By: Sean Crose
“The young man in the video stood in the sunlight to sign autographs,” I wrote at the time, “a crowd gathered before him. He’s polite, this young man, polite, handsome and quite amiable, has never once lost patience with his fans.” This individual was so famous that he had to be led away from the people gathered in front of him. “The young man allowed himself to be led away,” I continued, “but there was no sense that he had been rescued from a troublesome mob. Indeed, he seems to enjoy flattery. He is nothing if not charming.
That young man, of course, is Ryan Garcia, “King Ry” – internet celebrity, brand spokesperson and celebrity artist. Since the time I wrote that piece last summer, Garcia has gone on to take down Javier Fortuna and sign on for the biggest fight in years – a scheduled twelfth match against Gervonta Davis, a list of many scary titles. With hopes of big fights between the likes of Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, Terence Crawford and Errol Spence having failed in recent months, the showdown between two young, famous and explosive boxers like Garcia and Davis is one a breath of fresh air for a long time. boxing fans suffer.
Although he’s never fought for a world title, 24-year-old Garcia, a Los Angeles native, claims he’s going to do big things – and if a world title isn’t a thing big enough, a world title can wait. The truth at the moment is that there’s very little in the big contact sports than the Davis-Garcia match that will take place in just over a week at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The match will be the main event of the Pay-per-view broadcast that is expected to bring in many viewers and dollars. It may not reduce the amount of money that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao made during their heyday, but; If this fight proves him to be very successful, then that is a good sign for things to come.
For both fighters there is a cross appeal, especially for Garcia. After all, being a handsome guy has its benefits too. And Garcia, loyal but full of swagger, graceful but almost overconfident, most likely has an “it” element. Before he can move on to his glory days, however, Garcia must first get past Davis — and honestly, it’s not an easy task. Viewed objectively, the upcoming Davis-Garcia battle is more likely to end with Davis raising his hand in victory than Garcia’s. However, Garcia doesn’t seem to be troubled by such assessments. And with good reason. Even a good performance can benefit Californians. After all, rematches can be legendary things.
It’s not like Garcia plans to lose to Davis. By contrast, Garcia appeared serenely confident during this week’s public rehearsal of her own impressive abilities. The question now is whether such confidence translates into victory on April 22. The world will find out soon enough. So does Garcia, of course.
