A strong social media presence has always been part of the sales pitch in discussing Ryan Garcia’s appeal beyond the ring.
The 21-year old lightweight heartthrob from Los Angeles remains sought after on both sides of the ropes, a status which will be put to the test in a DAZN headliner on February 14 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Garcia will face Nicaragua’s Francisco Fonseca (25-2-2, 19KOs) in a 12-round lightweight bout which he insists will be the first of four on the year.
All will come with heavy promotion, from his handlers and through his own fingertips. Among the more popular online attractions, the undefeated rising contender feels a certain obligation to keep his fans abreast of his everyday activities.
Of course, there also comes financial incentive to provide daily updates both to his career and his life in general.
“I get paid money,” Garcia (19-0, 16KOs) quipped to ESPN’s Steve Kim when asked he if can go more than a day without posting online, during an open media workout Monday afternoon in Los Angeles. “I get paid over six figures.
“You get paid six figures, you’ll post every day too!”
Ironically, the question came at a time when Garcia hadn’t made his way to social media.
His last three posts on Instagram have all drawn attention to his career and his upcoming fight versus Fonseca, a former two-time title challenger. The most recent asked fans to chime on their favorite knockout in Garcia’s career, with the previous two both specifically tagging his next fight, which marks his first ring appearance since a 1st round knockout of Romero Duno last November.
The four-year pro boxer has more than 4.5 million followers on Instagram and more than 261,000 on Twitter.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox