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Rising boxing contender Ryan Garcia is bullish about his union with Joe Goossen.
In February, Garcia called it quits training alongside Canelo Alvarez and his touted coach, Eddy Reynoso. The move ended a five-fight, 3 ½ run for Garcia under the guidance of the 2019 trainer of the year.
The 23-year-old Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) has since maintained that he required a full-time commitment from Reynoso, while Alvarez has questioned Garcia’s dedication and discipline to the sport. Now that he’s separated from the nest, Garcia believes he’ll break through to reach another stratosphere with Goossen now at the helm.
“Joe Goossen has a lot of experience. Obviously, he’s been in the game for a while. These are his words, but ‘he’s taken a lot of people that didn’t have a lot of talent and he’s taken them to world champion level status.’ He has a guy in me that I have a lot of talent. I have a lot to give,” said Garcia. “With the work ethic that he has and I have, the sky’s the limit. We’re going to do great things. And he’s old school. I like old school. He’s always drilling to have the hands up. I like tricks, movement. I watch old-school fights all the time. There’s a lot to like about Joe.”
Garcia and Goossen will have had eight weeks together to show the world how far they’ve come along as a tandem when Garcia faces Emmanuel Tagoe on April 9 at the Alamodome in San Antonio on DAZN.
Goossen is notorious for his no-nonsense approach just as much as he’s known for sporting denim and dress shirts in the corner come fight night, much as he’s done for the likes of Diego Corrales, Joel Casamayor, Shane Mosley, and Michael Nunn, among others, throughout his career.
Despite the generational divide, however, Garcia and Goossen have leaned on their history dating back to the boxer’s amateur days to rekindle their relationship.
“I get along with Joe because he’s a character. He takes this sh!t serious. He doesn’t mess around,” said Garcia. “He’s like a general. I’m a soldier. He’s somebody you look up to and want to fight for. You know that he’s going to be down there in the trenches with you.
“We’re not here to mess around, and that’s somebody you want to fight for. We’re going to put this work in. Yeah, I’m a great fighter, yeah I’m talented, but we’re going to work like we’re not. You know what I mean? That’s what I like about him.”
Garcia knows that he has to turn in an impressive performance in his first fight back following a 15-month layoff due to mental health issues, right-hand surgery, and the questions that have come up around his commitment.
“I bring what I bring – explosion. I can’t be in a dull fight. My mind won’t let me be in it. I just always want to push the pace and land a good shot,” said Garcia. “It’s really just cleaning up the technique and making sure that I minimize the mistakes. Hopefully, things go well. I still have the timing and precision. Everything is good.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.