Ryan Garcia: Is He The New Bad Guy?
By Bradley “The Bulldog” Johnson
I first came across Ryan Garcia in his garage on a YouTube video punching a cobra bag. I’ve never seen this type of bag before but I was impressed with his incredible speed and reflexes. I saw a video of a young kid displaying some great boxing skills and one video flashed back to an 8 or 9-year-old Garcia saying he wanted to be a champion one day. I didn’t hear a whole lot of buzz around him yet. Then there was a video of him when he signed with Golden Boy and Oscar De La Hoya. Still not a ton of buzz yet. Fast forward a few months, some Instagram hype, some more YouTube videos and videos being shared across Facebook and we have a bee hive full of buzz.
The buzz has really picked up about the last two weeks especially. Several pictures and videos have been floating around a bunch of different boxing forums on social media. For a good looking, always smiling, 19-year-old blue chip prospect, that sounds like a good thing. The only problem is no one seems to like him! At least from all the comments and headlines that I’m reading. I’m not sure what this kid is doing to rub so many people wrong, but about 90% of the comments I’ve read are down right hateful. Whether its people saying he doesn’t take the sport seriously, to wishing he gets knocked out, or just straight up uncalled for homophobic comments. To be honest, I just don’t get it. I haven’t seen the kid breaking any laws. I haven’t seen him constantly mouthing off and disrespecting boxing media. I haven’t seen him claim to be anything but a hungry contender that is always in the gym and dedicating his life to the sport of boxing. I only see him enjoying life and boxing and make a couple videos where he was dancing or smiling at the camera. Is that enough to hate the kid? Well, apparently so. Regardless if he comes across as having too much fun, or not taking it serious enough, or just guilty of being a pretty boy, he still has to go out and win and continue to prove himself.
That’s just what he did last night. Super featherweight contender Ryan “Kingry” Garcia, 15-0, 13 KO’s defeated Jayson Velez, 26-5-1, 18 KO’s by unanimous decision. ESPN announced that Garcia filled the Stub Hub center in Carson with over 6500 fans. ESPN also mentioned several times that Ryan has over 800,000 followers on Instagram, speaking to his growing popularity and marketability. He was able to outbox a very tough veteran in Jayson Velez who has never been stopped 32 fights. Going the whole 10 rounds was good experience for Garcia which showed his training and conditioning had payed off as he still looked strong and quick in the 10th round.
You also have to remember Ryan Garcia is only 19 years old. He has time to grow and will only get better and stronger. Garcia is already calling out the champions in his division but I think we are still a year away from that type of fight. He is a very passionate kid and I look forward to seeing more from him.
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