Prior to sauntering his way through the arena, Ryan Garcia was praised for his willingness to take a gigantic step up in class. Mostly viewed as a pretty face with overstated skills, Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) was anxious to change the narrative surrounding his career.
This past Saturday night, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, the extremely popular super lightweight contender stood across the ring from Gervonta Davis. Despite being well aware of the dangers that Davis presented, Garcia brazenly stood his ground in the opening frame. While he attempted to repeat his success in the second round by duplicating that very approach, Davis left his man staring up at the ceiling lights.
Forced to take a more cautious approach, Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) upped the ante in the ensuing rounds. In the seventh, in particular, the heavy-handed secondary lightweight titlist landed what appeared to be a glancing and innocuous body blow. Ultimately, however, just a few seconds later, Garcia was forced to take a knee, leading to his defeat. With the dust now settling, Garcia has been openly criticized by his peers, including by Tony Bellew and former stablemate, Andy Ruiz Jr. Yordenis Ugas on the other hand, already sporting a sullied record of his own, doesn’t believe that Garcia should hang his head in shame.
“Young, undefeated, and chase for the best,” said Ugas recently on his social media account. “There is no shame in that. Shame is taking care of a perfect record without risking it.”
In addition to Ugas appreciating Garcia for his daring-to-be-great moment, the former welterweight title holder has implored his contemporaries to do the same. By and large, the sport of boxing has a long list of mega bouts that have failed to come to fruition, including Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury – both of which would crown the winner as an undisputed champion in their respective weight class.
Davis vs. Garcia, however, took place with no titles at stake. Instead, due to their popularity, the two opted to placate the demands of their supportive fan bases and square off immediately.
Regardless of the end result, Garcia’s audacious attitude should be both applauded and imitated according to Ugas.
“Don’t be too critical of Ryan. The best against the best and I give him credit because he did it.”