Ryan Garcia still believes former unified lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko is the top threat in the division, putting him over the likes of WBC titleholder Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis, Teofimo Lopez, and the recently crowned WBA/IBF/WBO champion George Kambosos.
Lomachenko lost his belts to Lopez in their unification matchup in November 2020. Since then the Ukrainian has reeled off two straight victories against Nakatani and, recently this past December at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Richard Commey.
“Loma No. 1,” Garcia told World Boxing News. “Close between Devin and Tank. Then you got George, who fought well. Loma No. 1. Then I would say Kambosos No. 2 and Devin and [Davis] a toss-up. They both had pretty mediocre performances.”
“I think that’s a huge fight, me versus Lomachenko. But I would love to fight Lomachenko as well,” Garcia said. “I think he’s a great fighter and I think he fought masterfully. He looked great.
“Lomachenko just fights so pure with his movement and he doesn’t waste any energy. He flows and he has the footwork, his body positioning. He fought amazing, but he should have knocked [Commey] out.”
“Stars aligned for Kambosos,” Garcia said. “I don’t know if Kambosos is going to go after another top fighter but if he does I personally don’t think he’s going to hold onto the belts. Maybe he will. He surprised me once.”
Of Davis, Garcia believes he gave “too much respect [to Cruz] in the opening rounds.”
Garcia has spent nearly a year away from the ring, citing mental health conditions. He has since announced he is ready to return to fighting. Garcia has stated that he would like to face Cruz, telling the hard-nosed Mexican last week to “sign the contract.”
