By Barry Holbrook: Diamond in the rough phenom Ryan Garcia is looking to have a big year in 2020 in taking down 3 talented lions in the lightweight division. This could be the year that rockets the 21-year-old ‘Kingry’ Garcia (19-0, 16 KOs) to face and fortune.
Garcia’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions is already predicting that he’s going to earn untold riches during his professional career. Before Garcia is done, he could out-earn Canelo Alvarez if he’s able to stay motivated as he glides through the weight classes.
Garcia (19-0, 16 KOs) is fighting the capable Francisco Fonseca (25-2-2, 19 KOs) next on February 14 on DAZN, but after that fight he wants to scorch a path through the 13-lb division by taking on these three talented fighters:
- Jorge Linares
- Luke Campbell
- Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis
Putting together a fight between Linares and Campbell should simple for the up and comer Garcia. Those fighters would want to risk all by taking on Ryan, but it might be a different story with WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (23-0, 22 KOs).
Tank’s promoters at Mayweather Promotions have been dragging their feet about putting Tank Davis in with young and talented opposition. Ryan might be too much of a risk for them to want to make that fight in 2020.
Garcia faces Francisco Fonseca (25-2-2, 19 KOs) next month on the 14th of February at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The fight will be on DAZN
Ryan targeting Linares, Campbell & Gervonta this year
“I’ve got a lot more to prove. I was going to end the year with a bang, and 2020 is going to be all tough fights,” said Garcia t Fightype. “After this Fonseca fight, I want [Jorge] Linares, then hopefully [Luke] Campbell, and then Gervonta in December. That’s what I’m shooting for, but you don’t know what’s going to happen though,” said Ryan.
Negotiating these fights could prove tricky for Garcia and his promoters at Golden Boy. Campbell is with Matchroom Boxing, and it should be a fairly straightforward process to put together a fight with him, as long as he beats Javier Fortuna first. Those two will be battling for the vacant WBC lightweight title, which opened up recently after the shoulder injury by champion Devin Haney.
You’ve got to respect the raw courage that the wonder boy Garcia is showing in wanting to take on former 3 division world champion Linares (46-5, 28 KOs), 2012 Olympic gold medalist Campbell and Davis in the same year. If Garcia is able to fulfill his vision for 2020, he’ll have fought 4 times! How often do you see an elite level fighter competing four times in one year?
Nowadays, you’re lucky if a talented fighter competes twice. There’s a pattern with a lot of the top fighters in which once they start getting big money, they fight rarely, and they mostly travel live the life of a semi-retired nouveau riche person. It’s not surprising when their careers quickly peters out.
Ryan Garcia wants to beat Gervonta Davis like Ali beat Liston
“I feel by beating Gervonta Davis like Muhammad Ali beat Sonny Liston,” said Ryan Garcia to Fighthype. “They’re all scared, but I’ve been saying I’ll beat him for a while. So I definitely see that fight going on this year.
“None of them have fought anybody,” said Ryan Garcia about the top lightweights. “Gervonta, Devin, none of them have fought anybody. I fought people in their prime though. [Romero] Duno is in his prime. Jose Lopez is coming in his prime.
“I’m already the bigger star,” said Garcia to TMZ about Gervonta Davis. “Now, I’m about to prove who the better boxer, and that’s me.”
Davis has shown that he doesn’t move well, and his stamina is that of a much older fighter in his late 30s rather than a younger guy in his prime. Unless Mayweather Promotions steps in to have someone monitor Davis’ food intake, and have him on a regular exercise problem in between fights, he’s not going to be around too much longer an elite level fighter.
The way that Gervonta has been gaining more and more weight in between fights, it’s painfully obvious that he’s not long for the top. Although still young at 25, you can argue that the wealth is starting to get to Davis. Putting all that weight, and then forced to lose it all rapidly during his training camps has resulted in him gassing out in fights.
We saw that in his last contest against Yuriorkis Gamboa last December. It was all Tank Davis could do to stop the badly injured 38-year-old Gamboa in the 12th round. This is with a Gamboa that tore his right Achilles in the 2nd round.
Garcia doubts Fonseca can keep him off
“I got no clue. He’s going to have to show me what the antidote is, but I don’t think so,” said Ryan about his next opponent Francisco Fonseca. “He fought Tevin Farmer, and I watched that fight. He didn’t even have the power to keep Tevin Farmer off of him. How’s he going to keep me off of him? So we’ll see,” said Ryan on Fonseca.
“These are all guys 25 and 26,” said Ryan. “That’s not old guys. Old guys are easy to beat because they’re slow. They’re done. They may have a name, but they’re done. People need to understand that. It’s harder to fight a guy coming up than it is to fight a guy that is already done,” said Garcia.
Still only 25, the Nicaraguan Fonseca is a good combination puncher, and can fight well on the inside. With that said, Fonseca is an arm puncher, who can’t live with the top level fighters with the way he fights. His style is wrong for him to be battling guys like Garcia, Tank Davis and Tevin Farmer in the trenches.
Fonseca lost to Davis and Farmer not long ago, and in his last fight he fought to a 12 round draw against Alex Dilmaghani. That was surprising because this is a fighter that Fonseca SHOULD have been able to bet if he was one of the talented guys at 135.