By: Sean Crose
Numerous outlets are reporting that Ryan Garcia will return to the ring on December 2nd. His opponent will be Oscar Duarte and the bout will be broadcast on DAZN from the Alamodome in Texas. With that in mind, the fight has yet to be officially signed. Still Golden Boy Promotions honcho Oscar De Lay Hoya has confirmed that his fighter Garcia is indeed set to face Duarte on December 2nd. The fight will be scheduled for twelve rounds in the junior welterweight division.
Garcia’s last fight was a superbout with Gervonta Davis last April. The popular 23-1 Garcia ended up suffering his first defeat that night when he was knocked out by Davis in the seventh round. Although he suffered a crushing defeat to Davis, Garcia remains enormously popular. Young, good looking and a legitimate star on social media, Garcia also processes impressive knockout power, having stopped his opponents in all but four of his 23 wins.
As for the 26-1-1 Duarte, the man’s lone loss came back in 2019 when he suffered a split decision defeat to Adrian Estrella. Since that time Duarte has gone on to win 11 in a row – all within the distance. He may be the prohibitive underdog against Garcia in December, but there’s no denying the 27 year old Duarte can hit. This fight will showcase two men with serious power. In other words, even though Garcia is the popular fighter walking in, anything can happen when it comes to big punchers.
It will be interesting, then, to see how the 25 year old Garcia looks in the ring after the loss to Davis. The native Californian was stopped in grand fashion last spring, after all. Such things can impact a fighter’s psyche. What’s more, Garcia and De La Hoya have been legally at odds regarding the direction of Garcia’s career. Again, such things can impact a fighter’s psyche.
With that being said, it’s hard to imagine De La Hoya and company setting Garcia up to fail, or even to be seriously challenged. Duarte has his knockouts, but he’s never faced the caliber of opponent Garcia has. The truth here, then, seems to be that the gang at Golden Boy are looking for their fighter to get his feet wet again – and hopefully to win in grand fashion. Even more than social media posts, knockouts can help advance a fighter’s career.
And Garcia is clearly looking to advance after having suffered his first loss.