Ryan Garcia was full of praise for Jermell Charlo as he became undisputed super welterweight champion.
The 154lb fighter was the first to become undisputed in the four-belt era and put to bed the dispute with his Argentine rival Brian Castano.
The pair of them fought last year in a bout that was ruled a draw, but which many observers believed was won by the South American. A rematch was duly scheduled but was put back to May after Castano suffered a bicep injury.
In the months of waiting, Charlo used the time to goad his opponent and doubt his reason for a delay, and there was a little bad blood in the run-up.
However while Castano put up strong opposition, Charlo’s speed and power told, and he stopped his opponent in the 10th twice, with the first enough to stop many other fights.
Former WBC interim champion Garcia was watching on Saturday night and gave credit to Castano for his efforts in the early round saying: “I think [Castano] is winning but man this is a fire fight”.
But the young Californian noted the change in momentum later and acknowledged the left hand of the eventual winner.
“Castano has a chin man!!! Great round for Charlo! He can’t miss with that counter hook” he posted.