Top lightweight prospect Ryan Garcia was a guest on The Ak & Barak Show and gave his thoughts on various topics, from his potential 135-pound rivals to what he sees as a bunch of “gifted” world titles in the boxing world.
The 21-year-old Garcia (20-0, 17 KO) last fought on Feb. 14 in Anaheim, knocking out Francisco Fonseca in 80 seconds. It was another quick win for the California fighter, trained by Eddy Reynoso, his third straight in two rounds or less.
The hosts posed a question about his confidence when facing potential rivals in WBC titleholder Devin Haney (24-0, 15 KO) or Gervonta Davis (23-0, 22 KO), and he warned both that he’ll only be getting better.
“I’m just looking at the facts. The facts are, you see Devin Haney’s last fight, you see Gervonta’s last fight, then you look at my last fight, and you tell me who’s gonna win,” Garcia said, talking about Davis’ win over Yuriorkis Gamboa in December and Haney’s win over Alfredo Santiago in November.
“Gervonta nor Devin Haney didn’t fight no top-level dude. Devin didn’t fight a top-level dude and didn’t look good, and Gervonta looked horrible. I’m still training harder and even better than I was before, so I’m only gonna get better. Do not underestimate me, and even if you do, just don’t bet money against me, because I promise you, you’ll probably be losing that money.”
Garcia was possibly going to be facing Jorge Linares this spring — that was Golden Boy’s plan, and both fighters wanted it, even if Garcia’s trainer Reynoso seemed reluctant — but that fight is off the table for now, as Linares is in Japan, where he lives, and can’t travel due to COVID-19 restrictions.
That leaves Garcia’s next move up in the air. He’s said he is looking to return on July 4, but given the travel issues, his opponent wouldn’t likely be anyone to get excited about. He also doesn’t think he’d have silenced many doubters even if he’d fought and beaten Linares.
