By Kenneth Friedman: Ryan Garcia singled out UFC champion Henry Cejudo on Monday in asking his followers on social media how he would do against him inside a boxing ring.
It would be a longshot for Cejudo to be permitted by the UFC to take on Ryan Garcia inside the boxing ring. Cejudo doesn’t have the same popularity as former UFC champion Conor McGregor, and Ryan isn’t on the level of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in terms of name recognition.
Mayweather and McGregor fought in 2017 in a boxing match, which brought in 4.3 million pay-per-view buys. Ryan vs. Cejudo likely wouldn’t sell if they peddled it to fans on PPV.
Cejudo says he’d hurt Ryan Garcia
Not surprisingly, Cejudo, 33, reacted with angrily, warning the 21-year-old unbeaten lightweight Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) that he would hurt him if they fought.
Cejudo was so worked up by Ryan that he asked UFC president Dana White if he can fight him.
You think @HenryCejudo would give me a good fight in the boxing ring?
— Ryan Garcia (@KingRyanG) May 11, 2020
Henry Cejudo: “Get the hell out of here, you Oscar De La Hoya wannabe. I’d make you bend the knee in your own sport! @danawhite Allow me to fry this fish! twitter.com/kingryang/stat…
Ryan Garcia: Don’t end up like Connor now! 🤫 My guy Henry C is 5’4 you enter the ring with me you’ll end up retiring for good, just enjoy your championships in MMA.
“I got some business to handle July 4th, but anyone who believes they can beat me should be addressed…
“Man, I got a lot of people wanting to fight me 😅😅 only more reason to keep training.”
Cejudo has decent striking skills and good hand speed, but he’s easy to hit. Under a best-case scenario, Cejudo might make it tough on Ryan if he could get close enough to land one of his right-hand shots on the button. However, Cejudo rarely uses his left hand, and he doesn’t have much of a jab. With Ryans’ height and reach advantage, he could toy with Cejudo.
It wouldn’t be a fair fight for Ryan to face the shorter Cejudo in a boxing match. Likewise, Cejudo would have a big advantage over Ryan inside the octagon. These are two different sports, and it wouldn’t be competitive for either of them to try and win if they moved over to the other side.
Ryan would be too skilled for Cejudo
Ryan would likely stand a better chance of beating Henry in an MMA match than he would inside the boxing ring. If Ryan was able to catch Cejudo with one of his big left hooks while he’s shooting for a double-leg takedown, he might knock him out cold. Henry would need to kick Ryan rather than to stand and right with his fists.
In fairness to Ryan, he wasn’t calling out Cejudo for a fight. He just wanted to get an opinion from his boxing fans in how they think he would do against the 5’4″ Cejudo.
It wouldn’t be a good idea for the much shorter Cejudo to mix it up with Ryan because he clearly lacks the skills to beat the 5’10’ Garcia in a boxing match. Although Cejudo is UFC champion, Olympic gold medalist in wrestling, and 4-time State champion, none of those things would help him against Ryan.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar Dela Hoya will be bringing Ryan back on July 4. There’s a possibility that Ryan will fight Jorge Linares on that date. If not him, then one of the U.S based contenders. The travel ban will limit ho Ryan can face.
