Underdog Oscar Duarte is quietly confident, guaranteeing a victory over the popular light welterweight fringe contender Ryan Garcia next Saturday night in their headliner on DAZN on December 2nd at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Duarte (26-1, 21 KOs), a classic pressure fighter with heavy hands, sees his fight with Ryan Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) as one that will create big things for his career after he defeats the 25-year-old, who has already shown weakness in taking shots to the body.
The powerful Mexican brawler Duarte has the background in working the body to take advantage of the flaws in the Golden Boy-promoted KingRy that were exposed by his last opponent, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, last April at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Ryan quit on one knee in the seventh round after taking a simple body shot from Gervonta. The most troubling thing about it was that Ryan didn’t even try to get up and continue fighting, and looked like he was fine as soon as the referee completed his ten count.
It almost appeared like Ryan Garcia just came for the paycheck and didn’t give it his all to try to win. That effort created a massive backlash from the boxing world, who saw it as a pathetic quit job by Ryan, who some feel is little more than a social media boxer, no different than Jake Paul, Logan Paul & KSI.
Oscar Duarte = a dangerous threat to Ryan Garcia
“I always liked big challenges. Ryan has done good things, and that’s why he is where he is,” said Oscar Duarte to Golden Boy Boxing when asked why he wanted to fight Ryan Garcia.
“I know I have done good things as well, and I deserve the big challenges to show who I am, Oscar Duarte. Yes, he is very fast and has power in both hands, so the fans will enjoy this fight.”
The only thing that makes fans doubt Duarte is his lack of wins over notable opposition during his ten-year professional career.
Of Duarte’s 26 wins on his resume, the only recognizable victory was against journeyman Alex Martin, and that’s surprising because he should have fought at least someone halfway decent during his long ten-year career.
Duarte lost to Adrian Estrella by a ten round split decision in 2019 and didn’t run it back against him for some reason. That defeat is pretty glaring, especially given that Estrella was blown out of the water by Shohjahon Ergashev and Subriel Matias.
“I am dangerous because I also have great knockout power. I’ve always been very strong. I have endurance, and I am very brave. That’s why I am very dangerous,” said Duarte.
“Well, no, I’m not looking for the knockout. I am just preparing myself for the best. A knockout comes on its own, and I’m working to give a good fight. So the fans win, and I obviously win. And I position myself where I should be,” said Duarte.
If you’re Duarte, it would be a good idea to get the knockout because he’s facing a very popular fighter Ryan Garcia, in his new training home in Houston, Texas.
Given his popularity, if the fight goes to the card, there’s a very good chance Ryan will get the nod from the judges because he’s a big money maker, and as we saw in his last fight, he brings in the PPV buys.
Duarte is just a tune-up, confidence-booster type of opponent for Ryan Garcia, so this means that he’s going to have to do something special for him to get the decision in this fight. Apart from a knockout, Duarte might need a few knockdowns for him to get a decision win over Ryan.
“I think Ryan Garcia is a great opponent, a great rival. I am ready to face this challenge, both physically & mentally. So this December 2nd, I am going to win. My confidence comes from my lifestyle and preparation. I feel it is a great challenge. Therefore, I have always liked great challenges, and that’s what motivates me for December 2nd.
Ryan Garcia wants a knockout
“You don’t go to a baseball game to see base hits. You got to watch home runs,” said Ryan Garcia on why a knockout is important to him. “We both have skills and the ability to knock each other out. That’s what makes this fight exciting.”
Scoring a knockout would be the ideal way for Ryan to come back from his loss to Tank Davis and to create a lot of interest from boxing fans in his career.
It obviously would have been better if Ryan fought someone that fans have heard of instead of Duarte, but you can’t blame Golden Boy Promotions for playing it safe with their little money-maker.
Putting Ryan in with a top 15 ranked light welterweight contenders like Arnold Barboza Jr, Sandor Martin, or Liam Paro would be foolish. So Golden Boy did the right thing, selecting the hard-hitting but slow Duarte as their opponent for Ryan.
“He’s seen as the underdog, but people want to see if the underdog can knock me out. It’s going to be a great fight. I’m excited,” said Ryan.
“Obviously, I know everybody brings their A-game when they’re fighting me just because I have a big profile, so he’s going to be looking to make a statement. So, I got to be on my A-game, and that’s what I’ve been doing, training super hard and preparing the best that I can,” said Ryan.
As you can see here, Ryan Garcia is well aware that Duarte, like everyone he faces, will be amped up, as this is his Super Bowl, and a victory here will me big things for his career.
The money that Duarte can make from a fight with Ryan could potentially set him up for life, as there would be a rematch, which could wind up on PPV, and a lot of boxing fans would tune in to see if Kingry’s career would be upended by this little known Mexican brawler, who is ranked at the dead bottom of the WBO’s rankings at 135.
Duarte is not even a 140-pounder, so it would be a shock for him to beat Ryan in consecutive fights.
