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The social status of Ryan Garcia continues to grow.
The rising 21-year old lightweight contender launched his own YouTube channel Friday with a vlog titled, “How to train like a professional boxer during quarantine.”
Garcia, who has a gargantuan 6.2 million following on Instagram, has already racked up over 85,000 subscribers on YouTube in a span of two days to complement the over 388,000 he already has on Twitter, and the 112,000 on Facebook.
Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) said he will increasingly grow his presence on the video platform moving forward. His first vlog clocks in at just over seven minutes, and begins with him running in his garage treadmill as the heater is blasted to 90 degrees. He then works out with strength and conditioning coach Cip Montes before finishing off with a photo shoot.
“Relentless. Relentless. Relentless,” said a shirtless Garcia as he shadowboxes while running. “It’s that real sh**. This is not a movie. This is not a show. You only learn from your own experience. Work. Work. Even if it hurts, work. You’re going to have to kill me to slow me down. You’re going to have to stab me with a knife, and even then, I’m working … I’m going to show you how to shock the world.”
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There is no boxer currently in the sport other than Garcia stablemate Canelo Alvarez and heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua who comes close to the combined social audience and reach the touted prospect possesses.
Co-training partner Alvarez has the support of an entire country in Mexico, is an accomplished four-division champion and already sports a Hall of Fame worthy resume. The up-and-coming Garcia is also a fan favorite, yet in an entirely different demographic without yet having landed a career-defining win.
Garcia is, however, undoubtedly the pound-for-pound king of the coveted Gen Z category that boxing and his broadcast partner DAZN are desperately trying to reach.
“When this gets back going, I definitely will be one of the fighters who are ready,” said Garcia. “For the fighters who aren’t prepared, just pray you don’t end up fighting me.”
Garcia is next set to face former world champion Jorge Linares, and promoter Oscar De La Hoya is aiming to stage the fistic fireworks on Independence Day. Garcia said that fighting without fans due to Covid-19 would impact him because he has a lot of supporters.
“My fans go hard,” said Garcia. “I’m going to leave it in the ring no matter what … put in anybody with me. I know people are going to watch. A lot of people want to fight me, and that’s the beauty of it. In boxing, it’s the same thing as YouTube, they want clout.”
Coronavirus has not forced the spotlight to stray away from Garcia. He’s constantly remained in headlines since the pandemic in March by calling out and clashing verbally with seemingly every fighter near his weight class, including Abner Mares, Gervonta Davis, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Devin Haney and Linares.
In addition to launching his YouTube channel, Garcia has also been featured in recent weeks in GQ Magazine, Interview Magazine as well as a photo spread and interview in the New York Times.
Garcia is coming off two consecutive first round knockout victories over Romero Duno in November, and Francisco Fonseca in February.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the LA Times, Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com.