By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions fighter Ryan Garcia (18-0, 15 KOs) has a MAJOR chip on his shoulder going into his fight tonight against Romero Duno (21-1, 16 KOs) on DAZN at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Garcia says that there are a lot of “Haters” out there hoping he’ll get beaten tonight by the 24-year-old Duno, and he feels he won’t receive credit even if he wins by knockout.
Many fans dislike Ryan Garcia’s attitude
Garcia’s cocky attitude has put off a lot of the boxing public, who doesn’t care for his swagger, and they view him as carefully matched hype job. Tonight’s fight against Duno likely be the one where fans see the 21-year-old Ryan brought down to earth and exposed.
Duno will have a difficult time trying to land his power shots tonight because he’s nowhere near as fast as Ryan. The punching power and the toughness of Duno gives him his best shot at winning. Unfortunately, Garcia will be on the move tonight, and will make it hard for Duno to land consistently.
According to WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney, did a good job of picking Duno for Garcia to fight, and he doesn’t see him losing this fight. Haney (23-0, 14 KOs) said he sparred with Duno recently while he was training for this fight, and he can’t see him winning.
Haney: Duno doesn’t pose a threat to Ryan Garcia
“Ryan Garcia, I actually sparred with [Duno] for his fight against Ryan Garcia,” said Devin Haney to Villain Fy Media in discussing Garcia’s fight against Duno tonight. “I feel like Ryan should beat him. I don’t think he poses too much threat. And I think Golden Boy lined it up perfect, and I think Ryan Garcia should beat him,” said Haney.
Golden Promotions are pinning their hopes on Ryan being their next huge star, and they obviously can’t afford to match him against someone too good because that ruin things. With the bad blood that exists between Golden Boy’s flagship fighter Saul Canelo Alvarez and CEO Oscar De La Hoya, he’s not likely to be with them much longer.
Once Canelo’s contract expires with Golden Boy, there’s a good chance he’ll sign with a different promotional company. Garcia might be the best hope that Golden Boy has in becoming a star. He’s clearly not as good as unbeaten welterweight prospect Vergil Ortiz Jr., but he’s got the looks and the charisma to become a star with the right match-making.
Ryan Garcia says he respects Romero Duno
“I just got a lot of haters and they want to see me lose,” said Garcia. “Even if I knock him out and I put on a beautiful boxing performance, they’re not going to respect me but I’m okay with that,” said Garcia. “I’m okay with just being confident in myself. I have a lot of respect for Romero Duno.
“Sometimes it confuses me when he wears t-shirts that ‘Ryan Garcia is running,’ so I’m a little confused, but I respect him. I feel like my skills are better, and I just feel like I’m going to win fairly easy. And I don’t see it going all ten rounds,” said Ryan about Duno.
Duno lost to Mikhail Alexeev by an eight round unanimous decision three years ago in 2016. Alexeev is easily the best opponent Duno has fought since he turned professional in 2014, and he did not look good in that fight at all.
The high expectations that Golden Boy has put on Garcia, it’s put him in a bad place where he’s going to disappoint boxing fans unless he destroys Duno. Ryan isn’t that kind of a fighter to go out and destroy good opposition.