Ryan Garcia has been taking his victory lap following his knockout win over Conor Benn and rejoins Ariel Helwani’s show to talk about the fight, some of the promotional drama behind it, and where he’s looking to take his career now that he’s riding high again. Check out some excerpts below.
Garcia on those who thought the stoppage came a little early
“That’s because they were watching from the crowd. If you were right there, you know he was out of it. He didn’t even throw punches back. Where did he throw back? He didn’t throw back. He was moving his head out of desperation,
but he was cooked. Any bit longer, do you want him to suffer real damage for, like, ever? That’s the question people should ask themselves. How bloodthirsty are you, really?”
On why De La Hoya wasn’t at the fight
“In the beginning it was Julio Cesar Chavez Sr that was going to walk out with me, and I wanted to get maybe Oscar right there. You know, I think that would be iconic…but, honestly, nobody wanted him there. And that’s the God’s honest truth…[I wanted him there but] sometimes you got pick your battles. I said, ‘that’s not really a battle I want to pick, right here’. Like, alright, I don’t really care who walks in with me or not, type thing.
“I wish Oscar was there. I wish he walked out with me, and I wish he would’ve been ringside no matter what. That would’ve showed his love for me the way that I imagined somebody that’s been with me the whole time, to do. Like, okay, they don’t want to let you walk out — they did have a seat for you, though, and you didn’t take that seat. For me, I don’t respect that and that disappointed me.”
On having one fight left on his Golden Boy contract
“We have one more fight under the Golden Boy banner, we have another fight contractually obligated with The Ring, basically Turki, and that’s where I’m at. That’s the landscape now. So, we’ll see. I kind of want to get in the ring either December or January. That’s kind of where I’m looking at.
“From my understand [both contractual obligations] could be fulfilled that same night.”
On who he wants to fight next
“There’s a lot of people out there. You’ve got Pitbull Cruz, I wouldn’t mind rumbling with him. You’ve got Angel Fierro, he sparred me for this camp, wouldn’t mind fighting him too. I won’t call it a tune up but I don’t want to get caught off guard. I don’t want to wait until May to fight. Why do I have to wait ‘til May? I have no bruises, I have no hits to the head, why can’t I fight? So I’ll give the fans a little treat.”
On who he wants to fight Cinco de Mayo weekend
“Teofimo Lopez. Why not do [the Haney rematch] for undisputed? Why not gamble it all? I want to take everything from him. Right now it’s a little premature. Let [Haney] get another belt, let me get another belt, and let’s do it for it all. If you really want to higher the stakes, let’s do it for it all, let’s put it all on the line, everything you could imagine. You didn’t learn the first time? Let’s do it the second time even crazier, for all the belts, straight up at 147, and I’m going to kick your f-ckin’ ass. I’m going to f-ckin’ destroy you and the next time I fight Haney he might not fight again.
“Teo is going to be easy work for me. I’ll get him out of there by eight rounds.”
On wanting to fight Terence Crawford
“I wouldn’t mind that. I want to avenge Canelo’s loss. I just want to beat his ass, to be real. I want that. He knows that I want that. I’m willing to test him to see where he at, but will he come back out of retirement? I don’t know. He knows he has to. Nobody knows who the f-ck he is. He has to come back to boxing. The security [at my fight] didn’t even know who the f-ck he was, that’s the problem.
“He knows he didn’t do everything he needed to do in the sport yet. So, all I did was question him. He knows it’s the truth and that’s why he’s entertaining [the idea of coming back]…He’s not really retired in his heart, he retired on paper but not in his heart.
“He does not like me. F-ck this ‘not liking’ sh-t, let’s fight.”
On wanting a rematch with Gervonta Davis
“I want that. I want to clean that up. He don’t want it, though. He knows it. He knows I’m a bad man. He don’t want me at 147. So, there’s really nothing to be said. Cool, you got me at 136. Get me at 147, prove to me that you really like that. He doesn’t want to prove to himself, he doesn’t want to prove it to me…He’s showing a little bit of fear.”
