'Here to stay': Amado Vargas hands Sean Garcia the first loss of his professional career

When the going got tough, Sean Garcia responded in the only way he knew how to.

Garcia kept fighting and kept on swinging.

Unfortunately for the Victorville native, the offensive output from Amado Vargas was just too much to handle in his first-ever eight-round bout.

“It was a good fight like I expected. I don't think that I gassed out, but he did break me down,” Garcia said. “It was my first time going past four rounds and that's why you need these experiences in the sport. He was the better man tonight.”

Garcia suffered the first loss of his young career as he lost by TKO to Vargas — one of three sons of Fernando Vargas who are currently boxers — in a battle of 23-year-old unbeaten prospects.

“I had a long camp. I’ve been ready for this moment and I just want to thank everyone that made this fight happen,” Vargas (11-0, 5 KOs) said after he was announced the winner. “And look, they’ve been saying that the only good one is the little brother, well guess what? I’ve been working on the low. I haven’t been doing anything but just working on the low. All three of the Vargas brothers are coming up. It’s the Vargas dynasty — and we’re here to stay.”

Vargas came out the gate swinging. Unrattled with a high guard, Garcia (7-1-1) stood firm and blocked most of the punches. Vargas began each round that way, with Garcia looking to land counterpunches to not much avail.

Vargas landed a thudding uppercut in the fourth round that dropped Garcia to the canvas for the first time in his career.

Garcia beat the 10-count and survived the round on wobbly feet. In the corner, referee Edward Collantes asked Garcia if he was able to continue.

The Victorville native nodded yes.

By the sixth round, Garcia was winded and struggling to throw effective punches. It finally caught up to him as Vargas continued to land at will early in the round, forcing Collantes to waive off the bout at the 46-second mark.

Vargas completely outworked Garcia, landing 126 of 374 total punches. Garcia landed just 56 of the 260 punches he threw.

“I was just trying to get him out of there. At the end my game plan basically went away, I was just trying to cause damage,” Garcia said.

Should the Garcia vs. Vargas fight have even taken place?

Garcia’s bout against Vargas nearly fell through the cracks on Friday morning, the day the fighters had to weigh in.

Garcia struggled with shedding the final pounds to check in under the 135-pound weight limit. Garcia weighed in at 138.1 pounds; Vargas checked in at 134.1 pounds.

Vargas criticized Garcia for it, calling him “unprofessional” for not taking care of business.

The bout could have easily been canceled, with Garcia not making weight. Instead, the two teams worked out a new deal to have the fight go on.

“Him not making weight, I don’t know if that’s a Garcia thing or whatnot, but the Vargas' make weight every time whether we are dying on the scale or whatever.” Vargas said after beating Garcia. “We are professional. … Hopefully, we can do it again if he wants to.”

But that’s not the only instance where the bout could have been canceled.

A month ago, Garcia’s mother, Lisa, shared that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. There were talks of Garcia withdrawing from the fight.

In the days leading up to the bout, Vargas told reporters at a press conference that he called Garcia and asked him to be honest and let him know if there were plans to back out of the fight.

Garcia gave Vargas his word that he would meet him in the ring to settle their score.

“He is showing a lot of respect to me, but come Saturday he’s not going to show me any respect and I’m not either,” Garcia said during that press conference. “The energy is up now this close to the fight. Both of us and our teams are pumped up. I’m saying that real. We have eight rounds to settle this.”

Saturday night’s victory over Garcia was the second in a series of three total fights between the two boxers.

The pair split two matches while both were 16-year-old amateur boxers. Vargas won the first meeting, while Garcia avenged that loss a week later at another amateur boxing tournament.

This time was on a big stage as part of the undercard of former UFC champions Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal clashing in a boxing ring.

“I want to thank Sean Garcia for taking this fight. I know he was going through what he was going through and it’s very commendable that he came here and he accepted the fight. Big thank you to the Garcia family.”