By Dan Ambrose: Ryan Garcia put the lightweight division on notice last Saturday night by warning them that becoming for everybody to put them to sleep.
The undefeated former interim WBC lightweight champion Ryan, 23, has taken criticism from Canelo Alvarez and many boxing fans for not staying active with his career and lacking the dedication needed to be successful.
It’s going to be tough for Ryan to suddenly start showing the dedication needed for him to improve enough to beat one of the top lightweights.
Has the money ruined King Ry?
Ryan seems more of a YouTuber type of fighter than a true professional, and that’s too bad. He has a powerful left hook, but he’s not shown the hunger that we see from other young lightweight contenders
Ryan’s net worth is estimated at $10 million, and with that kind of money, it’s obviously hard for him to get in the gym and train the way he needs to for him to improve.
Once Teofimo Lopez vacates his IBF, WBA & WBO 135-lb titles, Ryan Garcia should get a shot at one of those belts. Depending on who Ryan fights for the vacated belt, he could win.
But what we’ve seen from Ryan in his toughest fights against Luke Campbell and Carlos Morales, he doesn’t possess the talent to beat any of these fighters:
- Gervonta Davis
- Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz
- Richard Commey
- Vasily Lomachenko
- Devin Haney
- Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero
- Michel Rivera
- Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr.
- Javier Fortuna
It would be a longshot for Ryan to beat even half of those fighters, and there’s a possibility that he would lose to virtually all of them.
“I understand where he’s coming from,” said Ryan Garcia last Saturday night in reacting to the criticism from Canelo Alvarez about him wasting his career by not being dedicated.
“It’s always all love, I don’t take anything personally,” King Ry continued. “I just know that I had a hard year but I’m fully recovered mentally and when I get back ]from surgically repaired hand], I’m coming for everybody’s heads that said I’m not disciplined or nothing, I’m coming straight for them.
“I’m going to knock everyone out sleep, cold. I’m coming for everybody. Destroy ‘em,” said deluded-sounding Ryan.
King Ry fought only once in 2021, beating Luke Campbell to capture the WBC interim 135-lb title and becoming mandatory to WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney.
Instead of challenging Haney, Ryan passed up on the opportunity, saying he wanted to fight Gervonta Davis and Manny Pacquiao. When neither of those fights materialized, Ryan’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions matched up against Javier Fortuna for the main event on July 9th. Sadly, Ryan pulled out of the fight due to anxiety problems.
Golden Boy then negotiated a fight for Ryan Garcia against Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr. for November 27th on DAZN. This fight too went up in smoke because of a hand injury Ryan suffered during training. He’s now out for the remainder of 2021, and not expected back until 2022.
View this post on Instagram