By Chris Williams: Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) got his first taste of adversity on Saturday night in getting dropped hard by his opponent Luke Campbell, but he showed courage to get and come back to KO the tough Brit in the seventh round.
Ryan took advantage of Campbell’s aggressiveness in the seventh round by catching him with a perfectly placed left to the body. Campbell looked for a fraction of a second that he would take the shot, but he then sunk to his knees in a delayed reaction.
The body shot was so painful that Campbell couldn’t back to his feet to beat the count. He looked at the referee while he was down, making it clear that he wasn’t going to get back to his feet in time to beat the count.
Earlier in the fight, Ryan was in bad shape when he was rocked by a huge left hand from Campbell in the seven.
Ryan was standing straight up like a bowling pin in the second round when Campbell blasted him with a left to the chin, which sent him down straight down on the seat of his pants. You could tell from the knockdown that it wasn’t the flash variety. Ryan was genuinely hurt.
Fighting in front of a small crowd at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, the 22-year-old Garcia pulled off the biggest victory of his short four-year professional career by defeating the two-time world title challenger.
Although Ryan was the favorite in the fight, it was still a huge win for him. Campbell is a top 10 level lightweight, and the win for King Ryan showed that he’s ready to test himself at the big guns in the division.
Immediately after the fight was halted, Ryan ran across the ring and suggest his trainer Eddy Reynoso, and let his fans know how happy he was at the win. You can understand why Ryan was so pleased, as he was in a real fight tonight.
Let’s not get it twisted. The outcome was still very much in doubt for Ryan going into the seventh round. The big 5’9″ southpaw Campbell was doing more than holding his own in the fight.
If Campbell had continued touching Ryan’s chin the way he was doing with his left hand, he likely would have stopped him.
Ryan says he wants to fight WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis next, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.
The way Ryan looked tonight, he won’t last long against Tank Davis. Hopefully, Golden Boy can talk Ryan out of it because he’s too hittable, and he doesn’t react well when he gets hit.