By Kenneth Friedman: Ryan Garcia posted on social media earlier today, showing him working on his combination punching and looking fast for his next fight on July 4. Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) is putting more effort into his right hand, which is his weakness on offense.
He’s got a powerful left hook that he throws in a whip-like manner, and it’s a lethal punch when he lands it on his opponent. Garcia, 21, has a lot of time to improve while boxing is shutdown. When things start back up, the highly ranked #2 WBA, #3 WBC Ryan, will likely be facing an opponent similar to the last guy he fought in Francisco Fonseca.
Ryan’s next opponent still unknown
Golden Boy Promotions would like to match against Jorge Linares (47-5, 29 KOs), but his trainer Eddy Reynoso isn’t in favor of that fight. Further, there are doubts about whether Linares can make it into the U.S from his home in Tokyo, Japan.
“All the hate in the world but don’t let anything take that light inside, 🙏😁” said Ryan on his Twitter.
Reynoso can’t hold Ryan back forever. At 21, he’s ready to start facing better opposition, and he’s not going to improve in destroying overmatched guys by first-round knockouts. In Garcia’s last two fights, he’s stopped Romero Duno and Francisco Fonseca in the first round. Garcia isn’t going to learn much in knocking everyone out immediately.
Look at Mike Tyson. He was knocking everyone out early, and when he finally met up with Buster Douglas, a fighter that withstood his early attempts at stopping him, he was beaten.
The guys that Ryan will need to deal with soon or these fighters:
- Devin Haney
- Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis
- Teofimo Lopez
- Vasiliy Lomachenko
- Luke Campbell
- Javier Fortuna
Reynoso needs to let Ryan face the better fighters
It would be a shame if Reynoso holds Ryan back, and he ends up missing out on fights against Haney, Tank, Loma, and Teofimo. Those are fighters that won’t stick around the 135-pound division for too much longer. Tank, Teofimo, and Haney will likely move up to 140 in a year.
Lomachenko is talking about wanting to move back down to super featherweight, although he may stay at 135. There are bigger fights for Lomachenko at 135, and he’s starting to understand that.
Ryan matches up well with Haney, Campbell, and Fortuna. Lomachenko, Teofimo, and Tank might have too much power for Ryan right now. Before Ryan faces those types of fighters, he needs more experience because those are dangerous guys. Ryan doesn’t want to get hit by those types of fighters at this early stage in his career, as he’s not yet had his chin checked by any of his opponents.
Before facing those types of guys, Ryan needs to be allowed to face fighters like Linares, Campbell, and Fortuna. If Reynoso is waiting around for those guys to get old before letting Ryan face them, he could be wasting his career.
