Big brother and trainer Luie Cortes passionately walked him through matters, though by the fifth, they just needed to stave off complacency after referee Thomas Taylor deducted Garcia a point for excessive holding in the fourth.

97-92, 96-93 and 95-94 were the scorecards in Cortes' favor, as The Ring's No. 9-ranked junior lightweight sealed a welcome victory on his 135-pound debut an hour after a former world champion's emphatic statement elsewhere.

Staying defensively sharp to avoid the same fate then-unbeaten Japanese contender Taiga Imanaga suffered in December, the 28-year-old did exactly that against a pre-betting favorite who couldn't find his rhythm. That was painfully obvious through nine minutes, with just 23 punches connected by both, though that low-output suited Cortes (25-0, 13 KOs) as he punched into range and forward pressure is often given more credit by judges.

By the end, Garcia (23-2, 14 KOs) had thrown 387 total punches and landed almost 30 less (95-67) as the Las Vegas native could bask in the joy of proving more critics wrong after entering this contest a slight underdog.

"It was not perfect or exciting, I came in here to knock him out ... he led with head and elbows, I tried to keep it clean. They told me they'd [team Garcia] take me to school, they had me as a dog, I wanted to prove that I can win and was not supposed to be a dog. I signed this contract to be a Zuffa champion, I don't care who it is, I'd love to fight Magsayo or anybody, been chasing the biggest dogs and this ain't nothing to me," he said post-fight.

Garcia's intermittent attacks meant he was quickly in danger of letting proceedings evade him and Cortes gladly made him pay for being hesitant at close-range, catching him with scoring shots on the inside, landing nice combinations and firing off despite appearing to have the slower hands when they did exchange at times.

Garcia's energetic bursts were few and far between as he failed to make Cortes pay during moments where he took a breather, particularly in round eight where the unbeaten contender could've been feeling the pace. Instead, the 31-year-old allowed him to bob and move, counterpunching and stifling his vaunted power punching nicely.