Luke Campbell remains unconvinced by Ryan Garcia’s world title credentials ahead of their WBC interim lightweight title clash at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday.
Video clips of Garcia destroying the pads with blistering hand speed have proven popular amongst the Californian’s vast social media following that numbers a mighty 7.8 million on Instagram.
In the ring, Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) has been near flawless to date, but the true test comes this weekend against seasoned two-time world title challenger Campbell who is hardly overawed.
“I don’t know a lot about him except that he’s got a huge profile on social media, a hell of a lot of followers,” Hull’s Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) told ESPN.com. “When you have that amount of followers, you have to keep them interested with stuff, videos. For me, I prefer to just live my life. I’ve not followed his career. I’ve had no reason to.
“It all looks good on video, but there’s plenty of kids out there who can hit the pads quickly, but not look good in the ring. You can throw 1,000 uppercuts in 5 seconds on the pads. But it’s not real. There’s no one in front of you trying to take your head [off], just someone holding the pads.
“It’s a great opportunity for the winner. I feel like I’m coming into my prime and I’ve not hit my peak yet or shown what I’m capable of. It’s taken me longer than other people to adjust into the pro game, to find my feet. I feel as if I’m just getting there.
“I want to be a world champion, I’m probably about 70 percent more well-known than other world champions out there, and that’s something I’ve also wanted to achieve – to be well known by boxing fans for fighting at world-class level.”