The rebuilding process has begun.
The last time we saw hard-punching 140-pound contender Ryan Garcia he was knocked out by a body shot from Gervonta Davis at 135 in their April super fight, the first loss in Garcia’s career and what he said was a wakeup call.
He told Chris Mannix on DAZN’s “Off the Cuff” podcast that he wasn’t fully committed to the sport going into that bout. As a result, he shifted his mindset and moved from Los Angeles to Dallas to work with trainer Derrick James, the mentor of Errol Spence Jr. and Jermell Charlo.
Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) is scheduled to face Oscar Duarte in his comeback fight Saturday at Toyota Center in Houston (DAZN).
“I’m never going to lose again,” he said. “I don’t want to lose again. I’m going to erase the things I was doing. I wasn’t being a professional, but sometimes you got to lose to realize I got to make a change here.
“It’s not fun and games. This is a real sport. You could get hurt.”
Of course, almost everyone loses. And Garcia’s setback came against one of the best fighters pound-for-pound, which isn’t the end of the world.
And he’s still only 25, not even at his peak as a fighter even though he has already recorded several important victories. That includes knockouts of Luke Campbell and Javier Fortuna.
Garcia, who has worked with Eddy Reynoso and Joe Goosen, believes a fresh start with a new trainer in a new town is just what the doctor ordered after the biggest disappointment of his career.
“It’s been a great change for me,” he told Mannix. “I definitely feel more focused, more committed to the sport, more dedicated. It feels like just the thing I needed.”
He went on: “I just let God guide me and he guided me to Dallas, Texas, and with a great trainer like Derrick, and I could see the difference. Sometimes you need to lose and sometimes you need to hit rock bottom to realize the changes you need to make.
“And I think that what’s going to make me great and show people who I am is just how I bounce back. It’s not easy to lose, but great champions come back.”
Of course, Garcia has to get past Duarte (26-1-1, 21 KOs) before he can move onto more big-name opponents.
The 27-year-old Mexican has won 11 consecutive fights since he lost to one-time contender Adrian Estrella by a split decision in 2019, with all those victories coming by knockout. He’s no pushover.
However, Duarte has never faced an opponent of Garcia’s caliber. And to make matters worse for him he might not be catching the hungry, determined title contender at a good time.
