Luke Campbell is vowing to be a real “Nightmare” for Ryan Garcia when he gets him inside the ring for their WBC ordered fight for the interim 135-pound belt. Campbell rates IBF lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez, but he says he’s not sure about whether King Ryan and Devin Haney have the goods.
Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) surprised boxing fans everywhere this week when he and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions chose to accept the fight with Campbell. Whether that was Ryan and his developers, bluffing to look good in the eyes of the fans remains to be seen.
Ryan has already passed up fights against Abner Mares and Jorge Linares, and it’s easy to imagine that he lose his pen again when it comes to Campbell.
If Ryan doesn’t take the Campbell fight, he’ll lose a lot of hardcore boxing fans, who will see him as a pretender. Ryan will still have his social media followers, but you can argue those people aren’t boxing fans. The knowledgable fans will think Ryan Garcia ‘chickened out‘ if he doesn’t sign for the Campbell fight. It wouldn’t be that way if Ryan weren’t the underdog, and if he had fought Linares or Mares already.
Ryan’s 6.6 million followers on social media are doing it based on his looks and personality rather than what he’s done in the sport. The good news for the young 21-year-old Garcia is if his career goes into a steep decline starting with the Campbell fight, he’s got the potential to be a Youtube star.
Ryan can make a lot of money on Youtube, and it would give him a chance to take advantage of his social media followers. With Ryan, his ego is too big for him to retire off the back of a loss to Campbell. But things might not get better for the Golden Boy star if he sticks it out in the sport.
Ryan will do well as long as he’s matched carefully by Golden Boy, but once they throw him in the deep end again by putting him in with someone like Jorge Linares, Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis or Teofimo Lopez, there’s a good chance he’ll lose.
“Garcia has speed and power — but also looks like he could take a good beating,” said Campbell to The Sun.
“I am raring to go — so I will be a nightmare for him,” Campbell said of Ryan Garcia.
In looking at the video of Devin Haney battering Ryan Garcia in the amateurs, it’s entirely possible that Campbell will beat the living daylights out of him. Ryan’s fighting style hasn’t changed one bit since his loss to Haney in the amateurs. The only thing that’s changed is Ryan has been fighting fodder level opposition in the pro ranks.
The way Campbell has looked in his last three fights, Ryan will need a miracle for him to win. I mean, Garcia will have a puncher’s chance as always, but he may not last long enough for him to land his bread and butter punch. The left hook is Ryan’s primary weapon. Unfortunately, his trainer Eddy Reynoso hasn’t developed his game to add other weapons to his arsenal.
“I still feel fresh and I am ready to be the bogeyman for these new kids on the block, I feel I am the toughest fight for all these guys,” Campbell said.
“I like [Teofimo] Lopez, we have sparred and he has beaten some real contenders, the other two I am not so sure about,” added Campbell about King Ryan and Devin Haney.
Campbell is still fighting at the same level as he did when he first turned pro in 2013. If anything, Campbell has improved a lot since he first came into the professional ranks. He wouldn’t lose to a fighter like Yvan Mendy today, and you’d have to give Campbell a good shot at beating Jorge Linares as well. In 2017, Linares beat Campbell by a 12 round split decision.