British boxing icon Ricky Hatton is not sure if heavily-hyped Californian Ryan Garcia is ready for seasoned world title campaigner Luke Campbell this Saturday.
Social media star Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) steps up in class to meet Hull’s Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) in Dallas tomorrow with the boxing world keen to see if he can mix it in world class after blowing away lesser opposition in style.
Hatton feels Campbell’s pedigree at world level may prove too much for Garcia, but concedes that no-one really knows the American’s true potential yet.
“Campbell has been in there and done the world title rounds with Vasiliy Lomachenko and Jorge Linares and he is a tall southpaw,” Hatton told The Sun. “Ryan Garcia has so much hand speed and he is one of the biggest prospects in world boxing. But I don’t know if he has bitten off more than he can chew with Luke Campbell.
“All the potential is there with Garcia but I don’t know if he has been tested yet and Luke Campbell could be a bridge too far. Garcia could well be all Instagram hype.
“He is a pretty boy and his hands are very fast and he is always on social media. But then so is someone like Floyd Mayweather and he is the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, because he backed it up.
“Garcia might be able to back it up, too, and then he could be the real deal.”