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Ryan Garcia has long ago reached a point where he knows he can never please all the people all of the time.
The unbeaten lightweight has endured his share of criticism during his rise through the ranks, which comes with the territory when your fame tends to exceed the in-ring achievements. Garcia has always enjoyed a strong social media presence but is never without his skeptics even as has developed into a top contender. The 23-year-old from Victorville, California doesn’t expect that to change in the buildup to or even after his fight with Ghana’s Emmanuel Tagoe, which tops an April 9 DAZN telecast from Alamodome in San Antonio.
“The Man in the Arena, Teddy Roosevelt. It’s kind of like that,” Garcia noted during an open media workout in Chula Vista, California, referring to a famous passage from the ‘Citizenship in a Republic’ speech delivered in 1910 by the late, legendary U.S. president in Paris. “They look at you, they judge you. For some reason, they just want you to fail.
“I don’t know where it comes from within them. But it drives me to work as hard as I can because I don’t want to prove those guys right. That even drives me more. It kind of fuels me. I have to go harder.”
The famed speech that included the aforementioned passage notes that “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming.”
It has inspired many legendary figures in sports, politics and other walks of life in the 122 years since its initial delivery. The words have clearly become a way of life for Garcia (21-0, 18KOs), who has heard and seen all of the comments throughout his young career, though reaching a boiling point on the heels of his most notable win to date.
The charismatic lightweight contender climbed off the canvas to knockout 2012 Olympic Gold medalist and former two-time title challenger Luke Campbell (20-4, 16KOs) last January 2 at American Airlines Center in Dallas. Garcia enjoyed the media blitz that came with the feat, with his name attached to several big fights—including a rumored showdown with former eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao, and a more realistic clash with unbeaten former 130-pound champ and current secondary WBA lightweight titlist Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (26-0, 24KOs).
None of the major fights materialized, nor did the two that were actually scheduled—a planned July 9 showdown with Javier Fortuna and a November 27 clash with Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz, who claimed the interim WBC lightweight belt Garcia vacated earlier in the year. Garcia bowed out of the fight with Fortuna, citing a need to take a mental health break. The fight with Diaz was on course until Garcia suffered an injured right wrist requiring surgery.
All told, Garcia will be out of the ring for more than 15 months by the time he faces Tagoe (32-1, 15KOs)—a top ten lightweight from Accra, Ghana who has won 32 in a row since losing his pro debut in 2004. The sales pitch from Garcia and Golden Boy Promotions is that the young lightweight will challenge for some form of a world title in 2022. The claim will come with dismissal and eyerolls from those who’ve reached a see-it-to-believe point with Garcia, which is fine with the returning contender.
“People just try to throw darts and stop me,” notes Garcia. “I’m just like, ‘Do you want me to just stop fighting?’ They’re talking all this sh!t, I’m like, ‘Do you just want me to stop?’ No, I’m actually gonna go harder.
“It’s just kind of funny. What is their objective, just to try to tell me I ain’t sh!t? What are you doing?”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox