Ryan Garcia has long been a draw in the sport of boxing whether you’ve loved or hated him, but now that he’s managed to secure his first world title he feels legitimized and during an appearance on ESPN he shared some of these thoughts on leading a new era in the sport.
Garcia on wanting to fight Benn
“He’s been talking for some time. It hasn’t been just recently. It’s been a year, two years. He actually pulled up on me in London and tried to fight me, start some trouble at an award show. So ever since then he’s been on my radar,
but since he’s #1 and I’m world champion I said ‘let’s do it’ you know. There’s no more waiting, let’s jut get it on.”
On whether he considers himself the face of boxing
“I’m a world champion now. And now that I have a belt and — I’ve always had the following, always had the opportunities you have as a superstar, now I have this piece that I was missing, of course I would love to keep fighting and kind of carry boxing. I actually lead this generation of young fighters of popularity and now of being a world champion. So I have all the opportunities to be the face of boxing but now I just have to prove it with my dedication and all my fights that are going to be lined up.”
On coming back from a big loss to Gervonta Davis to become a champion
“I went and took all the clauses that Gervonta put on me and I’m the one that made that fight happen. Yes, the result didn’t go my way but if you really want boxing to propel you can’t be worried about that. All you can do is dust yourself off, get back, and prove yourself again. If I get the opportunity to rematch him, guess what, we’re going to do it on my terms and even terms, and let’s see what’s going to happen then. I’m a world champion now, what’s he been doing? Why are we talking about him, he hasn’t been doing nothing.”
