By Aragon Garcia: Undefeated lightweight contender Ryan Garcia (18-0, 15 KOs) will be fighting next Saturday night against Avery Sparrow (10-1, 3 KOs) in a 10 round fight on DAZN at the Dignity Health Sports Park, in Carson, California.
Ryan could be the next Saul Canelo Alvarez superstar fighter in North America. He’s that kind of talent. Golden Boy Promotions are trying to move Garcia up at the right pace, but it’s proving to be difficult to hold him back. He wants to take more challenges, and he’s already calling out Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. Garcia vs. Tank Davis would be a huge fight.
Garcia vs. Sparrow the co-feature bout
Garcia-Sparrow is the chief support for the headliner fight between WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia (33-0, 26 KOs) and #13 WBO Patrick Allotey (40-3, 30 KOs).
The 20-year-old Ryan Garcia is ranked #5 WBA, #6 WBO, #11 WBC at lightweight. He’s taking a small step up against the 25-year-old Sparrow. Golden Boy Promotions isn’t yet ready to put Ryan in against any of the world champions at lightweight at this time, because it’s too early for him to be fighting for a title. The champions at 135, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Richard Commey, are considerably older than Ryan in their early 30s.
There’s no rush in Garcia going after a world title right now. Lomachenko, 31, is about to unify the division, and then move down to 130. That’ll leave a huge scramble for his IBF, WBA, WBC & WBO belts for the contenders in the division. Ryan go after one of those belts, and hold it down or a while he matures.
Sparrow a tough test for Ryan Garcia
Avery Sparrow is an excellent step up opponent for Garcia to take, as he’s someone that is just below the top 15. Sparrow isn’t quite at the stage of being a world ranked contender, but he’s close to that level. Sparrow defeated former lightweight world title challenger Hank Lundy (29-8-1, 14 KOs) by a 10 round split decision last March.
Lundy, 35, isn’t quite the same fighter that he once was eight years ago, but he’s still a tough test for anybody. Sparrow did just as good a job beating him than undefeated lightweight contender Zaur Abdullaev (11-0, 7 KOs) did in beating him in his previous fight last year in September 2018 in Russia.
Abdullaev is fighting unbeaten #2 WBC Devin Haney (22-0, 14 KOs) next Friday night in a WBC eliminator match. Sparrow’s win over Lundy showed that he’s got the kind of talent to be ranked in the top 15. That means he’s someone that Ryan Garcia will need to be careful with, because he could give him problems if he doesn’t bring his A-game.
Next Saturday, @KingRyanG returns to the ring 😤💪#MunguiaAllotey co-main event #GarciaSparrow on @dazn_usa 👈 pic.twitter.com/TesuHu8kDe
— Golden Boy (@GoldenBoyBoxing) September 8, 2019
Munguia defends against Allotey
In the main event, Jaime Munguia (33-0, 26 KOs) will be defending his WBO junior middleweight title against unbeaten #13 WBO (40-3, 30 KOs). Munguia has held the World Boxing Organization title since May of 2018, when he obliterated Sadam Ali in four rounds to win the belt.
Since capturing the strap, Munguia has successfully defended his WBO title four times. He’s beaten Takeshi Inoue, Liam Smith, Brandon Cook and Dennis Hogan. Munguia barely beat Hogan by a 12 round majority decision on April 13 in Arena Monterrey, in Monterrey. Mexico. A lot of boxing fans felt that Hogan had done enough to deserve the win, but he didn’t get the nod with the judges. Hogan had hoped to get an immediate rematch with Munguia, but it wasn’t meant to be. Munguia has outgrown the weight class, and needs to move up to 160 to take on guys his own size like Gennady Golovkin, and Saul Canelo Alvarez. Munguia has the talent to stay at 154, and hold down the title for years. There’s no point in staying down there, because all the big names are at 160.