Ryan Garcia vs. Romero Duno in co-main event on Canelo vs. Kovalev card on Nov 2nd

By Boxing News - 09/19/2019 - Comments

By Kenneth Friedman: Unbeaten lightweight prospect Ryan Garcia (18-0, 15 KOs) received a five-year-old contract extension with Golden Boy Promotions on Wednesday, and he’ll be facing Romero Duno (21-1, 16 KOs) in the co-main event on the Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev card on November 2nd.

The 21-year-old Garcia took care of the issues he had with Golden Boy and has been rewarded with “one of the most lucrative deals in history for a prospect.” You can’t blame Garcia for being excited about his new deal with Golden Boy, because he’s not only getting a five-year extension, but he’s also being put in a choice spot in the co-main event on the Canelo-Kovalev card on DAZN. You can’t get any better than that for a prospect.

Ryan Garcia in the spotlight against Romero Duno 

Fighters that are thrust into co-main spots are often world champions or on the brink of getting a title shot. You can argue that Garcia fits into neither of those categories. He’s not a world champion, and he’s not likely to be fighting for a title anytime soon.

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To be certain, it would be a BAD idea for Golden Boy to match Garcia with WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko right now. The end result of a fight like that could be demoralizing for Ryan. Matching Garcia against 20-year-old WBC interim champion Devin Haney wouldn’t be good either.

Garcia has the ideal opponent for him to look sensational against in the tough – but limited – Duno. This is a fringe contender with the WBO, who has good power, but slow hands and wide open defense. Duno had problems winning his last fight against Ivan Delgado (13-3-2, 6 KOs) last Saturday in Carson, California. That fight was competitive up to the very end when Delgado was pulled out of the contest by his corner after round 7. Duno basically bludgeoned Delgado for seven rounds until the fight was stopped. This was far from a one-sided fight. Duno’s face was heavily marked at the end, and he looked like he’d been in a war.

“The star in boxing is Canelo, but I tell you one thing, this guy is going to be a star,” said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya about Ryan Garcia. I can’t wait when he’s on all these talk shows blowing up boxing. It’s going to be a run.”

Fans not familar with Duno/they want Vergil Ortiz Jr. in co-main event

Some boxing fans are complaining on social media about Ryan Garcia a little known fringe contender in 23-year-old Duno. A lot of fans would prefer to see unbeaten welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz Jr. (14-0, 14 KOs) on the Canelo-Kovalev card in the co-main event. The 21-year-old welterweight contender Ortiz Jr. is further along with his career than Garcia, and has the talent to win a world title. Ortiz is ranked #1 with the World Boxing Association. Golden Boy obviously wouldn’t put Garcia in with a devastating puncher like Ortiz Jr. That’s not the point. Many fans feel that Ortiz Jr. is more deserving to fight in the co-main event on the Canelo vs. Kovalev undercard than the unproven Ryan Garcia, who is the same age as him.

Did Golden Boy make their decision about putting Garcia as the chief support because of his friendship with Canelo? Garcia is well-liked by Canelo, who has been re-tweeting some of his social media posts recently when he was having problems with Golden Boy. Ryan is also trained by Eddy Reynoso, the same trainer as Canelo. All that obviously complicates things. Ortiz Jr. would have been the perfect guy to fight in the co-feature bout, because he’s on the verge of challenging for a world title. Garcia could be a couple years away from fighting for a title.