Ryan ‘Kingry’ Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) says he’ll have the “honor” of sharing the ring with superstar Manny Pacquiao in his next fight in a “dream” match-up for him.
Garcia had pretty much let fans know last week that Pacquiao would be next when he put the brakes on a fight against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
Before quitting Twitter, Ryan told his followers that he was negotiating an even bigger fight than the Tank match-up.
It was obvious from the start that Pacquiao was the guy that Ryan was talking about fighting, and sure enough, that’s what we’re seeing. It was the only fight that made any sense for Ryan to take.
When Ryan said that his next fight would be “bigger” than the Tank Davis fight, that ruled out everyone in the 130, 135, and 140-lb divisions.
None of those guys are more popular than Tank Davis. It also weeded out every welterweight except for Pacquiao. In other words, in using the elimination process, the only guy that would make any sense for Ryan to face is Pacquiao.
Just ignoring the money aspect for this fight, there’s risk involved for Ryan with his career. If he loses badly, the popularity that he had in the sport will drop off the side of the cliff. The Golden Boy promoted Ryan won’t be as popular if he loses badly to Manny.
There’s also the potential issue for Ryan returning to the lightweight division after he goes up to 147. Can Ryan lose the weight to get back down to 135, or will he be stuck at 147?
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This is a great fight for Ryan, especially given that he plans on retiring in four years. If the idea is for Ryan to maximize his earning potential in the four years he has left in boxing, fighting Pacquiao is the best way to do that.
Fighting Pacquiao is a far better move for Ryan Garcia than for him to take on Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. It’s also a good deal for Pacquiao because he can fight one of the most popular young fighters in the sport in Ryan in a fight that he’ll have a great chance of winning.
If Ryan were to fight Tank first, there’s a high probability that he would lose that fight. The money that Ryan will get fighting Tank isn’t going to be the same as he’ll get in facing Pacquiao on pay-per-view.
Pacquiao just saw one of his future mega-fights go down the drain last Saturday night with Conor McGregor getting stopped in the second round by Dustin Poirier at UFC 257.
Facing Ryan Garcia might not bring in the same kind of money Pacquiao would get in facing McGregor, but oh well, Ryan has the potential to bring in a lot of boxing fans with his ability to hype his fights.
Whether Ryan will be willing to do that for his match against Pacquiao is the important question. It’s not a good sign that Ryan is saying he’s going to give Manny a lot of respect.
Ryan has got to treat Pacquiao like any other fighter if he wants boxing fans to get excited enough about this fight to purchase it on pay-per-view.