SAN ANTONIO – Eddie Hearn admires the confidence and ambition Ryan Garcia and his trainer, Eddy Reynoso, have exhibited by agreeing to fight Luke Campbell on Saturday night.

Hearn considers Campbell several levels above anyone Garcia has beaten while compiling a 20-0 record and knocking out 17 opponents. Handicappers have established Garcia as an approximate 3-1 favorite to conquer Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) in their 12-round fight for the WBC interim lightweight title, but Campbell’s promoter thinks this might be too tough of a test for the popular, polarizing Garcia just yet.

“It’s a massive step up, because he’s never boxed anyone at world level,” Hearn told BoxingScene.com recently. “But he is a good fighter, Ryan Garcia. I mean, he’s a very, very entertaining fighter, with fast hands. But I just feel that Luke Campbell is, I mean, Luke Campbell, I thought he beat Linares that night. It was very, very close. And his father passed away that week [in September 2017]. His head was in another country.

“And obviously, he lost to Lomachenko in a good fight. He was well-beaten, but you know, he showed levels in that fight. He’s a world-class lightweight, a world-class lightweight. I mean, I believe he can mix it or beat the top five in the world. You know, it really comes down to how good Ryan Garcia is. He might be really good. He might not be very good at all. Or, that’s a bit harsh – he might not be world level.”

DAZN will stream Campbell-Garcia as the main event of a five-fight card from American Airlines Center in Dallas (8 p.m. GMT; 3 p.m. EST; noon PST).

Campbell hasn’t fought in the 16 months since Vasiliy Lomachenko out-boxed the 33-year-old southpaw in their 12-round fight for the then-vacant WBC, WBA and WBO lightweight titles at O2 Arena in London.

The 2012 Olympic gold medalist from Hull, England, has lost a unanimous decision to Ukraine’s Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs), and split decisions to Venezuela’s Jorge Linares (47-5, 29 KOs), then the WBA lightweight champ, and Yvan Mendy (46-5-1, 22 KOs, 1 NC). Campbell defeated France’s Mendy convincingly in their 12-round rematch two years ago at Wembley Stadium in London.

Garcia, of Victorville, California, has scored impressive first-round knockouts in each of his past two fights, though Campbell clearly is a more formidable foe than the Philippines’ Romero Duno (22-2, 17 KOs) or Costa Rica’s Francisco Fonseca (27-3-2, 21 KOs). Beating Campbell would give Garcia credibility as an elite lightweight, according to Hearn.

“I would give him massive props, because he’s a world-class fighter and he’s a superstar,” Hearn said. “I mean, that is one thing about the gamble – if he beats Luke Campbell, he becomes a real player. But don’t forget, it’s a final eliminator to fight Devin Haney. So, don’t be ducking Devin Haney. This is an interim world title fight and a final eliminator to fight Devin Haney.” 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.