Good morning and welcome to Sports Mole's live text commentary of the light-welterweight unification fight between Amir Khan and Danny Garcia.
It has been a tough couple of months in the career of Amir Khan, who lost his IBF and WBA titles to Lamont Peterson on a controversial split decision in Washington last December.
The Bolton man was recently reinstated as the WBA champion following Peterson's failed drug test, which also saw their rematch scrapped. The fate of the IBF title is still undecided.
Garcia, who brings an unbeaten 23-fight record to the contest, is making the first defence of the WBC strap tfor which he beat Mexican legend Eric Morales back in March.
Please note that the fighters are expected to enter the ring at around 4.10pm.
05.10It's an early night/late morning for me, but thanks for joining us in the wee hours. It was fast and frenetic while it lasted, but it's Danny Garcia who has (despite being a world champion) pulled off a shock in Las Vegas. Farewell.
05.07Meanwhile, where does Khan go from here?
05.04This opens doors for Garcia. 24 years of age, an unbeaten 24-fight record, a unified champion. All eyes will be on his next fight.
05.01I feel he is 'half right' about Garcia's hook being a "blind punch". The American wasn't looking, but he knew where it was going. I don't think you can pick holes in that, it was not as if Garcia was flailing wildly.
05.00I think it is just the macho attitude that Khan has... but his legs were gone. He had a lot of bottle to carry on, but the fight was over.
04.58Well, I disagree with Khan there. The referee was right to stop it when he did. He had already given him a standing count and the punch that caused the second knockdown was little more than a glancing blow.
04.54Khan: "After the second knockdown, I remember the referee coming over to me and I was just trying to take a couple of deep breaths and he just stopped the fight, which I was quite surprised about. I was fine, my mind was clear and I really was surprised the referee stopped the fight there."
04.53Khan: "We had a gameplan and I was sticking to that - using the jab and stuff. I think we did get complacent and we paid for that. Danny Garcia put on a great performance and he caught me with a shot that was more of a blind shot - but he caught me. That's boxing for you, one punch can change a fight."
04.52Khan: "I've got respect for Danny Garcia for the way he came back and the way he countered those mistakes I was making."
04.51Khan: "It wasn't my night. I made a few mistakes in there and I got caught with the left hook. Watching the replay, I must have gone in with the hands a little bit low there."
04.49Khan got up and fought on admirably, but that doesn't change the fact that he was badly hurt.
04.46Let me just pause for breath... ok, so that was something, wasn't it!? Khan looked on top and well in control, but it was only the fourth round. He left himself open and Garcia found the gap and punished him with a devastating left hook.
04.45Garcia: "I have nothing but respect for Amir Khan. He's a true champion. He knew that I would fight to the end, just like he did."
04.44Garcia: "I knew he would come at me early. I told my people he would jump on me early because he thinks I am a slow starter."
04.43Garcia: "Amir Khan is a great fighter and I knew he would bring out the best in me. I'm a killer, baby."
04.42Garcia: "I wanna thank God. I wanna thank Golden Boy. I wanna thank my dad, and all Latinos around the world. I did this for you."
04.41No one expected that. For two and a half rounds Garcia was hitting air and then boom, one punch, and he is on his way to the big leagues and Khan has some reflecting to do.
04.40However, a left hook did the damage for Garcia in the third and the referee, quite rightly, waved the fight off midway through the next round.
04.38That was a war, and Khan's stock is plummeting. He did well to hang on for as long as he did when he was clearly out on his feet.
Round 4Khan down again! AND THE REFEREE CALLS IT OFF!
Round 4Khan seems to have regained SOME of his poise. But I still can't see this lasting, Khan still looks groggy...
Round 4Khan is going down swinging and he is in survival mode! Credit to him, this is stirring stuff!
Round 4Garcia raining right and lefts!
Round 4referee gives Khan a standing count! It's a matter of time!
End of Round 3Khan's up and the bell saves him but his legs have gone! This is not going to last, I'm afraid. It was a massive left hook that just stopped Khan right in his tracks!
Round 3SURVIVAL TIME!
Round 3KHAN DOWN!
Round 3Garcia warned again about low blows.
Round 3Garcia is telegraphing his attacks. Khan just blocks up and counters. It's not clever boxing from Garcia here...
End of Round 2Another round to Khan. Garcia's right eye is bloodied already. He needs to get a foothold in this contest.
Round 2Khan has thrown two or three punches before he can retaliate. If Khan gets tagged though, Garcia may have the power to trouble him. Khan's chin has stood up to the test since his knockout against Breidis Prescott, but one punch...
End of Round 1Khan boxed excellently in the first round. If he can resist being dragged into a slug-fest, then it looks as though he has too much skill.
Round 1Khan covers the ground so quickly and he looks too fast for Garcia here. Khan takes one below the belt, but it was accidental and he is unhurt.
Round 1Khan is throwing punches in bunches and has already caught Garcia with enough to have the American worried. Fast hands from Khan.
Round 1We're underway at the Mandalay Bay.
04.20Now here we are - both men in the ring and ready to be introduced. Early indications suggest that the crowd are behind Khan. His previous two performances here have been fantastic. One, an old-fashioned dust-up with Marcos Maidana, the other a devastating five-roung blitzing of Zab Judah. Seems to have endeared himself Stateside.
04.17After (somewhat lengthy) discussions, a rematch is signed. However, the bout was forced to be scrapped when Peterson tested positive for synthetic testosterone, which he admitted that he had taken before the Khan fight in December.
04.16Then, using the great invention that is Twitter, Amir Khan brings to attention the now-infamous 'Man in the Hat', who turns out to be an IBF official named Mustafa Ameen, who was not working in an official capacity on that particular night. He is later pictured celebrating in the ring with Peterson.
04.14The fight becomes a bit of a cause celebre following a bizarre refereeing display, suspect ringside goings-on and a debatable decision. Khan was deducted two points for pushing, without receiving a warning first, which ultimately contributes to Khan's eventual defeat. Those two points could have (and should have, at least) swung the decision in Khan's favour.
04.11December 10, Washington D.C - Amir Khan defends his WBA and IBF light-welterweight title straps against Lamont Peterson.
04.07So how have we got here? Before the two men make their way to the ring, let's have a brief re-cap of Amir Khan's career from December.
04.02Angel Garcia, Danny's dad, has certainly been vocal in the pre-fight verbals. He has made one or two risque remarks, such as insulting Khan's Pakistani heritage. Quite insulting, really - but I feel that he has only served to motivate Khan for a fight that he might've needed a bit of a boost.
03.58In 2010, Garcia scraped a decision over former British light-welterweight champion Ashley Theophane in El Paso, Texas. Khan will be hoping the same Garcia turns up tonight, but I would imagine he has learned a lot since then. He showed a degree of maturity in overcoming Eric Morales. The ageing legend out-boxed him for most of the early rounds before running out of steam.
03.55This fight has not had as much buzz, no matter how much Khan tries to argue otherwise, because of the Haye-Chisora tear up earlier on. Still, it is a title fight and has the potential to be a very good one.
03.50And there it is, by unanimous decision, Fernando Guerrero improves his record to 24-1 and enters the middleweight mix-up.
03.47The moral victory goes to Medina in this one. He went the distance*.
*It was only ten rounds. Although, he took enough punishment to suggest that he could have probably taken a little bit more.
03.44At the moment, Fernando Guerrero is systematically destroying Jose Medina. They are in the tenth round of a ten-round contest, in which the Medina has resembled that animal carcass from Rocky.
03.38Welcome back to Sports Mole for live coverage of the WBA and WBC light-welterweight unification bout between Amir Khan and Danny Garcia. I'm sure you were waiting, with bated breath, following the fantastic fight earlier on between David Haye and Dereck Chisora. This, as far as the UK boxing scene goes, is very much act two.
Written by
Michael Penkman
Michael Penkman
