By Jim Maltzman: Golden Boy Promotions may have made a miscalculation in letting Ryan Garcia face Luke Campbell, according to promoter Eddie Hearn. The fight has been finalized between the two highly ranked 135-pound contenders, with the only thing needed now is for the date and venue to be selected.
The 22-year-old Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) is a fighter that the Golden Boy Promotions company is banking on becoming their next superstar to carry the company into the future.
More specifically, Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya is hoping that the left-hook throwing Garcia can become their next flagship star to replace Canelo, who seems to have stopped being the risk-taker that he used to be.
Golden Boy taking a bad risk
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn believes that the more experienced 2012 Olympic gold medalist Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) will defeat Ryan when the two face each other in November on DAZN.
“I don’t think he beats Luke Campbell. I think this is a terrible, terrible decision by them,” Hearn said to DAZN Facebook about Team Ryan Garcia making a blunder.
“But maybe it’s a genius decision. We’ll find out in November. It’s a brilliant fight, and I’m excited about it because I really want Luke to win that fight,” said Hearn.
Campbell vs. Garcia is an excellent fight, and it could be huge by the time November rolls around. If Golden Boy and Matchroom do an excellent job of promoting the war, it could be one of the biggest in 2020.
There’s not much to compete with the Campbell-Garcia fight right now in terms of exciting contests that involve competitive match-ups. IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will be defending against challenger Kubrat Pulev on December 12th, but that fight is viewed as a non-compelling bout.
Most boxing fans believe Joshua will wipe the deck with the 39-year-old Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs). Also, WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury could be defending against Deontay Wilder in December as well.
That fight is seen as a sure thing win for Fury. But with the Ryan Garcia vs. Luke Campbell, it’s a contest in which fans aren’t sure who will win.
While some boxing fans believe that Campbell will win solely based on his experience, many others think Ryan’s massive power in his left hook will be too much for the British fighter to handle.
Hearn doubts Ryan will win
“If Ryan is as good as he looks or as good as they say he might be, maybe he beats Luke Campbell,” Hearn said of young King Ryan. “But I don’t believe he does.”
Campbell, 32, has been beaten before on three occasions, losing to Yvan Mendy, Jorge Linares, and Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Mendy (44-5-1, 22 KOs) knocked Luke down in the 5th round with a hard left hook to the head, and then he got the better of him in the second half of the bout to cruise to a 12 round split decision in 2015.
Campbell lost to Linares by a 12 round split decision in a match that many believed were an unfair decision.
It looked like Linares shifted into overdrive in rounds one through four, and then later nine through twelve to get the victory. Campbell did well in matches five tough eight when Linares was taking a break.
In Campbell’s last fight, he lost a 12 round decision to Vasiliy Lomachenko last August in London, England. That fight wasn’t close.
Campbell was completely outmanned by the highly skilled Lomachenko, who beat him by the following comprehensive skills: 118-108, 119-108, and 119-108. Boxing News 24 had Lomachenko up by a 120-107 score.
For his part, Lomachenko had no problems at all with Campbell in dominating him from start to finish. With that said, Campbell fought well, and he had his moments in the fight.
Ryan needs more power with his right
It’s hard to picture Ryan Garcia fighting nearly as well as Campbell did because it would have required that he have more tools in his toolbox than what exists.
Ryan is a one-dimensional fighter that relies on his left hook for his entire offense. When Ryan is unable to land that shot with effectiveness, he has nothing else to fall back on.
His jab is weak because he stands straight up without bending his knees when he throws it. Ryan’s right-hand lacks power, and he’s unable to hurt his opponents with that arm.
I must stay that it’s kind of odd for boxers that fight out of the orthodox stance to lack power in their right arm, but that’s Ryan’s problem. His right hand is so underdeveloped that it makes one wonder there he suffered an injury with that arm at some point in his life.
“He’s probably the lightweight that’s been thrown into the toughest challenges to try and win a world title, this one, of course, for the interim title,” Hearn continued about Campbell. “He had to go to Los Angeles and fight Jorge Linares.
“I felt he could’ve nicked that fight, even with a knockdown. Then he boxed Vasiliy Lomachenko, and now he’s fighting Ryan Garcia in LA.
“So you have to give Luke Campbell a huge amount of credit and respect. I think this is a terrible time for Ryan Garcia,” said Hearn.
Luke’s offense is more versatile
Campbell deserves a massive amount of respect for taking on Lomachenko and Linares and holding his own in both fights. The many facets of Campbell’s game that he showed in both of those fights it was like watching a master chess player.
Campbell does so many things that fighters like Ryan Garcia and other lightweights don’t possess. In contrast, Ryan is like someone playing checkers in his fights.
Ryan is always looking to land his bread & butter punch his left hook, and when he can’t land it, he seems lost. In Ryan’s fights against Carlos Morales, Jayson Velez, and Noe Martinez Raygoza, he looked like he wasn’t firing on all eight cylinders when he couldn’t connect with his left hook.
Those guys were backing Ryan up and forcing him to throw his left hook at too close of a range for him to get any power on it. Although Ryan won all three of those fights, he didn’t look great in doing so.