By Allan Fox: George Kambosos Jr. fired back at Ryan Garcia today in reaction to him saying that he’s not as skillful as Teofimo Lopez and that the only reason he beat him is that he wasn’t at his best last November.
In a recent interim with Chris Mannix, the undefeated 135-lb contender King Ry (21-0, 18 KOs) that he beat Teofimo because he worked harder than him, but he wasn’t as talented.
Ryan then said that if he ever gets the opportunity to fight Kambosos, he’ll show that he doesn’t belong in the same ring as him.
Unfortunately, Ryan’s inactivity has gotten in the way of him getting a chance to challenge the unbeaten Kambosos for his IBF, WBA, WBC Franchise & WBO lightweight titles because he probably would be giving him a shot at his four belts.
Kambosos Jr. (20-0, 10 KOs) said Ryan Garcia needs to focus on going to the gym and fighting former world champions. To that end, Ryan is fighting next month on April 9th against Emmanuel Tagoe (32-1, 15 KOs) at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The fight will be shown on DAZN.
Kambosos is in negotiations to potentially face WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney on June 5th in Melbourne, Australia. The fight will be for the undisputed lightweight championship.
If Ryan Garcia wins his fight against Tagoe and Kambosos is victorious against Haney, there’s a possibility we could see a Kambosos-Ryan fight in late 2022.
“Ryan likes to get involved in everything but he should be focused on getting to the gym instead of getting involved in other people’s business,” said George Kambosos Jr. to Fighthype.
“He’s got a big fight coming up against [Emmanuel] Tagoe. He still hasn’t fought a former world champion yet” said Kambosos Jr about Ryan pulling out of his fight last July against former super featherweight champion Javier Fortuna.
“Good old Ryan Garcia, he said this morning on Twitter that I’ve only got one big win. That big win was a guy in the top five pound-for-pound, a guy [Teofimo Lopez] with all the belts prior to that, beat a former world champion in his backyard.
“What world champion or former world champion has he beat yet? None, zero. Talking is easy, I know he likes to talk. He showed respect as well. He wants me to make all this money and look after my kids and family. That’s what he said. He doesn’t need to worry about my kids and family.
“I’m a man. I worry about my kids and family. You just worry about your fighting and getting to the gym. So, I wish him all the best, and I wish Emmanuel Tagoe all the best. Me and Tagoe are friends.
“I want to see a good fight. Like I said, I’m not a hater. Business is business. If you want to get involved in my business, then I’ll put my input as well. If you want to make it happen, come show me what my worth is and we’ll get that done as well.
“No, he doesn’t deserve the fight yet,” said Kambosos when asked if Ryan Garcia deserves a title shot against him. “Go beat a former champion, go beat a big name.
Just because you’ve got a massive social media following, all these young kids, doesn’t mean all of a sudden you’re going to jump the queue. There are bigger names, guys that deserve the fight, guys that are active, guys that are beating champions,” said Kambosos.
“I don’t think he’s as skillful as Teofimo Lopez. I still don’t think he’s as skillful. I think he caught Teofimo at the right time, that’s all,” said Ryan Garcia to The Volume in minimizing Kambosos’s win last November.
“He beat talent [Teofimo] when talent didn’t work hard, and you can never knock a guy on that. I will show that he doesn’t belong in the ring with me,” Ryan said.