By Michael Malaszczyk: Yes, I picked Gervonta Davis to beat Ryan Garcia last weekend. Yes, before Saturday, I might have agreed that Garcia’s fame has come more from gym stunts for YouTube and Instagram rather than accomplishments in the ring.
I saw it coming from a country mile that the same fighter who got dropped hard by Luke Campbell’s southpaw left was going to fall victim to Davis’s southpaw left. Davis is, obviously, a better boxer and hits harder than Luke Campbell.
I also could have called it that as soon as a popular, yet somewhat unproven, boxer like Ryan Garcia, lost, hate would pour on. I don’t think that’s right, or fair, at all. Boxing Twitter exploded on Saturday with no shortage of fans, pundits, and even former fighters accusing Garcia of “quitting.” I find the last of those three particularly disturbing — surely former fighters know how debilitating a liver shot is, right?
Boxing has declined in recent decades. There’s plenty of reasons why — too many belts to keep track of, money, corruption, the rise of MMA, and so on. But fan behavior hasn’t helped.
The “casual” is looked down upon by a majority of boxing fans. If you’re reading this, you probably know what I mean when I say “casual,” but in case you don’t, let’s clarify — someone who doesn’t watch boxing all that much, but tunes in from time to time. The type of person who would watch Tank-Garcia, but probably doesn’t even know who Caleb Plant and David Benavidez are, much less watch their recent fight.
As boxing itself has receded, boxing fans have retreated to a moral high ground. I suppose this is something of a coping mechanism as the sport we love is no longer popular. In an age where more people — Americans especially — probably know who the quarterback for the Buffalo Bills is than who the heavyweight champion is, we’d prefer to slander those people as “casuals” rather than make an effort to draw them in.
But the reality is that casual viewers are the lifeblood of any sport. There are probably tons more casual football fans than hardcore fans, and this allows football to thrive. Nobody is shamed for tuning into the NFL for the big names and big games only. No hardcore football fans are shaming casual viewers at Super Bowl parties — everyone is enjoying the sport together.
Remember Pacquiao-Mayweather? For boxing fans, especially younger ones, the buildup to that fight was a window into boxing’s past, where everyone knew the big fights coming up, and everyone was planning to watch it.
Now, Pacquiao-Mayweather was never destined to be the fight of the century. It was always going to be a high-level human chess match rather than a Gatti-Ward type of thriller. It may have been the wrong fight to get casual viewers in on, and picking it as such may have contributed to boxing’s decline. But that’s another conversation.
The point is that casual viewers matter, and if boxing fans want the sport to become popular again, fighters and events that draw in casuals must be celebrated, not maligned.
Ryan Garcia is the type of fighter who draws in casuals. Sure, his accomplishments have not screamed “great,” just yet. But now that he stepped up and fought Davis — a three-weight champion who has been just outside of top pound-for-pound lists for years now — Garcia deserves to be celebrated instead of looked down upon or called a quitter.
The lightweight division is likely to open up soon. Devin Haney will probably move up in weight if he beats Vasyl Lomachenko, and one has to imagine retirement is on the horizon for Lomachenko if he beats Haney. The junior welterweight division was split wide open when Josh Taylor vacated three of his belts following his controversial win over Jack Catterall.
Garcia could very easily have continued to take easy fights, build his brand, and get an alphabet belt. The world would have been his oyster once he had a belt and the level of name recognition he has. But he did not do that. He took a hard fight in Gervonta Davis, and agreed to terms that didn’t favor him when he did so.
This tells us that there has been a method behind all of it. Garcia has successfully built his brand, but it’s safe to say he was not doing so just to get rich and run from the sport. He has now dared to be great, and deserves credit for doing so.
We need to give him that credit. You can roll your eyes at his TikToks and Instagram reels, but swallow your pride and admit that boxing needs more Ryan Garcias — charismatic, exciting, brings in the casuals, and willing to take the hard fights.
Garcia still has a bright future in the sport if he doesn’t let this fight destroy him. As boxing fans, let’s not contribute to the downfall of the sport we love by discouraging fighters like him.