By: Hans Themistode
It feels as though Ryan Garcia has been on the boxing scene for quite some time now. The sort of buzz that he has generated in his short four year career would lead you to believe that he is a veteran in the sport, when in actuality he is only 21 years of age.
Garcia (19-0, 16 KOs) is known for several reasons. His speed, power and of course, his good looks. Ever since he turned pro in June of 2016, the women have gravitated towards him. His popularity amongst women could be one of the reasons why he is headlining the first card of his career on Valentine’s Day, February 14th.
The attention he has gained from the women who seemingly throw themselves at his feet is appreciated, but it isn’t exactly what he wants to be known for. No, Garcia is past the stage where he is just a good looking face. Instead, he wants to be known more for the skills he displays in the ring.
“It’s just an image,” said Garcia when discussing the attention he gets from women for his good looks as opposed to his fighting skills. “I’m really ready to prove it in the ring. I’ve heard it too many times about how good looking I am. I’m good looking in the ring because I punch people in the face. I’m a great fighter and I’m ready to prove that in 2020.”
Garcia’s opponent on the night, Francisco Fonseca (25-2-2, 19 KOs), is a rough and rugged boxer. It isn’t just that Garcia needs to pick up a win in order to prove his worth in the ring. It’s more so about how he goes about getting the job done. Fonseca’s only two blemishes on his record came at the hands of current world champion Tevin Farmer and an opponent Garcia has been wanting to get his hands on for a long time in Gervonta Davis.
Still, even with Fonseca’s shortcomings on the big stage, he isn’t someone that Garcia is taking lightly.
“He has a good boxing IQ and he doesn’t give up. Even if he’s getting hit hard he tries to win and you have to break that with either skill or power and we’re going to do that.”
This whole notion of Garcia needing to prove himself feels as though it is incorrect. In his last ring appearance, he took on the always tough Romero Duno. It was supposed to be the toughest fight in the career of Garcia, but it turned out to be anything but that. Garcia stopped Duno so quickly that many of his detractors aren’t sure what to make of it.
The naysayers wanted him to show something impressive in terms of new wrinkles to his game but with the contest not making it out of the first round, there really wasn’t too much to dissect from the performance.
“He got knocked out really quick so I didn’t get to show what I can really do. I wanna win by knockout because you don’t get paid for overtime. Plus I don’t want these guys to see how I fight or see what happens later on in fights.”
Garcia isn’t complaining about the quick win, nor should he. If he can somehow pull off the same results against another proven contender in Fonseca then that’s all he cares about.
“I’m just going to try and show my best performance out there.”
With this contest falling on Valentine’s Day, there will surely be a number of women in the crowd rooting him on.
Valentine’s Day has always been known as a day to show love, but on this night, there won’t be any of it shown in the ring.