Ryan Garcia chose Francisco Fonseca for comparison purposes

By Boxing News - 02/10/2020 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Ryan Garcia will be in action this Friday against his hand-picked opponent Francisco Fonseca in his first fight of 2020 in a Golden Boy card at the Honda Center, in Anaheim, California.

Garcia-Fonseca will be streamed LIVE on DAZN this Friday night at 9:00 p.m. ET.

Garcia, 21, is already being called the next “Golden Boy” by some boxing fans, but he’s got a long ways to go before he can measure up Oscar De La Hoya, who went by that nickname during his illustrious career.

The unbeaten lightweight contender Garcia (19-0, 16 KOs) selected Fonseca (25-2-2, 19 KOs) to give boxing fans a chance to compare his performance with that of Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, who dispatched the Nicaraguan fighter in 8 rounds in 2017.

Fonseca a tough opponent for Garcia

Davis landed a lot of monstrous uppercuts in that fight. However, Fonseca showed an excellent chin, and was able to hit Tank Davis with a lot of nice shots of his own.

If Fonseca had a little more power, he would have given Davis a run for his money in that fight. As it was, Tank was gassing out after almost every exchange. He needed a breather, and Fonseca took advantage of these periods by nailing him with shots to the head and body.

At the weigh-in for that fight, Tank Davis came in 2 lbs over the super featherweight limit at 132, and he was subsequently stripped of his IBF 130-lb title. Tank missing weight may have negatively impacted his performance against Fonseca. However, we saw Tank struggle in his last contest too against 38-year-old Yuriorkis Gamboa on December 28 in his lightweight debut.

Provided that Fonseca brings the same kind of a fight to Garcia that we saw from him against Tank, we could see an upset. Fonseca is as tough as they come. He’s not going to stop for anything, and Ryan might regret having selected him as an opponent to showcase his boxing skills.

Ryan Garcia talks about being the ‘next Golden Boy’

“I signed with them when I was 18-years-old, but the new contract was better than the first one,” said Ryan to ESPN about him being with Golden Boy Promotions. “That was all business. It was contractual, and it was something that we needed to fix.

“It makes me feel good, but if I let it get to my head, then I won’t become that,” said Ryan when asked how he feels being called ‘The next Golden Boy.’ “Canelo has been a good asset to me. Look at him, he’s a pound-for-pound champion.

“What better person to mentor you and look over you. He’s a Mexican hero. You know what? He’s quiet but when he gets his personality going, he’s funny as hell,” said Ryan on Canelo. “When we were sparring, he was showing me techniques, feints, timing, stuff like that. We weren’t going hard, because he’s way bigger than me. He could crush me,” said Garcia on Canelo.

We’re going to find out soon if Ryan can follow in De La Hoya’s giant footsteps in becoming the net Golden Boy. Garcia wants to challenge WBA lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and/or WBC champion Devin Haney in 2020. If Ryan can get either of those fights, we’ll get a chance to observe if he’s got the raw talent to do the job.

First things first though. Garcia has got to beat the tough as nails Fonseca this Friday night, and it’s not a sure thing that he’ll be able to do that. Ryan struggled to beat Carlos Morales by a 10 round majority decision in September 2018 in a fight that a lot of boxing fans thought should have been ruled a draw.

Garcia wanted Fonseca fight for comparison purposes

“I feel like in order to be great, you’ve got to do something great, and I can’t be great if I’m always expected to win,” said Ryan. “So if I beat Gervonta Davis, the fight I want, that nobody gives me a shot, then I have a chance to be great. And another thing, they all thought I was going to lose my last fight [against Romero Duno], and I proved them all wrong. I read all the comments. ‘Ryan has no shot, he’s an Instagram boxer,’ and a lot of other stuff too.

“Even young guys say that. They’re just so mad,” said Garcia. “They don’t even get them. The reason I picked this one is because he fought Gervonta Davis and he fought Tevin Farmer,” said Ryan on why he selected Francisco Fonseca for his next opponent this Friday. “The reason why it matters to me is because now I get to see how I rank up against a similar opponent. Let’s see how he reacted, and let me see if I react better. We got to see.

“I fight better when I’m in Vegas at the MGM Grand in the co-main event with everybody there.,” said Garcia “I fought great when I was at Madison Square Garden and everybody cheering my name. It was like something like that gets me amped up to do something special.”

De La Hoya may choose to hold Garcia back if he doesn’t look good against Fonseca, because it would be a mistake to throw him in with Linara if he struggles against Fonseca.

Garcia has looked improved in his last three fights in beating Braulio Rodriguez, Jose Lopez and Romero Duno. Those were all beatable guys though, so it didn’t tell us much.

Ryan Garcia sees Tank Davis as classic fight

“It’s a great fight when you think about it,” said Garcia when asked WHY he wants to fight Gervonta. “It’s ‘Tank’ vs. ‘The Flash’. He’s with Mayweather, and I’m with De La Hoya. Look at it. He’s a short, explosive fighter that knocks everybody out. That’s like Sonny Liston vs. Muhammad Ali. Who’s going to win?

“They gave Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, no chance, and they’re going to give me no chance, but you’re going to see what I do.

It’s early yet for Garcia to be comparing himself to Muhammad Ali, and much too premature for him to be talking about a fight against Tank.

If Ryan beats Fonseca with ease, then his next fight could be against Linares. That is a match where Garcia will show if he’s ready to advance to the next level against Tank or Haney.

Garcia talks about Lomachenko

“People often forget that it’s a fight. He is short, and I am tall,” said Ryan about a fight between him and Vasiliy Lomachenko. “I have a reach advantage, and not only that, I have power and speed. He walked into a couple of shots from Jorge Linares before he got dropped.

He never walked into mine. So we got to see how he reacts to that. But all respect to Lomachenko. He’s one of the best fighters out there. I feel like I can get up to 154. Maybe when I build up a little bit more, and get a little bigger. Right now, I’m comfortable at 135. If I can get a world title here, I can go from there,” said Ryan.

For Garcia to get a fight with Lomachenko in 2020 or 2021, he may need to talk Golden Boy into letting him do that. It’s hard to believe that the top brass at Golden Boy would willingly agree to let Garcia face an experienced pound-for-pound star like Lomachenko this year. That would be a foolhardy risk for Ryan to take at this point, and nothing good could come of it.

Ryan on fighting Tank Davis

“I feel like I take him out in the 8th round,” said Garcia when asked what his prediction for a future fight against Tank Davis. “He runs into a big one,” said Ryan.