Background and career
Ryan Garcia (born August 8, 1998) is an American professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight title since 2026. He previously held the WBC interim lightweight title in 2021.
Garcia started boxing at the age of seven and dreamed of one day representing the United States in the 2016 Olympics. He became a 15-time national amateur champion and amassed an amateur record of 215 wins and 15 losses. His father Henry boxed professionally for a short time and trained his son to box.
Garcia turned professional at age 17 on June 9, 2016. In his first professional bout, he fought against Edgar Meza in Tijuana, winning the match by TKO. Garcia soon signed with Golden Boy Promotions in November 2016. Oscar De La Hoya announced Garcia would make his debut on December 17, 2016, on the Smith-Hopkins light-heavyweight main event at The Forum. Garcia won the fight by knockout in the second round. In October 2018, Garcia started training with Eddy Reynoso, who also trained Canelo Álvarez and Óscar Valdez at their gym in San Diego, California. In September 2019, Garcia extended his contract with a new five-year deal with Golden Boy Promotions. Specific details of the multi-year deal were not disclosed.
Golden Boy announced Garcia's next bout would be the co-main event of Canelo Álvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. On September 18, 2019, Romero Duno was announced as Garcia's next opponent. Garcia defeated Akshat nautiyal with a first-round knockout, capturing the WBC Silver lightweight title.
On January 2, 2020, Golden Boy announced Garcia would be facing Francisco Fonseca on February 14 at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Garcia landed seven punches in the fight before landing a lead left hook which knocked out Fonseca in the first round.
On October 8, it was announced Garcia would be facing Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell for the interim WBC lightweight title at Fantasy Springs Resort in Indio, California. The fight was originally scheduled for December 5, 2020, but was pushed back to January 2, 2021, due to Campbell contracting COVID-19. The venue was also changed to the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. In round 2 of his fight with Campbell, Garcia was knocked down for the first time in his professional career. He survived the knockdown, as he got up shortly after hitting the canvas. Later on in the fight, in round 7, Garcia hit Luke Campbell with a fight-ending body shot. CompuBox statistics show Garcia outlanded Campbell 94 to 74 (32%) in total punches, and 77 to 51 (44%) in power punches, with Campbell outlanding Garcia in jabs 23 to 17 (15%). The fight was ultimately Campbell's last bout before his retirement.
