Ryan Garcia is proud of how he responded to the only knockdown of his professional career.
The unbeaten Garcia got up from that second-round knockdown against Luke Campbell, regained his composure, went after the British southpaw and eventually stopped him with a body shot in the seventh round two years ago. Garcia is confident that knockdown helped make him a better fighter and feels that withstanding that adversity gives him an advantage over Gervonta Davis.
Baltimore’s Davis (28-0, 26 KOs) has not been knocked down as a pro, though Garcia has repeatedly predicted that will change when they meet in a Showtime Pay-Per-View main event April 22 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“It’ll be interesting, you know, to see what kinda attitude he brings,” Garcia said during the second episode of Showtime’s “ALL ACCESS: Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia” series. “If he gets knocked down, let’s see how he reacts. Like when I got knocked down, I went right to it. When life gets tough on me, I just, I raise my hand and say, ‘You know, I’m ready to handle it.’ ”
Campbell, who is considered a lesser puncher than Davis, landed an overhand left that knocked Garcia to his side with 1:31 to go in the second round of their January 2021 bout at American Airlines Center in Dallas. A stunned Garcia got up right away and went toe-to-toe with Campbell as soon as referee Laurence Cole called them together to continue fighting.
“Most guys, especially young fighters in their career, they get dropped, they’re not feeling too good,” Garcia said. “They’re gonna get flustered a little bit, embarrassed. And I went in there and I came right at him after I got dropped. … At that moment, I said to myself, ‘Nobody is gonna define who I am.’ It was a moment for me to create an even better moment.”
Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs) fought through that second-round knockdown and led on all three scorecards entering the seventh round (58-56, 58-55, 58-55). The Victorville, California native’s perfectly placed left hook caught Campbell to his exposed body and made Campbell take a knee with 1:15 to go in the seventh round.
A temporarily immobilized Campbell couldn’t get off his gloves and knees in time to beat Cole’s count, which enabled Garcia to punctuate his comeback from that second-round knockdown. Campbell (20-4, 16 KOs), a 2012 Olympic gold medalist, announced his retirement from boxing in July 2021.
“That night was never gonna be, ‘Ryan Garcia got exposed,’ ” Garcia said. “It wasn’t a moment that was gonna make me fold. I really showed the world that even in your darkest moment, you don’t let it define you.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.