World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman was very impressed with the recent performance by lightweight star Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs).
This past Saturday night at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas, Garcia knocked out 2012 Olympic gold medal winner Luke Campbell in the seventh round to capture the WBC interim-lightweight title.
Garcia was dropped in the second round after getting caught with a big left hand - but he recovered and landed a vicious body shot to drop Campbell for the full count in the seventh round.
Garcia is now the mandatory challenger to full WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney.
"The fight between 'King' Ryan Garcia and Luke Campbell was amazing and this young star has reached the major leagues and is faced with a series of great fights in the lightweight division in sight," Sulaiman said.
"It took place in Dallas and there was an important attendance of fans who witnessed a great fight. Both boxers were WBC international champions and also WBC silver champions. After a long period of negotiations during the complicated era of Covid-19, the fight was settled for this date and the WBC interim lightweight championship was disputed.
"The young, undefeated Mexican-American and social media sensation against the experienced, seasoned Brit Luke Campbell, who had already fought important battles against world-class boxers such as Vasiliy Lomachenko and Jorge Linares. Garcia came from two victories in the first round, only 78 seconds of combat, and this was without a doubt a hard test that many thought he would not be able to overcome.
"Campbell dished out the maximum drama by knocking Garcia down in the second round with a perfect left counter that put Ryan on the canvas. Visibly hurt, he got up with still a minute of action left. He survived and turned the fight around by knocking out Campbell with a perfect left hook to the liver in the seventh round."
And Sulaiman also praised the trainer abilities of Eddy Reynoso - who handles Garcia, Canelo Alvarez, Frank Sanchez, Luis Nery, Oscar Valdez, and more.
"There is an element that we must highlight and that is of great importance: Eddy Reynoso. Eddy took on Ryan to bring him to the level that we can see him now and the handling of the corner, especially in the crisis after the knockdown, was majestic," Sulaiman said.
"Eddy Reynoso has become the best boxing trainer of today. Even though it was such a difficult year, he devoted himself mind, body and soul to his boxers and managed to crown three champions! Namely Luis 'Panterita' Nery in super bantamweight, Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez at super middleweight and finally 'King' Ryan Garcia. I talked to Eddy at the end of the year, while he was in the solitude of a boxing camp, away from his wife and daughters. Ensconced in the camp with his pupil, he was patiently waiting for the night of the fight. That is the sacrifice that nobody observes, that nobody appreciates or values."
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