One of the sport of boxing’s most popular stars, junior-welterweight contender Ryan “KingRy” Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) is set to fight for a world title as he will challenge his long time rival WBC junior-welterweight champion Devin “The Dream” Haney on Saturday April 20th in Las Vegas live on DAZN.
Ryan Garcia will be forever linked to three extremely talented boxers. All four men have experienced success in the fight game, but judging by the way their individual boxing careers are starting to unfold, the question remains, is Ryan Garcia skilled enough to defeat any of his rivals?
Gervonta “Tank” Davis, Teofimo “The Takeover” Lopez, Devin Haney, and Ryan Garcia all started to rise up in the boxing rankings around the same time period. The lightweight division instantly became boxing’s glamour division, and the quartet of boxers inherited “The Four Kings” moniker.
Back in the early 1980’s Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, and Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns all captured the attention of the boxing world, and they were given the name ‘The Four Kings.’ All four boxers became world champions, and all four men defeated a king inside the squared circle.
Back then when the kings clashed inside the ring, Roberto Duran went 1 for 3 as he scored a victory against Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler knocked out Thomas Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard outpointed Marvin Hagler, and Thomas Hearns stopped Roberto Duran.
In the modern day version of The Four Kings, fight fans witnessed a lot of jabs being thrown by the quartet on social media, but no activity between the four inside the ring. Despite the fact that they didn’t face each other, all four boxers continued to build their individual brands.
Teofimo Lopez defeated former number one ranked pound-for-pound boxer Vasiliy Lomachenko and won the unified lightweight world title, Gervonta Davis won a world title and became a pay-per-view attraction, and Devin Haney would go on to become an undisputed world champion.
While his counterparts were achieving valid accolades, Garcia was slipping into an unwanted space. Due to his popularity and his antics on social media, some members of the boxing community were attempting to categorize Garcia as a YouTube boxer.
Garcia responded to the criticism by posting credible victories over former Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell, and former WBA super-featherweight champion Javier Fortuna. Shortly after his spectacular performance against Fortuna, Ryan Garcia agreed to the terms to face one of the other kings.
Back in April 2023 Ryan Garcia stepped inside the squared circle to battle Gervonta Davis. Garcia got off to a quick start, but Davis was able to take over when he neutralized Garcia’s left hook. The left hook is Garcia’s main offensive weapon of choice. Prior to the bout, Davis stated that all Garcia had was the left hook.
On fight night when Garcia was unable to land the left hook, he gave the appearance of a basic fighter. Tank Davis knocked Garcia down in the second, and then he proceeded to end the fight in the seventh round after he landed a wicked shot to the body.
One year later and Ryan Garcia has signed on to face another king. Garcia has shown the ability to beat good fighters, but the real question is, does he have the skills needed to conquer an elite fighter?
Gervonta Davis exposed Ryan Garcia’s dependency on one punch, and now everyone knows the blueprint in regards to defeating Garcia. His April 20th opponent Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) is a highly skilled ring technician who has a high boxing IQ.
The last time Haney competed inside the squared circle back in December 2023, he was able to successfully neutralize Regis Prograis’s offense. Haney would proceed to put on a boxing clinic as he defeated Prograis via unanimous decision, and won the WBC junior-welterweight strap. With the win over Prograis, Haney became a two-division world champion.
The 25-year-old Ryan Garcia has won an interim belt, but he’s the only member of the four kings who hasn’t won a world title. On April 20th Garcia has a chance to obtain the status of world champion if he’s able to defeat his longtime rival Devin Haney.
Garcia has good attributes such as speed, power, aggression, lightning fast combinations, and his signature left hook. He also has flaws such as standing upright, reaching, not using his jab consistently, holding his lead hand too low, and having his chin untucked.
Ryan Garcia is a talented fighter, but when he steps in the ring with Devin Haney, he will be facing an elite boxer. Garcia’s speed, reflexes, and signature punch have taken him far, but that alone will not help him in regards to experiencing success at the elite level.
Devin Haney and the other two kings have developed into complete professional fighters who have achieved world champion status. With a win on Saturday April 20th Ryan Garcia can level up and join the group, or with a loss he will take a step closer to becoming that person who is a special talent, but incapable of winning the big one.