As fans know, Ryan Garcia and Luke Campbell will meet in a fascinating lightweight clash on December 5. Campbell says his big edge in experience will prove too much for the unbeaten Garcia, while Garcia says of himself that he is “the most underestimated lightweight in the world.”
Both fighters are extremely confident going into the fight, but Garcia, who spoke with Sky Sports, is looking to get Campbell out of the way and then take on the top 135 pound fighters in the world.
Garcia referred to himself, Teofimo Lopez, Devin Haney, and Gervonta Davis as “The Four Horsemen,” and he thinks fights between the quartet will result in “amazing fights for the future.”
But first 22-year-old Garcia, who is currently 20-0(17), has to defeat former two-time world title challenger Campbell in their fight for the WBC interim belt.
“This will put me at the top of the lightweight division. I have to go through Campbell,” Garcia said. “He hasn’t fought anybody except Lomachenko and Jorge Linares, and he lost those. If your experience is losing? I don’t want that experience.
This is his ‘get to the top or not’ type of fight. Me? I’m still that young gun coming up. I keep hearing him say he’s going to knock me out! He’s not. He couldn’t even knock out a 126-pound Lomachenko. He’s not going to beat me. He’s talking a good game. But he’ll learn real quick that I hit harder than Lomachenko.”
Garcia certainly carries power, while his amazing speed of hand has made for some impressive videos on social media. Yet the jury is still out on whether Garcia can go from red-hot prospect status to genuine world title contender.
Campbell might have lost to Lomachenko and Linares, yet these two champions are leaps and bounds above any of the fighters Garcia has so far been in with. The December 5 fight is the acid test for Garcia. Can he pass the test?
Garcia has youth on his side, with Campbell being 33 years of age, and Garcia has the speed and the power. Both men were standout amateurs, of course. Campbell, who has never been stopped, has the proven boxing brain, and the southpaw has that experience Garcia says he is not impressed by.
It’s a solid match-up, and neither man is even thinking about losing. There is a calmness to Campbell in the lead-up to this fight, a real sense of belief that he is the better boxer and that he will be victorious. Garcia is the pick to win here, but the younger man might be taught a few lessons along the way, in a terrific fight that goes all the way.
Garcia via decision on December 5.
