The likes of Carlos Adames, Aaron Mckenna, Erislandy Lara and others surely do not inspire much fear or concern for Ryan Garcia if he is looking at a big challenge.
Boxing is flying and doing great as a sport again due to the matchmaking being much improved in the sport and the competitive landscape of the pound for pound level of boxers across the planet being at an all time high.
But the heavys, to a lesser extent, and certainly at middleweight, are slight anomalies in this overall upward trends for the sweet science.
Ryan Garcia is considered a champion at 147 pounds at the moment and defeated Conor Benn inside of just the second round last Saturday.
Remember, not long before that Conor Benn himself had been competing and knocking Chris Eubank Jr down all the way up in the middleweight division at a big stadium sell out fight in the UK.
Ryan Garcia beat Conor Benn easily so in theory he could do something similar to Benn in that ilk.
Some notes on this for Garcia if he looked at such a move;
- Garcia might have a slightly bigger frame then Benn, if Benn could compete at middleweight, surely Garcia can
- The top tier fighters in the division like McKenna and Adames and so on are not the best champions in boxing history, to say the least.
- Garcia is famed for his speed of hands, that gives him a big advantage if he moved there, even in a one time only thing for a big fight there
- The problem is in going up and the going back down in divisions if not done right scientifically, Roy Jones vs John Ruiz at heavyweight the great proof of that years ago in that Jones did not box them same after going from heavyweight back to light-heavyweight again
- The big name fights are not there really for him to do so but the novelty and challenge of him becoming a champion at one hundred and sixty pounds is a big sell in itself and could be marketed as such in a possible event
- He has proved he can punch a bit at 147 pounds, if he moved up he might even hit with a bit more force, sure, he might not be a knockout artist at the division, but he’d have enough speed and punch to keep fighters off and beat the above on decision easily if he keeps his chin out of the way
- The cardio issue is something that might come into play for him if he put a bit too much muscle on as that can take away from the stamina or professional boxers particularly in the championship rounds of 10, 11 and the final round.
- The big problem with such a move up for Garcia is his chin, he has been knocked out and hurt before, famously by Gervonta Davis, a small man, a very small man. Even though Garcia has much more ability, fighters there’d hit him much more ferociously, he could get knocked out there if not careful.
- His foot speed though can get him out of trouble there if he has his defense on point in such a once off move, but very dangerous.
Overall, though, the bigger fights against Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis, Shakur Stevenson, Teofimo Lopez and others are not in the division.
So, on balance, he is not going to go there you’d think but for career achievements and so on, it offers an another outstanding feat opportunity for him.
Let’s see the opponent next for him shortly.
Ultimately, Ryan Garcia defeating Conor Benn did not set the globe on fire, Benn had killed himself to make 147 pounds and no one heard of him outside of Europe other than hardcore boxing spectators.
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