In the build-up to his next fight, Ryan Garcia has labelled one heavyweight as an ‘all time great’.
Garcia is somewhat on the comeback trail after coming unstuck in his last fight in April. It was by far the biggest test of his career against multi-weight world champion Gervonta Davis and it ended with Garcia being down in the second and down and out in the seventh round after a body shot.
Before then, Garcia had secured solid wins over the likes of Luke Campbell and Javier Fortuna on his way to becoming one of the sport’s biggest names.
He returns to the ring on December 2 for 12 rounds against Oscar Duarte Jurado having vowed not to fight any lighter than 140lbs in future.
In a feature on DAZN in which Garcia was asked to rank an array of fighters, he placed Tyson Fury right at the top.
“All time great.”
It’s high praise indeed for the Brit who is in one of the most challenging periods of his career. Having been seen by many as the best in the division for so long, he recently came somewhat unstuck against former MMA champion Francis Ngannou.
Their 10-round fight was closer than expected and amazingly Ngannou even managed to knock Fury down in the third round. He has an immediate chance at redemption on February 17 when he comes to blows with Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed showdown.
Like Fury, Garcia has spoken before of the mental health battles he has faced outside of the ring but is now back to his fighting best and is keen to pursue a rematch with Davis should he win on December 2.