Garcia Stops Burgess at Country Club

Alex Garcia cleared a considerable hurdle on his path to the top of the heavyweight division Tuesday night.

Garcia beat Dion Burgess on a technical knockout in the fourth round of a scheduled 10-round match at the Country Club in Reseda.

It wasn’t that Burgess (7-3, two knockouts) was such a formidable opponent for the World Boxing Council’s No. 21-rated Garcia (16-1, 12 KOs). But fighting 6-foot-2, 272 pounds, was like trying to punch the Michelin man.

And, it turned out, Burgess had some wheels, although they came off rather quickly. Burgess, from Campo, Calif., showed some fancy footwork as well as what Garcia described as swift hands.

“I was going to try to jump on him quickly, but he jumped out quickly with his hands, and I knew it would take longer,” said Garcia, a 227-pounder from San Fernando.

But Garcia made fast enough work of Burgess that the referee stopped the fight with Burgess still standing late in the fourth round.

In other bouts:

Dave Kamau (140 3/4), a former Olympic quarterfinalist from Kenya, knocked Roque Guerrero (141 1/2) down in the first round of a junior welterweight fight and won by TKO at two minutes 59 seconds of the second. Kamau was making his pro debut; Guerrero fell to 6-3.

J.R. Frye (200) of Phoenix dropped a split decision to Fred Heath (203 1/2) of San Diego in a four-round heavyweight match.

Thousand Oaks’ Jim Tunney (158), a descendant of heavyweight great Gene Tunney, won a four-round split decision over Melvin Pinion (158) of Ontario in a middleweight bout.

Celio Olivar (150 1/2) from Colton won a five-round unanimous decision over Silvona Zavala (148 1/2) of San Diego.