Ryan Garcia Ready to Stamp Out Javier Fortuna!
When lightweight boxer Ryan “King Ry” Garcia (22-0, 18 KO’s) next goes to war on July 16, he hopes to find the endeavor rather therapeutic. There is no doubt that Garcia is targeted with a great deal of criticism and skepticism. Honestly though, a good measure of that is his fault for routinely promising more than he could deliver. However, when it comes to bowing out of his previously agreed upon fight with one-time super featherweight champion Javier “El Abejon” Fortuna (37-3-1, 26 KO’s), King Ry says that he was completely legit.
Instead of initially testing their might against one another, Garcia, 23, bowed out citing mental health woes as the underlying reason. Fortuna, and a healthy amount of the boxing populace, felt that it was all an excuse. In fact, the Dominican, and a tidal wave of fans, have branded the swift-knuckled Californian a liar, yellow-bellied and mentally weak ever since. This is why, as King Ry told Fight Hype, when he does lock horns with El Abejon, it will be an extremely cathartic process.
“He is talking a lot of trash to me, saying I made an excuse with my mental health, [insisting] it wasn’t real. That I was a coward for it and I am a duck, that I just want to avoid him. Well I believe when he is in that ring with me, he will find out real soon, ‘oh, there is nothing scared about this guy!’ So, like I said, I can’t wait to be in that ring because it represents a lot to me.”
KING OF THE PRIDE
Naturally, Garcia, who is ranked #2 (WBC), #6 (WBA) and #10 (IBF), believes that he will win. Going a step further though, King Ry is also of the mind that it will be a very destructive outing. He just hopes that he and Fortuna, ranked #9 (WBA) and #11 (WBC), can patch it up and see eye-to-eye once all the dust has settled.
“I just have too much speed for him, too much conditioning. I’m pretty much quicker than everybody I fight and I use that to my advantage and I just don’t think he is going to be able to keep up with it. Or, if it gets tough, I don’t think he is going to have the conditioning to keep up with me either. It’s just unfortunate that he came in with a hung, young hungry lion that’s ready to devour somebody. So it’s very unfortunate for him.
But when I knock him out, wake him up, hopefully I can take him to the club and we all can have a good time. And I am so serious about that too! So serious.”
Ideally all this bad blood will culminate in a memorable summer slugfest. Yet, truthfully, let’s first just hope that all the principle characters make it to the ring on fight night. Or else this is all a bunch of fun talk for no real reason.
Reading Time: 3 minutes
By: Bakari Simpson
