By Dan Ambrose: He gave it his best shot but in the end Bernabe Concepcion (29-6-1, 15 KO’s) was little more than a human punching bag on Saturday night in getting stopped by unbeaten highly ranked featherweight contender Miguel “Mikey” Garcia (28-0, 24 KO’s) in the 8th round on the undercard of the Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Orlando Salido II rematch at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Garcia knocked a badly beaten Concepcion to the canvas in the 7th round with two hard right hands, and then flurried on him with a ton of shots to get the stoppage. The fight was halted at 2:33 of the round.

The large Puerto Rican crowd was less than pleased with watching the slow controlled pace with which Garcia chose to fight. There were a lot of boos, but it did little to change Garcia’s pace, as he continued to mostly jab and throw occasional right hands and left hooks. Thrilling stuff it was not.

Neither fighter did much in the opening round. Concepcion did very little all fight long, but in the first round he really did nothing. Garcia moved around jabbing, looking kind of slow in terms of hand speed, and sanding straight up without bending his knees much or widening his stance.

Garcia threw a few right hands in the 2nd round, but other than that it was all jabs. It very boring to watch the lack of action.

The crowd started booing in the 3rd, but Garcia continued to mostly throw slow jabs to control the timid looking Concepcion.

Garcia finally let his hands go a tiny bit in the 4th round with him landing some nice right hands to the head. Garcia rarely threw anything to the body and seemed to think he could blast out Conception with a steady head hunting attack. Concepcion had his best round with him landing several right hands.

The 5th and 6th were completely boring with Garcia continuing to mostly jab and throw an occasional power shot. Conception was a little busier and landed some nice shots.

Garcia came out a little faster in the 7th, landing a few heavy shots. A short time later, Garcia hurt Concepcion right a nice right hand that sent him moving backwards. Garcia followed him and landed two more right hands that put Concepcion on the canvas. After he got up, Garcia went after him drilling him with shots until the referee moved in and halted the fight with Concepcion trying to cover up while backed up against the ropes.