Miami (AFP) - Unbeaten Dominican Hector Garcia took the World Boxing Association super featherweight world title on Saturday with a unanimous decision over Venezuela's Roger Gutierrez.
Judges gave the 30-year-old southpaw the victory by one score of 118-110 and two scores of 117-111.
"Thank God for this victory after so much sacrifice," Garcia said through a translator."The victory was very important for me and for my country."
Garcia improved to 16-0 with his eighth consecutive triumph while Gutierrez, 27, fell to 26-4 with one drawn by dropping the second defense of his 130-pound division crown.
The fight with Garcia was postponed from last month after Gutierrez caught Covid-19, making it a full year since his prior bout.
Garcia landed a hard left to the champion's head in the fourth round and tagged Gutierrez to the body in the fifth, the challenger setting the early pace.
The South American battled back late, landing a hard right and solid left hook in the 11th round and both kept punching to the final bell.
"I was looking for that super punch that would knock him down the last three rounds," Garcia said."But it wasn't there."
Another Dominican fighter chases a world title in a later bout when undefeated Alberto Puello, 20-0 with 10 knockouts, faces Batyr Akhmedov, a Russian who is 9-1 with eight knockouts, for the vacant WBA super lightweight world title
