Welcome back fight fans to another video here on The Fight Game. If you're any bit familiar
with social media and boxing, then I don't doubt that you've come across this young 21
year old who goes by the name of Ryan Garcia. He rose to fame with his instagram videos
of himself training in his garage, often using
the cobra bag to display his fast-twitching punches, as well as pads to display his lightning
fast hand speed. As more and more people viewed his videos, viewership began to soar, theme
pages shared his videos and it wasn't long before his following began to match the
likes of Anthony Joshua and Manny Pacquiao. If you had to rank his followers among active
fighters in the sport right now, he'd rank number 4 just behind Joshua Pacquiao and Canelo.
But this is boxing, not social media, and Ryan
Garcia proves to be one of the most promising prospects right now in becoming one of the
sports next superstars. This new era of Boxing is looking more promising than ever, we've
got three heavyweight kings with upcoming prospects staking their claim, we've got multiple
great fights to be made, and the sport is being
appreciated more than ever by the submergence of modern media. But Ryan Garcia would seem
to be a man who offers everything needed to become an icon
in boxing, movie-star good looks, knockout power, and a long path still yet to walk.
Welcome to this video here on The Fight Game where we dissect
the rise of Ryan 'The Flash' Garcia and question if he has what it takes to become an influential
figure in and outside the ring.
So Ryan Garcia is aged 21, he's boxed 20 fights professionally, 17 of those fights coming
by way of knockout. He stands at 5 foot 10 making him taller
than nearly every opponent he faces, and he competes in the lightweight division. However
considering his young age, height and large frame, I wouldn't
be surprised if we saw him mature through multiple weight divisions in the coming years,
perhaps even to welterweight. He's a 15-time junior national
champion in the amateurs, giving him that extra edge in skill over most professional
boxers. He's trained by Eddy Reynoso, the same trainer of Canelo
Alvarez. Canelo has appeared to be an influential figure for Garcia to look
up to. Garcia's style is explosive, and it seems his knockout punch is simply the one
that lands. A quick glance at some of his highlights and we can
clearly see the kid is something special. His punches are very eye-catching too, and
he holds pure natural power. Let's take a deeper look into the style
of Ryan Garcia.
Ryan's fight last weekend was on DAZN and it came against Francisco Fonseca, who he
knocked out half way through the first round. Oh and a left hand! Sends Fonseca down right
on his back!
Ryan countered an on-coming 1-2 with an intersecting left hook, a beautiful counter-shot that catches
the opponent in the midst of their attack. This kind of counter takes a long
time to perfect as the timing has little to no lee-way, a millisecond too late or a millisecond
too early and the shot simply won't have the same
effect, as if Ryan Garcia's hook wasn't deadly enough, when combined with impeccable timing
it's simply become his signature shot in the boxing
ring. Those of you who are familiar with this counterpunch may call it the check hook, watch
this throwback to when Mayweather knocked Ricky
Hatton out with the same shot.
A check left hook. What a left hook. He never saw it.
Garcia's left hook would seem to be very fast, lets watch the fight before this one against
Romero Duno. Garcia knocked him out in the first round aswell,
Garcia able to land that right now, down he goes!
And you're probably thinking that left hook didn't land, I know I sure did when I watched
it live. Well, it would seem to be too fast to catch in
real-time, so let's slow the footage down. Even in slow motion, the shot doesn't even
look like it would have had that much of an effect as it had
such little weight behind it, but any physics guru out there would agree that force is mass
multiplied by acceleration, so although there wasn't
much mass, there was a whole lot of acceleration, making that mere shot the making of a knockout.
We actually have to slow down the slow motion shot
to see the punch clearly land. Now you've seen the elements behind the punch slowed
down, let's go back to real-time footage again. It's only now
where we can appreciate the technicality behind that knockout blow. Ryan Garcia is fast, really
fast.
Is he the fastest puncher in boxing though, like all things in boxing many will agree
and disagree, the likes of Amir Khan and Gary Russel Junior
have great arguments to be called the fastest boxers in boxing. But Ryan is a lot more than
just fast hands, take notice of these subtle tricks
he uses in his fights to stop his opponents in their tracks. Ryan is pretty good at using
his forearm in situations to block his opponents vision
while keeping them from coming forward. I don't doubt he's learned a few things from
Canelo because using that left forearm when in close is something
Canelo is very good at. Another subtle trick he uses is sticking his lead hand in his opponents
face for a short second, this is a common trick used
by taller boxers to disable their opponents attack while keeping them at bay, and it also
measures up for the right hand. In my last video I actually
talked about how Tyson Fury does this. These little techniques are used mostly by experienced
boxers, so it's quite good to see Ryan Garcia use them at such
a young age.
Ryan is staking his name among those who are infamous for a mean left hook with the likes
of Danny Garcia, Ooo he catches Ryan but then he gets caught
with a left hand! The thudding impact is really present in both
their left hooks. There it is though! However Ryan Garcia's left hook is simply
more explosive, while not much torque is generated in his hips, its the
whipping motion of his forearms that makes his hook slightly different from other boxers
in the sport. And if you're a fan of power punchers you may
be familiar with the name of Julian Jackson. He's a personal favorite on this channel,
his knockouts are truly some of the most spectacular in
boxing history, and I couldn't help but see similarities between how both Ryan Garcia
and Julian Jackson throw their punches. Take notice of his technique,
that whipping motion is quite like Garcia's, perhaps this is what Garcia's punches would
look like if he weighed heavier. Now don't get me wrong Julian
Jackson is a whole other beast compared to Ryan Garcia who's still yet to prove his place
among the likes of those great names, but maybe with time as Garcia's
style evolves and as he plants his feet more, his technique could begin to look more and
more like Julian Jacksons.
Some of you guys like these videos on upcoming fighters in boxing, and while it's nice to
highlight their strengths, every young fighter comes with some technical
faults too. In the Gervonta Davis video we covered his strengths and weaknesses, so I
think it's important to shine light on some things that Garcia doesn't do well.
In my opinion, there's two things. Having his chin up, and dropping his right hand.
Let's start with having his chin up, many fans already notice this common
mistake he makes, when your chin is up your neck isn't engaged, so if you got hit your
head would fly back. Garcia has gotten away with making this mistake so far,
particularly because he's been able to keep his opponents at range with his height and
reach advantage. But if he came up against someone who's incredibly collected
on the inside like Gervonta Davis, I'd be skeptical of how well Garcia would take such
shots. Ideally I'd like Ryan to fix this little mistake as time goes by,
and I don't doubt he will because remember he is only 21 years old, he's got a lot to
learn yet. For example Anthony Joshua wasn't even a professional boxer at 21.
The other mistake is dropping his right hand, pretty much in every Ryan Garcia left hook,
his right hand drops, leaving an opening. This is a very dangerous mistake to make
in Boxing, when you're punching with one hand the other must be defending your face, this
is common know-how for all boxers. But Garcia, like having his chin up, has
gotten away with this mistake because of his height and reach advantage. You can be sure
that boxers like Devin Haney and Gervonta Davis are very well aware of this
continuous mistake Garcia makes. And considering he does it so much in training it's quite
concerning because it's such a basic mistake to be making at such a high
level of boxing.
But remember, he's 21 years old. He's still young and he will improve ten-fold in the
coming years. With such improvements I do assume those 2 simple
mistakes will be corrected. So if you were to ask me is Ryan Garcia a promising prospect
in the sport of boxing for the years to come, in the words of the
great Deontay Wilder I'd say oh most definitely. When Mayweather retired we thought it would
be a long while before we saw the sport in the limelight again,
but right now the sport is stronger than ever with a stacked lightweight division, a stacked
welterweight division, and a very entertaining heavyweight
division. That's without mentioning other individual boxers who bring the prospect of
pure superstardorm purely based on their ring ability. I can't wait
to see how Ryan Garcia's career unfolds, while before he expressed desire to get out of boxing
early, I imagine that expression to dissolve as he comes closer
and closer to the notion of the slim chance of being remembered forever. Two fights I'd
really love to see is Ryan Garcia versus Devin Haney and Gervonta Davis.
Those three boxers have great futures ahead of them because of their talent at such a
young age. However as long as Garcia and Haney stay out of trouble and remain
disciplined, I see an incredible fight between both of them in the future.
Haney: You've got beat me to become the champ. Ryan: I'll get to you. I'll get to you. Haney:
Let's make it happen.
Thanks for watching, if you enjoyed this video consider giving it a like as it helps us grow
the channel. What are your thoughts on Ryan Garcia, could he become
one of the sports next superstars, let us know in the comment section below. We'll see
you in the next video here on The Fight Game.