By Kenneth Friedman: In an example of Deja Vu, the WBC is reporting that the lightweight match between Luke Campbell and Ryan Garcia is a “done deal” for a fight that will be taking place in November in the U.S.
The fight will be shown on DAZN at a still to be determined venue. Ryan Garcia’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya says they’ll be staging it in California, which makes sense given that’s where his fan base is located.
Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) and King Ryan (20-0, 17 KOs) were recently said to be close to having their negotiated, but nothing came of it. Thankfully, Ryan’s promoters at Golden Boy promotions and Campbell’s management at Matchroom Boxing stuck with it and seemingly have it agreed on.
Campbell vs. Garcia winner will face Haney
Placing the Garcia-Campbell fight in the United States could potentially set up a situation where the results are criticized if the contest goes to the scorecards. Campbell was already on the received end of a controversial 12 round split decision against Jorge Linares in September 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
What Ryan has going for him is punching power and a great equalizer with his left hook. So if he does win, it’s very likely t be the result of a knockout.
“We’re very happy that Ryan Garcia will be fighting here in the U.S. in California,” De La Hoya said to ESPN.com. “It’s a very difficult fight, and again, we have to give it to DAZN, we have to give it to [Matchroom promoter] Eddie Hearn for making this happen, and we’re looking forward to it.”
Fans will still need to wait another three months to see the 32-year-old Campbell and 22-year-old Ryan battle it out in the World Boxing Council fight for the interim WBC 135-lb title.
The winner of the fight will be the mandatory challenger for WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney. In reality, neither of these two fighters needs to fight in an eliminator to get a fight against Haney. He’s been ready to fight either of those guys for a long time.
The only thing that the Garcia vs. Campbell fight will do is help weed out one of these two fighters, and a battle between the winner of their match and Haney a lot bigger than it would be.
Iām Positive I got a fight with luke Campbell FINALLY DONE! Wooooo about time we sign some papers š„
ā Ryan Garcia (@KingRyanG) August 19, 2020
Ryan looking spectacular
Garcia has been knocking everyone out lately, but his opposition has been on the weak side thanks to his promoters. They haven’t wanted to throw him in the deep waters this early in his career, given his youth and his lack of experience.
If Ryan were a little older and if he had Olympic experience, then Golde Boy would take gambles with his career, but he doesn’t have the benefit of either of those things.
A lot of boxing fans believe that Ryans promoters are making a huge mistake in putting him in with the 32-year-old Campbell at this stage in his career because he’s not nearly as gold as the British fighter, who captured an Olympic gold medalist in 2012.
Recently, Campbell went the full 12 round distance against Vasily Lomachenko in losing a decision last August.
Done deal! @GoldenBoyBoxing and @MatchroomBoxing have reached an agreement and the fight is on @luke11campbell Vs @KingRyanG in the USA date to be determined soon @WBCBoxing @EddieHearn pic.twitter.com/ldQ7fwinE8
ā Mauricio Sulaiman (@wbcmoro) August 19, 2020
Matchroom confident Luke wins
It makes sense for Campbell’s promoters at Matchroom Boxing to be in favor of this fight, as Luke has an excellent shot of winning this bout. He’s got the experience, the size, talent, and the offensive tools to expose all the limitations that Ryan has shown in some of his fights.
Most notably, Ryan’s contest against Carlos Morales in 2018 showed the flaws in his game when dealing with pressure fighters. Jorge Linares noted the same thing in watching Ryan’s match against Morales, and he concluded that he’s not ready to face him.
Even if Ryan does lose to Campbell, he can learn from the defeat and use the experience in his future fights. The smart fighters like Canelo Alvarez improve after they lose, but it’s unclear whether Ryan would get anything valuable from a disappointing defeat to Campbell.
Luke has losses to the following fighters during his seven-year professional career:
- Yvan Mendy – 12 round SD in 2015
- Jorge Linares – 12 round SD in 2017
- Vasiliy Lomachenko – 12 round UD in 2019
The fighters that Luke has had problems with were fighters with power, boxing skills, and good chins. Ryan has superior power than the guys that Campbell has lost to in the past, but he doesn’t have the toughness and not the skills of Lomachenko.
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn has got to be smiling like the Cheshire cat from Alice and Wonderland right now about the Campbell vs. Garcia fight being made.
On paper, Hearn’s fighter Campbell has more than enough talent to take the young upstart Ryan to school and convincingly beat him in front of the world in November.
Is Ryan ready for this fight?
Ideally, Ryan needs another two to five years before he’s ready to take on the lions in the 135-pound division like Campbell, but he’s not going to get that time to mature.
Ryan’s in a big rush to take on the best fighters in the division, and he doesn’t want to wait. His promoter Oscar De La Hoya would like to take his time bringing him along slowly, but he doesn’t want that.
In terms of power, Ryan can win this fight if he’s able to land his shots on Luke often enough to hurt him, but he may not get a chance. Campbell is a smart fighter, and he’s going to make sure that he keeps Ryan on the outside of his punches to prevent him from landing his left hook.
If Ryan’s best punch were a great right hand, Campbell would be in trouble because he could connect with one of those shots at some point in the fight. But when you’re talking about a left hook, that’s a more difficult punch to land because it’ll require that Ryan get near enough to land it, and Campbell won’t let him.
The power is there for Ryan
These are Ryan Garcia’s last 10 fights:
- Francisco Fonseca – KO 1
- Romero Duno – KO 1
- Jose Lopez – RTD 2
- Braulio Rodriguez – KO 5
- Carlos Morales – MD 10
- Jayson Velez – UD 10
- Fernando Vargas Parra – KO 1
- Noe Martinez Raygoza – TKO 8
- Cesar Alan Valenzuela – TKO 3
- Miguel Carrizoza – KO 1
What all these knockouts how is that Ryan Garcia’s power is for real, but the fact that he couldn’t KO Velez and Morales, the two best guys on his resume, isn’t a good sign.
If Ryan wasn’t able to stop those fighters, then the chances are high that he won’t be able to score a stoppage over the highly talented Campbell.
A lot of Campbell’s boxing fans are already predicting than Ryan will find an excuse to pull out of the contest at the last second to avoid a lot.
Hopefully, that’s not what we see happen. Ryan doesn’t have a track record of pulling out of his fights, but he’s also never fought anyone as dangerous as Campbell before.