Pros react to Ryan Garcia’s knockout of Luke Campbell
Reactions to Ryan Garcia claiming the interim WBC lightweight gold.
Perhaps one of the greatest young prospects in boxing now finally has a piece of major gold — albeit an interim one — as Ryan Garcia scored a seventh-round knockout over Luke Campbell in the main event of a Golden Boy Boxing card at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, TX.
Garcia entered the fight as arguably the best up-and-coming superstar in the lightweight division, entering the fight against Campbell with a perfect 20-0 record and all but three wins coming before the final bell. Trained by Eddy Reynoso and an associate of Canelo Alvarez, Garcia was originally a super featherweight before jumping up to lightweight in the last couple of years.
Garcia only fought once in 2020 — scoring a first-round knockout of Francisco Fonseca to retain the WBC silver lightweight championship. Garcia won that belt with another first-round knockout, defeating Romero Duno in the co-main event of Alvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev.
Campbell entered this fight as a respectable lightweight contender, but one who has been unsuccessful in previous attempts to capture world lightweight gold. Campbell dropped a split decision in a loss to Jorge Linares in September 2017 for the WBA and The Ring lightweight titles, and he dropped a unanimous decision to Vasyl Lomachenko in a bout for the WBA, WBC, WBO and The Ring lightweight belts.
See what other pros thought of Ryan Garcia scoring big KO vs. Luke Campbell
It was a rough start for Garcia, as Campbell dropped him during the second round. Even though he got up and started to pick up his pace and aggression, Campbell didn’t seem like he was slowing down.
It was only during the fifth round where Garcia stunned Campbell and began to take full control of the bout. Garcia eventually closed things out during the seventh, connecting on a hard body shot that dropped Campbell to his knees, with Campbell unable to answer the 10 count.
See how other boxing pros reacted to Garcia’s performance:
https://twitter.com/mickconlan11/status/1345521746812809217
Ryan Garcia brother shits. He might as well quit now and find something else to do with his time. Boxing not for him #GarciaLuke #boxing
— Rougarou (@RPrograis) January 2, 2021
https://twitter.com/Realdevinhaney/status/1345516899061428229
I always speak of proper technique, not supposed to raise your arms and elbows in order to protect head, not necessary. No one home to protect body. #GarciaLuke #GarciaCampbell pic.twitter.com/gdQiVJCgKP
— Teddy Atlas (@TeddyAtlasReal) January 3, 2021
Tonight Ryan Garcia went from boy to man!! Getting off the floor like he did and attacking the man who put him there let’s you know that he has serious bollocks and knows no quit! Luke was blinded and didn’t see it that’s why that body shot has done that to him! #GarciaCampbell
— Tony Bellew (@TonyBellew) January 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/JoshTaylorBoxer/status/1345521031792963585
He responded well
— Errol Spence (@ErrolSpenceJr) January 2, 2021
Everyone heading to Tank’s TL #GarciaCampbell pic.twitter.com/AluC7AlyzB
— Jamel Herring (@JamelHerring) January 3, 2021
Still learning and developing but just passed an acid test with flying colours, got dropped hard for the first time and came back even harder. Very good night for him, but not tank next. #GarciaCampbell
— Michael Conlan (@mickconlan11) January 3, 2021
@KingRyanG has the world in front of him. I’ll sit down with him and we will decide what the next move is.
— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) January 3, 2021
Following the bout, Garcia teased potential fights with the likes of WBA (Regular) lightweight champion Gervonta Davis and WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney.
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