Danny Garcia vs. Paulie Malignaggi: Live Round-by-Round Results and Highlights

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Danny Garcia took care of business in his first foray into boxing’s loaded welterweight division on Saturday night, beating up and stopping former two-time titlist Paulie Malignaggi in the ninth round at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Referee Arthur Mercante stopped the contest late in the round with Garcia well ahead on the official scorecards, and Malignaggi, bleeding from his right eye and busted up along the midsection, taking an increasingly bad beating.

Garcia (31-0, 18 KO) cut Malignaggi over the right eye in the third round and again under the same eye later in the fight, but, despite the dominance he displayed, this probably wasn’t the coming-out party he was dreaming of in a talent-laden division.

His punches weren’t particularly sharp, and his power, which has been absent in most of his recent fights at 140 pounds, fell short of what he probably hoped for in his first start at welterweight. 

Still, he was able to walk down the home fighter and inflict enough damage to likely end his career and set himself up for bigger and better fights in the near future.

Malignaggi (33-7, 9 KO) was fighting for the first, and probably last, time in the past 15 months. His reflexes and legs, for years the attributes that allowed him to hang around and beat quality fighters even without much power on his shots, were clearly no longer there.

In the co-featured bout, Daniel Jacobs successfully defended his WBA “regular” middleweight championship by technical knockout in the second round over former junior middleweight titlist Sergio Mora.

Jacobs (30-1, 27 KO) and Mora (28-4-2, 9 KO) engaged in a brief-but-exciting war that ended far too soon. Both fighters were down just seconds apart in a wild first round that had the Brooklyn crowd on its feet.

The second round favored the champion, who was able to walk Mora down and land the heavier, harder shots. A second knockdown, which was partly due to a punch and partly due to a push, sent Mora to the canvas awkwardly on his right foot.

Mora struggled to his feet but was in no condition to continue, prompting the referee to stop the contest. He had to be helped from the ring on a stretcher and said he believed his ankle was broken.

Kevin McRae is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. You can follow him on Twitter @McRaeWrites.