GBP Prez: Exciting To See García Rise To Championship Level, Keep Growing In Popularity

DALLAS—The first indication of Ryan García’s star power outside of his home base couldn’t have been more pleasing to Golden Boy Promotions.

A second batch of tickets have been made available García’s upcoming interim lightweight title fight bid versus England’s Luke Campbell, which airs live on DAZN this Saturday from American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The venue—which normally holds 20,000 during a healthy climate—was scaled down to just over 25% capacity in compliance with CDC standards.

The entire lot of more than 5,000 tickets was sold midway through fight week. More seats were made available, though even that attempt will still fall short of satisfying public demand—always a good problem to have for any promoter. 

“We weren’t surprised that it [initially] sold out but were thrilled when we were able to find more room while staying responsible with COVID protocols,” Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy Promotions told BoxingScene.com. “We had some camera kills that came back. We were able to convert those into more tickets. There are maybe 500 tickets left.

“There has been such a huge demand for Ryan and for this show. We couldn’t be more pleased with how this turned out.”

The bout marks the first headliner outside of his home base for García (20-0, 17KOs), who has become an established draw throughout California. The unbeaten rising lightweight contender from Victorville, California played to a sold-out crowd in his previous outing, stuffing 10,000 into the Honda Center in Anaheim for his 1st round knockout of former two-time title challenger Francisco Fonseca last Valentine’s Day.

It was the second consecutive fight to end inside of one round for García, who blasted out Philippines' Romero Duno just as quickly. Their Nov. 2019 bout took place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, in chief support to García’s stablemate, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s 10th round knockout of Sergey Kovalev to win a light heavyweight belt. Alvarez (54-1-2, 36KOs) has long carried his own following, although a sizable portion of the crowd was also on hand to take in what was deemed at the time to be the toughest test of García’s career.

“His popularity is growing every week,” notes Gomez. “Just from experience, his fans seem to travel with him. That’s something only the sport’s most marketable fighters have.

“It’s exciting to see him rise to the championship level and to keep growing in popularity. These are exciting times for all of us.” 

Garcia's box-office appeal complements his massive online presence. The Gen-Z boxer boasts more than 7.8 million followers on Instagram and more than 407,000 on Twitter.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox