Luke Campbell has no problem projecting where Ryan Garcia may go in his career, now that the dust has settled.
“I think he beats Haney,” Campbell said, referring to WBC lightweight titleholder Devin Haney during an interview with IFL TV a couple of days after getting stopped by Garcia in their lightweight bout last Saturday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
After the bout on Saturday, Garcia called out both Haney and Gervonta Davis, although he expressed far more interest in facing the latter.
Campbell (20-4, 16 KOs) sounded confident that Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) could defeat Haney. He is not as sure about his chances when it comes to Davis, although he stated that Garcia had "all the tools" to score a victory. The only liability that Campbells sees in a Haney fight for Garcia is that Haney maintains a relatively low profile.
“(With) Gervonta, you’re always going to have a tough fight with Gervonta,” Campbell said. “I definitely believe he’s got the tools to beat him. “The problem with him fighting Haney is that Haney don’t really sell the place out with his style and stuff like that. I believe he (Garcia) beats Haney no problem.
“Gervonta is a hard fight, he’s a hard fight for anybody, but he’s got the tools and the abilities to win.”
In the days since his victory Garcia has been campaigning hard for a Davis fight, even if his handlers are not too keen on throwing him in with the Baltimore native, at least not anytime soon. Davis is coming off a knockout of year performance against Leo Santa Cruz in November.
Campbell says Garcia’s two-fisted power impressed him the most, which no doubt influenced his generous prediction for the 22-year-old Mexican-American. Cambell dropped Garcia in the second round with an overhand left before Garcia roared back to land a brutal body shot in the seventh and final round. Campbell collapsed on all fours and was counted out.
“He has power in both hands, in every shot,” Campbell said. “Where someone else has power in just one shot, like one straight right hand that he carries that power in and everything else sets it up for that right hand, but he was very quick and he had power in both hands.”
“It was a fantastic knockdown,” Campbell added. “He really earned my respect my getting up and recovering as quick as he did and coming back.”
Campbell says it was difficult being away from his family during the Christmas holidays, but that he was pleased that could prove the doubters – mainly American – who thought he would have been blasted out of the ring in a pair of rounds.
“A lot of people in the UK [thought I would win],” Campbell said. “But when I was over there everybody thought I was going to get wiped out within two, three rounds. Like, no one was giving me a chance out there, literally. No one was giving me a chance.
ADD COMMENT VIEW COMMENTS (42)