Ryan Garcia looks to continue his winning ways against Carlos Morales

Undefeated super featherweight Ryan Garcia looks to stay active in the ring. He meets Carlos Morales on Saturday, Sept. 1 in a Golden Boy main event.

Ryan Garcia (15-0, 13 KOs) is a rising star with an abundance of potential. He has the hopes and dreams of Golden Boy Promotions sitting heavily upon his shoulders. Garcia’s burden is a nice one to have, but it comes with plenty of pressure. He’s only 20 years old, but he’s being groomed as Golden Boy’s next big thing. He needs an impressive win over Carlos Morales on Saturday, Sept. 1 to keep the hype-train rolling.

There’s a lot to like about Garcia. He’s a young, tall super featherweight with power in both fists. Garcia was an amateur standout, and he has transitioned well to the professional ranks. His record is flawless, and Garcia possesses a gaudy 87 percent knockout rating. Garcia has knocked out most of his opponents, but he hasn’t faced elite opposition. That’s not a criticism — just a fact.

Golden Boy is intelligently bringing Garcia along at a measured pace. The company deserves credit for how it’s managing Garcia’s career. He’s young and needs time to develop as a professional boxer. Many careers have ended prematurely with unfulfilled promise because fighters were thrown into the fire too early. The damage to these men has been physical and psychological.

Jeff Lacy could have enjoyed more success if he wasn’t matched up against Joe Calzaghe soon into his short-lived title reign. Boxers like Michael Moorer and Michael Grant weren’t the same after tasting defeat freshly into their prime. Some fighters never recover their edge or confidence after taking an early loss. Golden Boy doesn’t want Garcia to become the next boxer that’s talked about regarding wasted potential.

This is only Garcia’s third year as a professional. He’s still in the process of building up his résumé. Garcia took a big step up in competition in May when he defeated Jayson Velez by unanimous decision. Velez came into the fight as a former world title contender. He had four losses on his record at the time, but he’s never been knocked out. Garcia wasn’t able to knock out Velez, but he completely out-boxed him and looked good doing it.

Morales is several steps down from Velez, and Golden Boy could have found a better opponent to put in against Garcia. This is one area where a critique of Golden Boy’s matchmaking is valid. It doesn’t make sense for Garcia to move backward in terms of competition. Hopefully, Golden Boy made this bout because they wanted to keep Garcia active, or they couldn’t find a better adversary in this time frame.

Boxrec.com rates Morales as the 61st super featherweight in the world. In comparison, Velez is 54th. Morales has a record of 17-2-3, with 6 KOs. He turned professional in 2012, but he has zero notable victories. He lost to Alberto Machado in 2017 by a lopsided decision.

One loss and all of Morales’s draws came in the first four fights of his career. He has shown improvement, but not enough to make him competitive against Garcia.

Golden Boy made this fight with the intention of keeping Garcia busy and increasing his appeal to boxing audiences. Morales has never been knocked out and has a proven chin. It would be somewhat impressive if Garcia knocked Morales out. Regardless, Morales is a safe opponent for Garcia that should give him rounds of experience. Hopefully, we’ll see Garcia fight an elevated opponent in the near future. You can catch Garcia vs. Morales on Facebook Watch.