Saturday’s Regis Prograis-Devin Haney fight, can come later, he said.

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