Ryan Garcia: I’m going to beat Luke Campbell down

By Boxing News - 12/03/2020 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Ryan Garcia is convinced that Luke Campbell has nothing in his offensive arsenal to worry him, and he plans on going out there and put a beating on the British fighter on January 2nd on DAZN.

Ryan, 22, has been training with gym mate Canelo Alvarez and new trainer Eddy Reynoso. We’re going to see what kind of new changes that Garcia shows when he gets in there with Campbell.

Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) needs to get Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) out of the way for him to face Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis in early 2021 for his WBA ‘regular’ lightweight title.

Garcia and Luke are headlining on January 2nd at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California. That’s the new date for the fight after Campbell came down ill with COVID-19 recently.

Ryan wants Davis (24-0, 23 KOs), and his promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions, wants him to take on IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO 135-lb champion Teofimo Lopez in 2021 as well.

If it goes down like that, King Ryan, 22, will have a busy year in 2021, and boxing fans will learn a lot about him when it’s through. Ryan will either be a huge star after next year; he’ll have been exposed.

Image: Ryan Garcia: I'm going to beat Luke Campbell down

King Ryan: Campbell has nothing in his arsenal

“I think he’s a game fighter, and he’s a person that doesn’t like to lose, but that doesn’t matter,” said Ryan Garcia. “There’s nothing he can do in his arsenal that I see that he could even do anything to me.

“There’s nothing that can shock me. I’m just very calm and extremely excited. I can’t wait for you guys to see my display of boxing.

“Hopefully, this gives you guys more firepower against some haters that talk about me all day long.

“So after I beat Luke Campbell, I want all my fans to go tell everybody that you should not have been talking about Ryan Garcia because now look.

‘He’s beaten Campbell, and he’s one of the best fighters in the lightweight division,'” said Ryan in picturing the praise he’ll receive from fans after he defeats Luke.

Campbell looked good at times in his last fight against Vasily Lomachenko a year ago, but he wasn’t consistent enough to make it close.

Although Campbell had his moments in the fight, Lomachenko still dominated him in winning by the scores 118-109, 119-108, and 119-108.

Campbell, 33, has good punching power, but he’s not a huge puncher or anything close to that. If Ryan gets a lot by Campbell, he could get stopped.

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Campbell is someone that Garcia can’t afford to let him too many times because he’ll take him out if he does. Luke has stopped five of his last eight opponents since 2016, but none of them were A-level guys,

Campbell’s knockouts since 2016:

  • Adrian Yung
  • Troy James
  • Darleys Perez
  • Jairo Lopez
  • Derry Mathews

Garcia predicting knockout of Luke

“I’ve watched some of Luke Campbell’s fights,” said Garcia. “Of course, I got to do my homework on him. He’s going to come and try and box me, and I’m going to take it to him and knock him out.

“I train every day twice a day to three times a day,” Ryan Garcia continued. “All I’m doing is thinking about the fight.

“I’m also taking long walks. I like to take long walks to clear my mind to make sure I’m not so lost in what I do. If I go in there and do my best, I’m going to win no matter what.

“That’s why this fight is going to be a great one to display my boxing abilities, and that’s why I’m excited about the fight,” Ryan said about the Campbell clash. “Yes, I’m ready to rumble. I want to be better than everybody.”

No one has knocked out the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Campbell during his seven-year professional career, and it would be a big accomplishment if Ryan can be the first.

Campbell hasn’t faced any huge punchers, though, which makes it difficult to predict how he’ll deal with getting hit by Ryan’s huge left hook smash.

That’s Ryan’s bread & butter punch, and he’s constantly shown that he can knock out his opponents with it. However, Ryan has never knocked out anyone talented during his career.

Yes, Ryan has scored many knockouts, but the opposition he’s done it against has been C-level fighters pulled in by Golden Boy for Garcia to shine against in showcase level fights.

If Ryan can’t get Campbell out of there on January 2nd, he could be in for a long night like he was in the toughest match of his career against Carlos Morales in 2018.

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Tank Davis is next up for Ryan

“My plan after this fight is to fight Gervonta Davis,” said Ryan Garcia. “That’s the man that needs to be beat, and he will be beat. If he decides to run, I’ll chase him down and get him.

“He [Tank Davis] cannot be a champion,” Garcia said. “I am a champion. I’ll fight any man in the 135 division all the way to the 140 division.

“I don’t think anybody will be able to beat me, and I promise you that. I’ve been putting in too much work; I’m too good and too fast for all these fighters.

“Every day is about learning and becoming a better person than you were yesterday,” Ryan Garcia said.

“The way that I handle is, I am human. I am Ryan Garcia, the same type of person you are. You’re a human.

“You bleed blood; I bleed blood. We’re all the same. Any color you are, any race you are. It doesn’t matter what background you come from. We’re all the same.

“Yeah, I’m going to beat Tank, and I tell everybody in the world right now,” said Ryan Garcia about him wanting Tank after he faces Campbell. “If you bet on Tank, you’re going to lose your whole bank,” said Ryan Garcia.

Interestingly, Ryan is already looking past Campbell, as many boxing fans are predicting that he loses to him.

Indeed, Campbell’s promoter Eddie Hearn thinks Golden Boy Promotions made a mistake in letting the young Ryan Garcia fight with Campbell at this early stage in his career.

Image: Ryan Garcia: I'm going to beat Luke Campbell down

Like Daniel Dubois, Ryan hasn’t had that step up fight yet for him to be taking on this kind of challenge. We saw what happened with heavyweight Dubois when he took on Joe Joyce without the needed experience last Saturday.