Daniel Garcia secured shock win over Elnur Abduraimov in Mexico

Daniel Garcia earned a knockout victory over Elnur Abduraimov on Sunday night at the Auditorio Municipal in Tijuana, Mexico, after Abduraimov’s corner decided to stop the fight due to a hand injury. The highly-anticipated clash between the unbeaten junior lightweights was an intriguing one, as Abduraimov, a southpaw, outboxed Garcia and landed harder punches early in the fight. However, in the second round, Abduraimov hurt his left hand after landing a punch, and this impacted his ability to throw powerful punches for the remainder of the bout.

Sensing Abduraimov’s injury, Garcia took the initiative, becoming more aggressive and putting Abduraimov on the defensive. After the seventh round, Abduraimov’s corner, which includes trainer Joel Diaz, made the decision to stop the fight based on the injury and to fight another day. Garcia, who resides in nearby Ensenada and is promoted by Zanfer Promotions, improves to 15-0 with 12 knockouts.

Abduraimov, who is originally from Gazalkent, Uzbekistan and now resides in Indio, California, drops to 10-1 with 9 KOs. Despite the loss, his team believes the decision to stop the fight was the right one, given the severity of his injury. Aliko Frolov, who co-manages Abduraimov along with Vadim Kornilov, said, “The plan was to box for the first four-five rounds, then press the action (in the) later rounds. He hurt his left hand, and it was getting worse (with each passing) round. It is what it is. (He) will come back stronger.”

The fight between Garcia and Abduraimov was the main event of a card that also featured several other exciting bouts. In the co-feature, welterweight Dubiel Sanchez of Tijuana stopped Brandon Perez Pena at 10 seconds of the seventh round, improving to 19-1-2 with 14 KOs. Meanwhile, Ruben Aguilar of Ensenada and Mexico City’s Ricardo Salas Rodriguez fought to a majority decision draw over eight rounds.

Other notable fighters on the card included 2012 Olympic Gold medalist from Cuba Roniel Iglesias, who improved to 3-0 with 2 KOs by stopping Eleazar Valenzuela in the third round, and junior featherweight prospect Arturo Popoca, who stopped Tijuana’s Edwyn Flores in the second round. In a clash of unbeaten heavyweights from Tijuana, Kevin Martinez defeated Francisco Cantabrana Soto by unanimous decision, while Pedro Turcios of Oxnard improved to 7-0-1 with 7 KOs by stopping Mexico City’s Martin Albarran in the second round.

Overall, the night was filled with exciting action, and fans were treated to some thrilling fights. Despite Abduraimov’s injury, he remains a highly-decorated prospect with a bright future in the sport, and we can expect to see more from him in the years to come. For now, however, it’s Daniel Garcia who gets to celebrate his impressive victory, and he’ll be looking to build on this success in his next outing.