WBC lightweight interim champ @KingRyanG
has said he wants to retire by 26 but told us if he does keep
fighting it’ll be in the octagon… really.LISTEN:#UFC
@danawhite
@oscardelahoya
@canelo
@ufc
#boxing pic.twitter.com/tqIOqAexp6— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow)
January 14, 2021
A star undefeated boxer plans on only sticking around the ring for
another few years before possibly moving on to MMA. Speaking on the Rich
Eisen Show on Thursday, WBC interim lightweight champ Ryan
Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) does not intend on keeping to the boxing ring
for much longer. The 22-year-old went professional in 2016, and
competed 13 times in the first 18 months of his career. Ranked
among the top lightweights in the world already, Garcia does not
see the need to stay too long.
“Yeah, I plan to,” Garcia said flatly when asked about his boxing
retirement at the age of 26. “If I say it, I plan to do it.”
Garcia continued, “I plan to, at 26, to retire – I don’t know
officially, right? I mean, you’ve seen in the past fighters have
retired, came back. This is what I will say. I still plan to retire
at 26. Yet, if I am to return back to the ring, I will only battle
people that people at that time say ‘there’s no way Ryan will beat
them.’”
If Garcia does indeed retire like he plans to, he has his sights
set on bigger and better prospects. Last appearing in January,
“King Ry” clobbered Luke Campbell and put the Brit down with a
vicious body shot, all while handing Campbell his first career
stoppage loss. In the process, Garcia captured the vacant WBC
interim lightweight crown. This gold might not be enough for
Garcia, who could be looking towards an eight-sided belt in the
future.
“You know what I’m willing to do…what I plan to do is, say at 26
I’m done retiring and boxing is all good, you know what I’ll do? If
they say ‘ok you’ve beaten everyone in the ring,’ right? But,
somebody goes ‘this ain’t real fighting.’ Real fighting is legs,
choking, submission, all that. Guess what I’ll do. I’ll go prove to
them that I’m the best fighter all-around in the world. I’m talking
about hands, I’m talking about wrestling, I will go to MMA to prove
a point that God is greatest. And I’ll go beat whoever it is in MMA
they say I won’t beat.”
The first name across his tongue was easily the most lucrative of
opponents to possibly face, as the 135-pound boxer considered
future foes in the cage and not ring.
“If it has to be Conor
McGregor, I will – and I’m not saying this to get money, I
don’t care about money – I’m saying this because that’s how I
feel.”