The Boxing Truth®

As the fight between undefeated top Lightweight contender Ryan Garcia and Javier Fortuna approached, this observer found himself not feeling the normal anticipation that I normally have prior to a fight where there is significant interest. For someone who covers Boxing on every level imaginable and does so full time, I would be lying to the reader if I said that every single fight had the same level of anticipation. In the days prior to this fight, the anticipation level at least for me seemed to bottom out. Perhaps it in part had to do with the fatigue that one can experience during a calendar year covering the sport of Boxing, but I thought to myself that the question going into this fight was in a way too simple. Would Javier Fortuna be able to impose his will on Ryan Garcia and pose more of a challenge than Garcia’s previous opponent Emmanuel was able to do earlier this year. There were times after all when Garcia’s fight with Tagoe, his first since returning from a hiatus to focu...

While not completely unheard of, it is rare when discussing an undefeated fighter to say that they are “Back In The Mix,” simply due to that term is normally reserved for fighters that are looking to bounce back from defeat. There are times however, where a fighter no matter their record or standing in the sport of Boxing can find his or herself in a position of having to re-enter the discussion/mix in their given division due to outside of the ring circumstances pulling them away from their careers. In the case of undefeated Lightweight contender Ryan Garcia, this was essentially the position he found himself in as he prepared to face top contender and former IBO Lightweight world champion Emmanuel Tagoe on April 9 th in San Antonio, TX.     Garcia was coming off a lengthy stretch of inactivity due largely to struggles with his mental health as well as an injury that sidelined him for most of 2021. This stretch of inactivity, commonly referred to as a “Layoff” throughou...

  In January of last year, undefeated Lightweight contender Ryan Garcia entered the ring to face former world title challenger and former Olympic Gold medalist Luke Campbell in Dallas, TX. For the then twenty-two year old Garcia, this fight represented a significant step up in class against a more experienced and dangerous opponent.  A fighter who was coming off of challenging for a world championship in his previous bout.  The sport of Boxing can be a complicated one on many fronts, but when it comes to the development of a young fighter, often, the process follows a straight-forward approach. Gradually look to build the fighter against opponents that range from over matched to fringe threats that will allow the fighter to develop before the eyes of an often-skeptical public.      While this process has various elements including the fighter putting in time in the gym learning and developing a skillset, as well as a marketing component for the promoter o...