By Allan Fox: Ryan Garcia says he doesn’t rate Shakur Stevenson in the top three at 135, and he says he hasn’t done anything in the division except the one fight he had last Saturday night.
(Photo credit: Lin/SHOWTIME)
Interestingly, Ryan views Shakur (20-0, 10 KOs) outside of the top three at lightweight and sees himself at #1 even though he’s calling himself a 140-pounder and made a big production about fighting a 136-lb catchweight for his next fight on April 22.
Kingry’s top three at 135
1. Ryan Garcia
2. Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis
3. Devin Haney
“Me #1, Devin, Tank. I think Tank is #2. I think it’s close between Tank and Devin at #2. I don’t know,” said Ryan Garcia to the media when asked to pick the top three 135-pounders in the division.
“I mean, Shakur is there, but he just hasn’t been here. He’s had one fight. I don’t know. He hasn’t done anything at 135 at all. He did do good against that guy. I didn’t get to watch it. I don’t know who watched his fight.
“Hey, that was the worst day to have a fight for sure because they were like, ‘Shakur fought.’ I was like, ‘What?’ They [Top Rank] needs to do better thinking when he fights,” said Ryan.
The way that Shakur looked in his lightweight debut last Saturday night with his sixth-round TKO win over Shuichiro Yoshino in the WBC 135-lb title eliminator, he’s the best in the division now.
Of course, you’re going by the eye test in picking Shakur as the best at 135. Still, when seeing a performance like the one he had, it’s challenging to imagine Tank Davis, Devin Haney, Frank Martin, Vasily Lomachenko, or Ryan Garcia beating him.
It’s unclear why Ryan is putting himself at the top of a division he hasn’t fought in since 2021. The last time Ryan Garcia competed at 135 was in his fight against Luke Campbell in January 2021, over two years ago.
If you haven’t competed in a division for over two years and have a temper tantrum over that, you’re kidding yourself. At this point in his career, Ryan Garcia is a lightweight in name only.
In reality, he’s a light welterweight, and it’s unclear why the WBA has him ranked #1 with their organization at 135, given his absence from the division and his many times saying that he’s fighting at 140 now.
