Garcia Rebounds From First Loss : San Fernando Heavyweight Scores 7th-Round TKO After 9-Month Layoff

There are two ways you could look at Tuesday night’s one-sided heavyweight fight between Alex Garcia of San Fernando and the often-unconscious Eddie Richardson of Dallas. The first is that Garcia needed such an easy fight after suffering his first pro loss last November.

The other way to look at it is lying on your back, staring up into the glaring ring lights as the referee tries to help you avoid swallowing your tongue, which was, alas, the way Richardson looked at it.

And if the knockout victory at the Country Club in Reseda was a meaningless one for Garcia, he can take solace in this: With a chopping right hand to the chin and two ensuing blows to the body of his opponent at 2:21 of the seventh round, he joined the likes of Mike Tyson, Michael Dokes, Tyrell Biggs, Tony Tucker, Razor Ruddock, Alex Stewart and a few other guys who have helped Richardson compile a dreary 14-15 record.

The 6-foot-5 Richardson has been left in a heap more often than dirty laundry.

“I didn’t care that he had fought all those top 10 guys,” Garcia said. “He had never fought me.”

Garcia, 217 pounds, rocked Richardson, 222, in every round with looping rights to the chin and an occasional left hook. But for six rounds, Richardson made fine recoveries. In the second, after catching a pair of heavy rights, Richardson stuck out first his tongue and then his chin at the advancing Garcia, taunting him and imploring him to hit the chin again. Garcia did, of course, and hurt Richardson with the free punch.

In the seventh, Garcia staggered Richardson with a right to the head and then finished him with two whistling body punches. Richardson went to one knee and then rolled over and called it a night.

It was the first fight for Garcia (12-1, nine knockouts) since he was knocked out last November by California heavyweight champion Dee Collier.

In earlier bouts, the Ruelas brothers of North Hollywood continued their march toward bigger paydays as both featherweights scored knockout wins.

Rafael, 18, made quick work of Joey Quinlan of Tucson in the first bout, knocking him out in the first round with two quick body punches and a right to the head. Rafael is 9-0 with seven knockouts. Quinlan is 3-5-1.

In the second bout, Gabriel Ruelas knocked out Abe Castro, who was making his U. S. debut, at 2:23 of the fourth round to run his record to 15-0 with nine KOs. Castro fell to 9-3.