Ryan Garcia suffered the first knockdown of his career, perhaps a good test to see how he can recover from such. Based on how he got up and got back on track, there is no question that the 22-year-old is bound for greatness.
Many were left awed by Garcia’s performance, eventually stopping Luke Campbell with a technical knockout in the seventh round. That resiliency rewarded him with the vacant WBC interim lightweight title and a possible shot at Devin Haney, the full WBC lightweight champion, Boxingscene reported.
“I got too excited in the moment,” admitted Garcia when asked about the first knockdown in the 5th round of his fight against Campbell. “I felt I could just walk him down, but he ended up cracking me. So, I had to adjust and calm down. I knew that I could beat him.”
One person who lauded Garcia for his efforts is super middleweight champion, Canelo Alvarez. The Mexican Brawler was around to witness the Garcia vs. Campbell main event. He congratulated KingRy and praised the 22-year-old for his performance.
"Ryan Garcia showed that he has balls. That is one of the most important things in boxing. And this fight is going to serve him well. Luke Campbell is a good fighter, left-handed, difficult. This fight is going to serve him more than all the ones he has fought," Alvarez told Little Giant Boxing via Boxingscene.
Alvarez believes the experience will make Garcia even stronger. The 30-year-old feels that fights like this will work to his advantage, especially once he faces more seasoned boxers moving forward.
“The key was to be patient, to be calm, but he sped things up. This fight will serve as an experience for him. In the end, fights like this are the ones that give you the experience to go forward to even bigger fights and everything like this will serve him well,” Alvarez added.
Right now, it remains to be seen who Garcia will face next. Though he is the mandatory challenger to Haney, other names are being mentioned. That includes Gervonta Davis and Manny Pacquiao.
“I love Pacquiao, he is one of my inspirations,” Garcia said to FightHype. “He is what I aspire to be in the ring, you know like Muhammad Ali, Manny Pacquiao. It’s just Manny Pacquiao is so humble, like I’d have to get like that at an older age.”
