Ryan Garcia doesn’t sound the least bit concerned about boxing Luke Campbell on Saturday night.
The brash, unbeaten lightweight contender cannot see anything in Campbell that could conceivably prevent him from facing the top opponents Garcia considers truer threats to him reaching his admirable goals. The 22-year-old Garcia expects to knock out the skillful British southpaw on his way toward bigger bouts in 2021 and beyond.
“I wanna conquer this division, so I make this weight pretty easily,” Garcia told Mario Lopez during a virtual press conference recently. “I’m a very disciplined person. I can make this weight for as long as I wanna make it. So, my goal is to defeat Teofimo Lopez, to knock out Gervonta Davis and to beat Devin Haney. So, any of the – whatever order it is, I’m here to conquer this division and become the biggest superstar in boxing.”
If Garcia beats Campbell, he’ll win the WBC interim lightweight title, which would earn him a fight versus Las Vegas’ Haney (25-0, 15 KOs), the WBC world champion. Eddie Hearn, Haney’s promoter, expects the Garcia-Campbell winner to face Haney in his following fight.
Garcia has mentioned other opponents, most notably Baltimore’s Davis (24-0, 23 KOs), as preferred options for his fight after facing Campbell.
Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs), of Victorville, California, is consistently listed as at least a 3-1 favorite to defeat England’s Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs), who has never been knocked out. The 33-year-old Campbell still represents a steep step up in competition for Garcia, who has displayed power and speed while building a significant fan base in the United States.
You wouldn’t know it based on Garcia’s assessment of the 2012 Olympic gold medalist and two-time world championship challenger.
“I’m not worried about Luke,” Garcia said. “He has no challenges for me. All he got is some pitty-pat punches, amateur-style punches. None of that’s gonna save him. The moment he feels my shots, he’s gonna start backing up. And I’ll figure it out from there, and I’ll start surgically beating him down. I’m gonna punish him, and then go on to fight ‘Tank’ [Davis]. That’s all. I’m not even worried about Luke Campbell.”
The 12-round, 135-pound championship bout between Campbell and Garcia will headline DAZN’s five-fight stream from American Airlines Center in Dallas (8 p.m. GMT; 3 p.m. EST; noon PST).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.