Ryan Garcia vs. Luke Campbell finalized for November or December

By Boxing News - 09/03/2020 - Comments

By Matt Lieberman: Contracts have been finalized for the Ryan Garcia vs. Luke Campbell lightweight showdown for November or December in the United States, according to Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn.

Golden Boy Promotions will be promoting the show, and they’ll be staging it likely in Ryan’s home territory in Southern California. However, that doesn’t mean that Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) will have an advantage, as crowds won’t be there for this fight.

Hearn says he’s waiting for a date from Golden Boy for the Garcia-Campbell fight. Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya needs to choose carefully to ensure that the war brings in the maximum number of viewers on DAZN, as the name of the game is to increase subscribers.

Hearn waiting for Garia-Campbell date

With De La Hoya’s flagship fighter Canelo Alvarez possibly night fighting in 2020 due to his problems over the pay for his fights, it’s essential that Golden Boy hit one out of the park with ‘King’ Ryan’s 135-pound match-up against 2012 Olympic gold medalist Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs). De La Hoya is banking on the 21

“Just finalized the contract for that. We’re talking about the end of November or December in American. It’s a Golden Boy show,” said Hearn to IFL TV in talking about Ryan Garcia vs. Luke Campbell. “So, we’re waiting for a date from them. It’s a great fight.”

Image: Ryan Garcia vs. Luke Campbell finalized for November or December

Hearn is counting on his fighter #2 Campbell beating Ryan Garcia, which would set-up a match against WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney. That would be the ideal fight for Hearn, seeing that he promotes Campbell and Haney.

It’s a match that Eddie could stage in London in 2021 in front of a packed audience, as long as boxing fans are allowed back in by next year.

Luke with a great shot at winning

Campbell, 32, is in a great position to hand Garcia his first career-loss, but he’s going to need to be careful at all times. Garcia has a left hook that is capable of knocking out anyone in the 135 and 140-lb divisions.

His right hand is much less developed for some reason, so Campbell won’t need to worry about that shot as much. Ryan will be looking to catch Campbell at all times with his left, and he’s going to have to be careful not to get hit more than a few times in the contest.

Garcia seems to be getting more proficient in landing his left hook, as he’s scored consecutive first-round knockouts in his last two contests against Francisco Fonseca and Romero Duno. Before that, Ryan stopped Jose Lopez in the second round.

The experience advantage that Campbell will have in this fight against Garcia is going to put him in a strong position to win. Golden Boy might be slipping up in letting Ryan take on a fighter as advanced as Campbell at this early point in his career.

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If this gamble works out for De La Hoya, he’ll look great for letting this fight happen. On the flip-side, if Campbell smashes Garcia, fans are going to take shots at Oscar for letting this match-up.

Ryan Garcia should be the underdog

In the old days, promoters weren’t afraid to take these kinds of risks with their fighters, but nowadays, it’s rare. De La Hoya is carrying an old school approach to promote Garcia’s career by throwing him in the deep end early.

You can’t say the same thing about De La Hoya’s approach to guiding the career of Canelo Alvarez. He’s only taken one risk in his career in facing Floyd Mayweather Jr, and that still paid off for him. Canelo made a lot of money in losing to Mayweather in 2013.

Was De La Hoya pressured into letting Ryan face Campbell?

Ryan is an excellent fighter, but he doesn’t have any name opponents on his resume that would give fans a hint of how he’ll do against Campbell. There hasn’t been a step up fight for Garcia yet during his career to prepare him for a fighter as talented as Luke, and he could pay for his lack of experience.

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In a recent interview made before the Campbell-Garcia fight was announced, De La Hoya talked about wanting to move Ryan at the pace that Golden Boy felt was wise. He acknowledged that Garcia wanted to take risky fights against guys like Gervonta Davis, but he thought it was important to move him slowly.

The thing you know it, the World Boxing Council orders Garcia vs. Campbell, and Golden boy agreed to the fight. It makes you wonder whether De La Hoya caved in under pressure from Garcia and his dad, Henry Garcia, to take this risky fight against Campbell.

If that’s the case, then he’s the one that is going to get dumped on my fans. They won’t know that this is a fight that Ryan and his dad wanted.

Usyk vs. Chisora might be delayed until January

“October, November, and December, but it’s more likely two,” Hearn said about Matchroom Boxing putting on three pay-per-view shows in those months. “But if we nail Usyk-Chisora, Whyte-Povetkin, and AJ, then it’ll be three,” said Hearn.

“At the moment, Usyk-Chisora, there’s a lot of work to do to get that position to move forward. No, but there’s a chance of that fight not happening October 31,” said Hearn when asked if there’s a danger of Usyk vs. Chisora fight not happening. “Again, it might be delayed until January.

Image: Ryan Garcia vs. Luke Campbell finalized for November or December

“That’s the fight; AJ appreciates no fight potentially or a small crowd. It’s going to be making a lot less money. He accepts that. That fight, Usyk-Chisora, there’s a couple of million quid hole in that fight with no gate.

“So with all due respect with Usyk and Chisora, I don’t mind footing some of that bill, but not all of them. So that’s the ongoing discussion,” said Hearn.

It sounds like WBO mandatory Oleksandr Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs) will need to delay his dreams of challenging IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua for a title in 2021.

Chisora with a chance to earn Joshua fight

If Usyk has to wait until January of next year to face Chisora, then he’s not going to be in a position to face Joshua in the first half of the year.

That means the fans will be able to see Joshua take on WBC champion Tyson Fury for the undisputed heavyweight championship.

Usyk and Chisora won’t want to fight on October 31 if it means that they’re going to do it without a crowd. They’ll lose out on a tremendous amount of money by fighting without fans.

There’s a massive amount of interest from British boxing fans in seeing Chisora (32-9, 23 KOs) and former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk fight. The winner of the Usyk-Chisora fight will challenge Joshua for his WBO title.

Image: Ryan Garcia vs. Luke Campbell finalized for November or December

Chisora says he wants that “golden ticket” from Usyk to fight AJ for his WBO belt. Although Chisora has had a lot of nice paydays during his long 13-year professional career, he hasn’t tasted the kind of money that he would get by fighting Joshua or Tyson Fury.

Fighting either of those guys will give the 36-year-old Chisora a huge payday that he can use to feather his retirement next. In other words, fighting Joshua will be Chisora’s ‘golden parachute’ to give him a nice retirement, living the high life among the sticks in the countryside.