Ryan Garcia has proven himself worthy of the hype.
Garcia survived an early result to achieve a beautiful, technical knockout victory over Luke Campbell on Saturday night.
In front of about 6,000 fans at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Garcia won the interim WBC lightweight title with a left hook on his body that sent Campbell to his knees. Campbell tried to stand up towards the end of the score, but referee Laurence Cole blew the fight to give Garcia the TKO victory.
For most of his career, Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs), 22, was known for a social media site that overshadowed his title evidence. With the win, he said he showed he was more than an internet sensation.
‘You’re not what people tell you [you] is, “Garcia said in his interview with DAZN.” You are who you choose. And I chose to be a champion tonight. I would not let anything stop me. “
Campbell (20-4, 16 KOs), a former challenger for the title and the Olympic gold medal in 2012, was considered the toughest test in Garcia’s young career, and the British boxer lived up to it.
In the second round, Campbell dropped Garcia with a left hook that caught him on the chin. Garcia said it was the first time he had been knocked down in his career.
“I think I got a little too excited about the moment,” says Garcia, who is wearing the ring that sits on a throne while wearing a gold crown.
But ‘King Ry’ reacted in the third round and regained his level and almost ended the fight in the fifth. Garcia hit Campbell with a left hook at the clock that made Campbell stagger in the ropes. Two rounds later, Garcia scored the most important victory of his career.
Campbell has never been stopped in his pro career, not even in the title fights against Vasiliy Lomachenko and Jorge Linares. Garcia and Campbell both remarked that it happened after Saturday’s fight.
“It was the hardest shot I’ve ever been hit with,” Campbell said. “I tried to get up, but I could not. I felt him going on, and I moved back, and when you move back, my body got a little relaxed, and that’s exactly the time he hit me. “
Garcia added: “I showed today that I am special.”
Campbell agrees and says afterwards in a tweet from Garcia: “Well done and a massive future for him. I wish him all the best.”
Garcia joined the ranks of young, promising fighters in the lightweight division. Teofimo Lopez, 23, won three of the four belts in the 135-pound division when he beat Lomachenko in October 2019. Devin Haney (22) holds the WBC’s highest belt.
But the fighter, Garcia, said he would like the most is Gervonta “Tank” Davis (26), who has one of the WBA’s second belts and scored an impressive knockout victory over Leo Santa Cruz in October.
“I really want to be a man of my word,” Garcia said. “I really want to fight Tank. I know people are worried about it [happening], but I’m ready for it. ‘