Ryan ‘Kingry’ Garcia says they’ll be announcing his next fight against Luke Campbell “soon”. The deal isn’t done yet, but it’s believed that it’s going to be happening in the fall.
Although the World Boxing Council announced the Garcia vs. Campbell fight a done deal on Tuesday, the negotiations are still ongoing.
The highly ranked Golden Boy Promotions fighter Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) has a lot to prove to his fans, and we’ll soon be seeing if he’s as good as the hype. Ryan’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya wanted him to fight earlier this month on July 4, but he turned down an offer.
The rumored opponent was Javier Fortuna, who would have been a real handful for the 21-year-old Garia. In hindsight, maybe it’s a good thing that Ryan turned down the offer from Golden Boy to fight on July 4.
Campbell = highly advanced opponent for Ryan
The 2016 Olympic gold medalist Camp (20-3, 16 KOs) is an advanced-level fighter for Garcia, and you have to wonder whether Golden Boy has thrown young Ryan to the wolves in this case.
Putting Ryan in with a seasoned pro like the 32-year-old Campbell could be an example of Golden Boy teaching him a lesson not to be in too much of a hurry with his career.
As we saw with boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard in his first fight against Roberto Duran in June 1980, rushing things isn’t a good idea. But if Ryan is smart and can learn from a loss to Campbell, he can improve and hopefully turn into a good fighter one day.
It’s a risky fight for Ryan Garcia to take on Campbell because he hasn’t faced anyone near as good as of yet. Ryan will be going from facing bottom fringe contender Francisco Fonseca in his last fight to taking on a legitimate top-three contender in the southpaw Campbell. Needless to say, this could end badly for Ryan.
If Ryan is the real deal, he’ll handle Campbell with ease, and knock him out the way that he’s done against his last four opponents. Garcia’s left hook smash that he uses to KO his opponents has improved, and he’s able to land that shot with greater effectiveness than earlier in his career.
Campbell can be hurt, but he’s always been able to recover quickly and continue to fight hard. In his Campbell’s last fight, he went the 12 round distance in a loss to Vasiliy Lomachenko last August. The two fought for the vacant WBC lightweight title.
Even though Campbell lost, he performed well and gave Lomachenko a lot to think about throughout the fight. That version of Campbell is going to be a real problem for Ryan, and it’s unclear whether he can beat him.
Campbell is a lot more versatile than Garcia, and his offense is far more complex. Luke has a lot of ways to score knockouts unlike Ryan, who is overreliant on his left hook. Campbell is also a top-notch boxer, and he can win in that way as well.
