By KEITH IDEC
November 30, 2022
Source: Boxing Scene
Photo Source: Boxing Scene
Bob Santos understands that Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia is one of the biggest fights that can be made in boxing.
Hector Luis Garcia’s trainer just doesn’t think skeptics should dismiss his undefeated 130-pound champion as anything resembling a tune-up opponent for Davis on January 7.
Santos suggested that among Garcias, Hector Luis indisputably is the more proven opponent for the undefeated Davis, who has announced he will fight Ryan Garcia on an undetermined date in Las Vegas after facing Hector Luis Garcia.
Santos prefaced his assessment by clarifying that he has an enormous amount of respect for Ryan Garcia and his veteran trainer, Joe Goossen. “No disrespect to Ryan Garcia,” Santos told BoxingScene.com. “I think he’s a tremendous talent and I love his style, everything about him. Not one bad thing to say about him. That said, you know, the reality of it is if you’re looking at just the accomplishments in the ring, Hector was an Olympian and is a world champion. Ryan Garcia hasn’t accomplished either one of those things.”
Hector Luis Garcia (16-0, 10 KOs, 3 NC) represented his native Dominican Republic at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The 29-year-old southpaw won the WBA super featherweight title in his most recent fight, a 12-round, unanimous-decision victory over Venezuela’s Roger Gutierrez on August 20 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
Ryan Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs) is one of the most popular boxers in the sport and won the WBC interim lightweight title when he knocked out England’s Luke Campbell with a body shot in the seventh round of their January 2021 bout at American Airlines Center in Dallas. Garcia wasn’t the WBC’s legitimate lightweight champion, though, and he didn’t reach the Olympics when he was an amateur.
“If you’re just looking at accomplishments,” Santos said, “without looking at Gatorade commercials, and I’m not saying he’s not a tremendous talent and him and Tank wouldn’t be a tremendous fight, but if you’re just gonna look at accomplishments inside the ring, this guy is an Olympian and a world champion. So, as far as accomplishments in the ring, by far he has accomplished more in his career, as of this moment, than what Ryan Garcia has accomplished. And that’s just a fact.”
Baltimore’s Davis (27-0, 25 KOs) will likely be a decisive favorite versus Hector Luis Garcia once odds are revealed for their 12-round, 135-pound championship match at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. Garcia produced one of boxing’s biggest upsets of 2022 when he soundly beat Brooklyn’s Chris Colbert (16-1, 6 KOs) in their 12-round, 130-pound WBA elimination fight February 26 at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The emerging Garcia impressed while out-boxing Gutierrez (26-4-1, 20 KOs) as well, but he will make his debut at the lightweight limit of 135 pounds versus Davis, who owns the WBA’s secondary lightweight title.
Nevertheless, Santos sees Hector Luis Garcia’s most noteworthy win as more impressive than the 24-year-old Ryan Garcia’s signature stoppage of Campbell (20-4, 16 KOs), a 2012 Olympic gold medalist who announced his retirement in July 2021.
“If you look at Ryan Garcia’s record,” Santos said, “can you say he’s fought anybody equal to Chris Colbert? You could say Campbell, but I know damn well that Campbell would never beat Chris Colbert in a fight.”
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