LOS ANGELES – Ryan Garcia has as much raw talent as anyone in the sport.
Garcia (22-0, 18 KOs) has mostly relied on fast hands and power to punish his opponents throughout his six-year career.
At times, the touted star has overly tapped into his supreme skills and thus created bad habits.
The buildup reared its ugly head last year when Garcia was dropped for the first time in his career by a vicious left hook from Luke Campbell. Garcia bounced back up from the canvas and eventually knocked out Campbell five rounds later.
The bout turned out to be Garcia’s last with then-trainer Eddy Reynoso.
Garcia has since joined forces with coach Joe Goossen, and the pair plan on ironing out any wrinkles so that Garcia can evolve into the most complete fighter he can possibly be.
“We’re focusing on little details and techniques, and defensive things that I may not have cared about because I was so quick. Keeping my chin down. It just didn’t matter if I had my hand up or not, they were just going to get knocked out – similar to Roy Jones Jr.,” Garcia told BoxingScene.com and other reporters during a recent media gathering.
“But I’ve been staying honest with myself and there may be another fast guy out there who might counter me off a shot no matter what. No matter if a guy counters I should be careful with a return shot. I think that’s the main thing I have been focusing on. Other than that, I’m pretty solid.
“Hopefully the improvements [with Goossen] will show. If you train and pay attention and are attentive, you should get better no matter the environment.”
Garcia returned from a 15-month layoff following the Jan. 2021 Campbell fight to score a unanimous decision win against Emmanuel Tagoe in April.
The soon-to-be 24-year-old will return to the ring for the second time in three months when he takes on Javier Fortuna on July 16 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on DAZN.
“I’ve always wanted to be an active fighter. A lot of things came in between that – and not just the situation where I had to take a step back for mental health. Even before then, there were just a lot of things stopping me,” said Garcia. “But now, I finally feel like I can have more fights, and that’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.
