“There will be blood,” the LA Times quotes 19-0 Ryan Garcia as saying in the leadup to Friday’s fight against the 25-2-2 Francisco Fonseca. Garcia is clearly a fighter on the rise, one Golden Boy Promotions hopes to showcase for maximum benefit. Just 21 years old, the youthful looking Garcia takes extremely well to media attention and is gunning to be one of the next big names in boxing. His match against Fonseca will be aired live on the DAZN streaming service and will go down at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. A huge Instagram star with 5 million followers, Garcia is a fighter who can potentially bring a lot of eyeballs to the sport.
Before being coronated as the next big thing, however, the Los Angeles native will have to get past the 25 year old Fonseca, of Managua, Nicaragua. Although he doesn’t have Garcia’s high knockout ratio, Fonseca has only lost to two of the more notable names in the business – Gervonta Davis, and Tevin Farmer, respectively. Stopping Garcia dead in his tracks on the road to stardom would definitely do wonders for Fonseca’s own career, something the close to thirty fight veteran is clearly aware of.
The Garcia-Fonseca match will be for Garcia’s WBC silver world lightweight title.
Former world lightweight titlist Jorge Linares will also be featured on the card. The 46-5 Venezuelan will be facing the 19-4-4 Carlos Morales. At 34 years of age, Linares – who once dropped Vasyl Lomachneko in a match Lomachenko eventually won – clearly wants to show that he’s still a top player in the game. Should he win, a fight with Garcia might be in Linares’ future. Morales, on the other hand, is looking at the chance of a lifetime. Should he beat the well regarded Linares, the 30 year old known as “The Solution” might find himself on a career upswing after fighting Mercito Gesta to a draw last November.
Rising welterweight Alexis Rocha will appear on Friday’s card, as well. The 15-0 Irvine, California native will be facing 28-2 veteran Brad Solomon. At 36 years of age, Solomon has a chance to turn some heads if he beats the 22 year old climber Rocha. The fact that Solomon’s last fight saw him losing to Vergil Ortiz by knockout would make an upset win on Friday even more impressive. With that in mind, it’s Rocha who is currently being guided through the ranks in the hopes of the southpaw eventually reaching the pinnacle of the game.
Rocha-Solomon is scheduled for 10 rounds. Garcia-Fonseca, and Linares-Morales are scheduled for 12.