GARCIA vs CAMPBELL
Social media star looks like the real deal
‘I THOUGHT I COULD CRACK HIM AND HE CRACKED ME. I WAS DIZZY, I WON’T LIE’
RYAN GARCIA is handsome, confident and his unique charisma has seen him attract millions of social media followers. But even in 2021, where recognisability is more important than boxing ability when it comes to opening doors, only the latter will actually take you through them.
We already knew Garcia was an Instagram sensation. His Golden Boy promoters were screaming about his potential and DAZN were talking like he was already an all-time great. We got the truth when he dropped Luke Campbell for the count in round seven of their thrilling showdown in Dallas: Ryan Garcia is currently one of the best lightweights in the world.
The rip-roaring left hook to the body that finished the fight will be seen myriad times on his social media channels. It ended a dramatic scrap in an instant. It exhibited more about him as a boxer than his millions upon millions of followers ever could. And what came before told us plenty about Garcia, too.
After a hectic opening round in which the 22-year-old scored with an astonishingly quick straight right but swallowed a crafty counter left, the eager to please Garcia set upon Campbell in the second. The 2012 Olympic champion watched the attacks carefully, prodded the starlet with a range-finding right to the body before unleashing a sweet left hook to the jaw. The impact caused Garcia’s head to swivel, his body to collapse and the DAZN commentators to remember there was another fighter in the ring worth referencing.
Briefly, it looked like the 33-year-old Yorkshireman had not only upset the odds but exposed Garcia as more selfie than substance. Then Garcia hauled himself off the canvas and out of the crisis on steady legs. Admirably, his head was clear before the bell sounded to end the session. He was not in real trouble again.
“I’ve never been dropped in my life, I was too excited,” Garcia admitted afterwards. “I thought I could crack him and he cracked me. I was a little dizzy, I’m not going to lie. But I thought, ‘what’s the worst he can do now? I’ll just block’.”
He was forced to do exactly that as Campbell remained dangerous in the third round. The Englishman was boxing intelligently from his southpaw stance, firing to the body well and scored several times with left hands. But the favourite’s confidence was growing despite many of his own blows landing on Luke’s gloves.
Trained by Eddy Reynoso and cheered on at ringside by his gym-mate Canelo Alvarez, Garcia was threatening with both hands. At times he was overzealous but the power of his punches was evidenced by Campbell’s reddening face. At the end of the fifth, a huge left socked the underdog on the top of the skull. Campbell’s body shuddered and at the bell he groggily retreated to the ropes with his back to Garcia before instinctively lifting his hands to defend himself from punches he incorrectly presumed were coming his way.
The brash American went for the finish in the sixth. Canelo rose from his seat and urged Garcia to slow down as the youngster’s blows bounced off Campbell’s defence. Ryan acted on the advice and calmed his wild arms. Campbell was still having success but he was working harder and harder to stay out of trouble.
The Englishman had been inactive since August 2019, when he lost a decision to Vasiliy Lomachenko. Garcia had fought twice since then, albeit briefly. He knocked out Romero Duno inside a round that November before impressing in February last year when he iced gatekeeper-cum-fringe contender Francisco Fonseca in just 80 seconds. In the seventh round of the biggest test of his career, any doubts that he could do similar to someone of Campbell’s standing disappeared.
Garcia, 21-0 (18), forced Campbell back and let fly with his left hand. The older man braced himself for the shot but in raising his gloves he left a gaping hole beneath.
“He was very worried about a hook coming,” Garcia said later. “I’ve had that hook since I was born. He was worried about it going up top.”
The blow curled beneath Luke’s arms and slammed into his stomach. Campbell briefly stepped back before the potency of the shot caused him to drop to his knees. Badly hurt and winded, he bravely found his feet but referee Laurence Cole’s count had already reached 10 by the time he was upright. At 1-58 of the round, “King Ry” – the Instagram darling – threw his fists into the air and posed for the most meaningful photos of his career to date. The victory saw him claim the Interim WBC bauble and puts him third in that organisation’s pecking order of champions behind Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney.
“I showed a lot of people who I really am,” the victor declared. “People wanted to call me a social media fighter. Whether it’s your teacher or your parents telling you who you are, it’s not about them, it’s about you and who you choose to be.
“I was not going to let nothing stop me.”
Lopez, Gervonta Davis, Haney and Lomachenko may have something to say about that. Many are quick to call this a golden era for the 135lbs division but eras only become great when the best regularly fight the best. For now, we can only hope.
On the lively undercard there were mixed fortunes for the entertaining Nicaraguan Alvarado brothers.
Felix Alvarado retained his IBF lightflyweight belt when he stopped South Africa’s plucky Deejay Kriel at 1-39 of the 10th. The challenger survived knockdowns in the second and fourth before the end came. The referee Mark Calo-oy should have acted sooner.
In a minor upset, Venezuela’s Roger Gutierrez outpointed Rene Alvarado
over 12 rounds to win the WBA’S secondary super-featherweight title (in their wisdom, the WBA also recognise Gervonta Davies as their champion in that division). Alvarado had stopped Gutierrez back in 2017 and a similar result was expected. But the challenger boxed tenaciously from the start and dropped Alvarado twice in the third. The champion roared back in the middle rounds and the fight was in the balance going into the last when Alvarado was decked for a third time. That final fall proved to be the difference as all three judges scored 113-112 for the underdog. A third fight seems a natural.
THE VERDICT Garcia delivers but Campbell insists he can come again.