By Allan Fox: Canelo Alvarez told the media on Tuesday why he recently criticized his protege Ryan Garcia, saying that it was “constructive criticism” to help him get motivated to improve.
The unbeaten lightweight contender ‘King Ry’ Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) trains at the same gym as Canelo with coach Eddy Reynoso, and the Mexican star has taken the 23-year-old under his wing, trying to help make him a champion.
Unfortunately, Ryan hasn’t shown the dedication to training and improving the way Canelo likes and appears to be merely going through the motions.
Ryan is a millionaire at 23, and he doesn’t seem to have the same hunger for the sport that other fighters do. Promoter Eddie Hearn pointed that out this week, saying it’s no secret that Ryan Garcia doesn’t work hard.
“The reality is he doesn’t work as hard as a lot of fighters, and one of those being Canelo Alvarez,” said Hearn to DAZN about Ryan.
The unbeaten Golden Boy promoted Ryan Garcia hasn’t fought since last January in defeating a shot Luke Campbell, and he didn’t look impressive in that fight.
Since then, Ryan pulled out of a fight with Javier Fortuna on July 9th, saying he had mental health issues to take care of.
Then recently, Ryan suffered a hand injury that derailed his scheduled November 27th fight against former IBF super featherweight champion Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr.
“I haven’t talked to him [Ryan Garcia] because he’s just recovering from his surgery, but what I said about him, it wasn’t meant in a bad way. It was meant to be constructive criticism,” said Canelo on Tuesday when asked about his recent comments about Ryan Garcia needing to be more dedicated.
“I want him to take it that way and get the motivation to get on the right track once again,” said Canelo of Ryan Garcia.
What Canelo has to understand is that he can’t force Ryan to be as dedicated to the sport of boxing as he is.
If Ryan doesn’t have the same interest in boxing as Canelo and other hungry fighters, he’s never going to put in the effort to improve.
Indeed, it’s more likely we will see his interest diminishing in a negative feedback manner.
By not training hard, Ryan will get poor results, which will probably cause him to put in even less effort to his training. Possibly soon, Ryan Garcia will give up on his career in boxing fans and retire. Once Ryan starts losing, he’ll likely walk away from the sport soon after.
With the massive fortune Ryan has made in his four-year professional career, he doesn’t need boxing anymore. He’s set for life, and he can make money on social media, thanks to his nearly 9 million followers on Instagram and 1 million followers on YouTube.
In some ways, Ryan Garcia is another Jake Paul, a social media influencer. If Ryan wants to hustle fights against non-boxers or mediocre ones the way Jake Paul is doing, he can make good money selling those events to casual boxing fans.